Dumb question hasn't Ford released what specic or all vehicles effected by this bad plug ? I thought that Ford were to contact owners of the problem to have it resolved . Or were they waiting unroll warrenty etc was all gone and then tell you that your plugs are due for change then tell you they broke and guess what it'll cost you now to remove and replace. As I other that reading into the horror here have heard Nothing about this .

 

Since I have two Mustangs in the Coral that are affected by this I spent the $85
to get the broken plug remover. Eh, why not. I try to add to my toolbox at least once a month.

Now I have 16 to remove.

 

You shouldn't need to gap these as they should come gapped to spec. If you did need to gap them, the OEM design requires some kind of special tool. The platinum tips on the champions even though they have a conventional electrode does not allow use of the old style "coin" gapper as you can ruin the platinum tip.

Two piece just means that the plug shaft/housing was two pieces of metal and they are crimped together. There is a third glass/ceramic piece like all spark plugs. The champions are a single metal piece with some kind of fused body and to me seem like a quality design (Unless you get a mis-made set) as they should be given the price. Supposedly they are better with the conventional electrode design. Truthfully you won't see much benefit probably except peace of mind that you are getting away from the poor OEM design.

 

Sounds like the two piece drive shaft ? Vs the one piece shaft , sounds like maybe the same designer maybe on a two piece kick , versus looking forward to the day ( not )

 

Thanks for this thread ... I got all 8 of mine out w/o problem thanks to all the advice. I got the Champion plugs (b/c they are 1-piece) and she started right up. Even seems peppier. Only thing to watch is that you need 2 ratchets .... 9/16 to get them out but 5/8 to get the new ones in ... kind of a pain. Thanks again, all!!!

 

How many miles did you have??
How did you do it?
1. Warm up car
2. soak
3. 1/4 turn, more soak
4. wait
5. back out slowly while muttering "Hail Mary...full of grace" over and over?

I have eveything but the muster to do this.... lol

 

Hey bud, the one thing the TSB says NOT TO DO is warm the car up. Car must be COLD!!! I did it and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But the motor CAN'T be warm, per the TSB. I followed it to a T and it worked great!

 

Actually, in my experience, the engine HAD to be warm. i couldn't get the plugs out with a cold engine. I had the torque wrench set much higher than recommended and they still wouldn't budge. I've done them twice now - same both times. So, i ran the engine till it was just warm to touch but not hot, waited about 10 minutes, tried again - came out no problem.

The original TSB for this issue said to do it with the engine warm. The updated one said engine cold. I think Ford's just worried that peopew will screw up the aluminum threads if they do it warm or hot. But if you just take them OUT with it warm, and put them IN with cold engine, you should be fine. Just my $.02.

 

Anyone used something like this before the removal?
http://www.amazon.com/Kano-Aerokroil...=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

One of the reviews specifically mentions a motor where "The spark plugs would break off leaving a part of the plug in the head of the motor", which must be ours I would think.

 

I think the aerokroil appeared on one of the early tsbs or a tech video distributed by ford.

 

BUMP

champion plugs are total crap. every engine i've ran that had champions, had plug problems.
i will never use champions.

seems the Autolite HT*'s are still two piece. but i notice the boxes have changed.
the box on thier site says "improved design HSS technology". did a search and found... "High-Strength Steel (HSS) Technology helps prevent separation of shell and ground shield."

i see a 100 shot of N20 in my future so i'm going to go for the new HT0's.

 

Been running the champs for about 40K with good results so far. Would be interesting to see the details on the new autolites.

 

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I'm planning on swapping for the Brisk Silver plugs in my 06' GT next weekend (once my Lisle tool arrives).

Do the Brisk plugs come pre-gapped, or do I need to use the coin-style gapper?

JR

 

You probably want to check the gap , but they're not like the ford plugs you can use a regular gapper. Also beware that since they're silver they don't last as long , I only had 14k on mine before they needed to be changed ...

 

Yeah, I know that they're a shorter life plug. I only put about 5k/year on my car, so even if they only last me 15k, oh well.

In all likelihood, the 06 is going to be leaving me once the 2013s are available, anyway...

JR

 

I will change mine too.what spark plugs is best for 2012 mustang?

 

I've got 50K miles on my one piece Champions without a single problem.

I'll put them in again unless Motorcraft comes out with a one piece design. No, I don't consider the "High Strength Steel" but still 2 piece design the answer.

 

This spark plug situation was for the 4.6L V8s in the 2005-2010 Mustangs.

 

Except that Ford rolled out new heads for the 4.6 3V in Dec 07 that don't use the problematic extended 2 pc plugs.

 

Correct-a-mundo! My mistake!

I should have said "this applied to '05 to the first half of '08'!