roger blose

Well they are gone. After a three month research project, I was able to change out the dreaded 2 piece spark plugs and finally relax. It all started with the panic complaints on this and other mustang web site which described the horrible breaking of these units which Ford had installed in all V-8 2005-07 Mustangs. Ford knows that they have a big problem since they re-engineered the 2008 and up cylinder heads and spark plugs to accept a completely new 1 piece design. Don't bother trying to put the newer 1 piece units in your car since they are a different design and size! I have watched the FORD video on "broken plug extraction" on FLATRATETECH.com three times and it took the two FORD factory techs a long time to clean up this engineering mess. Some owners have paid up to $700 at the dealers to extract the broken plugs only to replace them with the same skunk Motorcraft units. Nice.
Okay, everyone is using Champion 1 piece double plats which are available at a wide range of prices. Advanced Auto, $18.99, Sparkplugs.com, $11.99, etc. so I go mine and purchased the required cans of "carb cleaner". As a back up, I had my local gas station on standby to bail me out if I broke any plugs in my daily driver. My station technician told me that SNAP-ON already has a 3V extraction kit available to help local techs work on this mess. Nice!
I did not sleep the night before. I followed the FORD TSB that calls for cold motor, 1/8 turn, stop, carb cleaner soak, ( Ford says 15 minutes, me, 90 minutes), torque wrench up to 30 ft lbs., and slow and easy. 6 came out smoothly, and two squeeked and groaned at 40-50 ft.lbs all the way but they are out and I fell to my knees! All of these plugs had a lot of carbon on the barrels. Also, the Motorcraft plugs are a 9/16 socket, the Champions are a 5/8 socket so watch out AGAIN!
Anti-seize on all of the Champions threads and in they went at 30 Ft Lbs. My car started right up, idles nicely, and seems to have more snap than before. I have 27,300 miles on my car. I could not imagine what those old plugs would have looked like at higher mileage. Good luck to all!

n8rfastback

careful what you wish for....

i have about 2k on my champions and now my car is running funny and backfiring... it may be the champ plugs but i havent been able to figure it out yet...

Glenn

good write up Thanks How long before you change them again?

FitzGT

Wow, thats like deja vu. I did that to mine last year when I put it up for the winter. I literally fell to my knees too! Congrats.

bOPPER

I plan on pulling and anti seizing my OE plugs this weekend. Knowing they are just sitting there unlubed has kept me up at night. I plan on putting the OE's back in. Is this a bad idea? My car is only going to be a 3k per year driver and I already have the Nickel Anti-seize and the aerokroil lying around and am borrowing the OTC 6900 Plug tool.

Car is an early 2008 please give our opinion on whether or not I should risk the removal this early on.

Car stats:
2008 with 2,000 miles
7/07 assemble date on drivers door.
Sticker on driver side cam cover has the AA engine code, not the AB code. I could not see an engine date on the cam anywhere.

roger blose

The OEM 2 piece plugs have to go ASAP. Use the carb cleaner since it travels quickly down the plug threads to break the " carbon lock". I would not re-use the old plugs given the removal stress that they go through.

houtex

Just because we're talking about it...

Ok, lemme get this straight. Ford *knows* there's a problem. And the only resolution they have is a buncha weird tools and solvents to hopefully avoid head removal. And be careful you don't drop stuff inside the block, that'd be bad.

And those of us who would depend on a shop might wind up with a $700+ hickey on top of the spark plug swap if something goes drastically wrong.

Further, we can't get 1 piece plugs that are as reliable, it appears, as the flawed 2 piece currently used.

I'm sorry... why isn't this a warranty/ recall/ class action lawsuit item yet? I know Ford, et. al., are on bad times now, but this is just unconscionable. This is a *design flaw*. They have metallurgists on staff... and it's been known for years this kind of thing happens to dissimilar metals... who screwed this up?

I can change spark plugs. It's just not that hard. Except that Ford has to make it so. Now I have to take it to a dealer and *hope* I don't pay $700+ extra for it. And guess what? I bet that they don't put antiseize on them.

That's ok... I'll immediately pull them and put it on myself, as it'll be fresh.

/But watch that number 8 cylinder crack in half anyway.
//What would GM/Chrysler/Honda/Toyota/BMW/etc/ad nauseum do... besides not do this in the first place, maybe...

roger blose

The plug gap is listed in the owner's manual as between .040-.050. I really debated the anti-seize issue on the Champions and decided to coat the actual threads to ease in and future removal. FORD says that the plugs will loosen up with anti-seize on the threads, I say given the friction going in and the bolted on coil packs, I will take that chance and retorque / check it down the road. Also, FORD is counting on re-installing the same skunk Motorcraft plugs which will again require a clean path past the threads for the carb cleaner to travel and break the carbon locks. Let's all hope that the engineers at FORD who designed and approved this fiasco have been fired by now.

dustindu4

My champions rans like crap and I put new motorcraft ones back in

Cheese302

anyone on here try any of the other spark plug brands that are making plugs for our cars?

05fordgt

+1 on that question? I would like to put some new plugs in the car this month, as the weather has gotten REAL COLD and the car shows are done with.

bOPPER

I was hoping with the low mileage I would be able to just remove the OE ones and then reinstall them. After I read this response I did start to think that reinstalling them might be a poor decision. I might weaken the crimping on the plug that holds the problem sheath to the plug. I might be opening a can of worms if I reinstall them. OH, THE DILEMMA!!

Maybe I will just wait a couple of years then try this again then

scramblr

Eh, it's not so bad. Once you have them out, put anti-seize on them and all is good. I pull them every oil change, clean them, anti-seize and re-install. Did that with the HT1s and now with the HTOs, no worries.

ford4v429

Ive still got a set of the $103 Champions on the shelf...in my opinion those are the poorest quality plugs ive ever seen- theres a thread here somewhere with pics- platinum points welded way off center may be forgiveable, but one is 2 threads shorter than the other 7- would it damage the head threads if tightened??? I aint gonna find out. 3 of them had almost steel wool looking metal shavings under the crimped seal on the outside- are there pieces on the 'inside' too??? I aiint gonna find out. I wrote federal mogul(they bought champion I guess) never even got a reply. glad I saw this thread- reminds me I need to go up to Summit not to return the plugs yet, but to see if they can rattle some cages at federal mogul about these plugs- we need a decent one piece plug, but this overpriced/made in mexico/pathetic quality stuff has got to go...

ford4v429

heres a link to the pictures I took of these POS plugs- scroll down to post #9:

http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/mus...ml#post1421680

presto

what can be done to get the carbon out? i have 107,600 miles on mine, and and am shaking like a dog crapping razor blades every time i think about doing this, or having it done. any ideas?

bOPPER

I hate letting someone f-up the work when I know there could be a problem. Whenever I hire someone to do some work for me and they screw it up, I say to myself, I could have done that.

At least when I screw it up myself it gives me the satisfaction of knowing I tried and I didn't rush the job. I would hate to think of the tech pulling those plugs rushing through the job so he make the lunch date with his girlfriend.

Good Luck

ford4v429

heres the pics of my crappy plugs:

mis-threaded***********off-center********** metal shavings

classix_stang289

i have 54,000 miles on my car and havent changed them yet, but i will be doing so shortly

classix_stang289

as for me i will be trying the autolite ht1's. I have heard good things about them