The autotlite is the same design as the stock ones

 

Hey, would anyone be interested in using one set of these broken plug kits amongst many of us?

My stang is my only car, so it can't be out of comission for more than a day. I would like to have the kit on hand while I'm swapping my plugs, so I can remove broken plugs if necessary while I'm doing the swap. But I don't know if I want to spend $250 "just in case."

Would anyone be interested in sharing this kit around, say, 10 people? This is what I'm thinking:

Person A: Buy kit for $250. Use kit or have kit handy for plug swap.
Person B: Sends $225 to person A, who mails kit to person B.
Person C: Sends $200 to person B, who mails kit to person C.
Person D: Sends $175 to person C, who mails kit to person D.
etc....
Person J: Sends $25 to person I, who mails kit to person J.

And at that point, whoever wants to keep the $250 kit for whatever price we all think is fair ($100?), can send 10 bucks to everyone involved. If no one claims it, we eBay it and split it. (i have a high feedback account and can handle that part)

I guess this would only be of interest to people who only own one car, like me, but lemme know if this sounds feasible to anyone. If we have 10 people, the total cost will be $25+shipipng ($10 shipping?). And then a $10-15 refund a few months down the road when the kit is finally sold.

 

Either that or find out how many people would want to get involved and just let everyone send $?? to one persons Paypal account for the purchase of the kit and then we just all agree to pay for shipping to each person in the group. The kit will fit in a padded mailer and will probably be around $5 to ship USPS which is no big deal to me. I do like the idea of this because I really would like to change my plugs out, but with the high cost of the plugs themselves I really don't want to toss down another $250 for a kit that I "might" need. At least this way no one is out a larger sum of money and hopes that the next person in the group holds up their end of the bargain. Then at the end your idea sounds good to me. Let someone buy out the kit if they want it or eBay it and split it. I am good to go if we can get some others that want to join up...

 

Seems to me, that when the old 2v 4.6 came out, it was still recommended to pull the plugs every so often (forget the amount) then apply the appropriate antiseize to prevent galling/head damage (plugs would last 100k, but would weld into the head if not done) -even tho the plugs wouldn't break off like these new 3v engines are prone to.
I will be buying a new set of plugs-One Piece, hopefully I don't have the dreaded plug breakage, even tho my car has only 8k klm, and is an 07... I would still pull them, and re-lube at least yearly, depending on the odometer.
I dread other mechanics working on any of my vehicles, have had done, seen and heard too many horror stories from any dealer/mechanic. The only thing I get done, is alignments-due to the tooling-even that scares me. Totally rebuilt the front suspension in my ol 79 stang-brand new everything, brought it in for an alignment, and they wanted to change balljoints.... Eeegads!
my 2c.

 

that ain't gonna happen

That tool will be useful next year when you finally get it

 

After looking at my original OEM FORD plugs I removed, the ground shield is
made of stainless steel (non magnetic). The Champions are one piece design,
but all steel. Which can rust and corrode in the head.

That being said, which design is really better?

 

Okay, there is a lot of talk here and I have some answers. If you look at any late model F150 Forum, this topic has been discussed in great lenght as those engines use the same plug design (crappy).

The longer you wait to pull out your plugs and put some antiseize on the ground portion of the plug the more likely you are to break it off in the head. I don't have the TSB on me, but do a search. There is a very specific way to take these plugs out to reduce the risk of breaking them. Don't use WD40 it is no good at breaking down the carbon build up.

If you break the plug, yes there is a tool to get it out. It is expensive, but I have seen them on Ebay for pretty cheap. As these engines (not just in Mustangs) get older, the plug issue is becoming more apparent to all as they have to come out to be changed. If you take your Mustang in to get the plugs changed, you will be told up front that if the mechanic breaks a plug, you will pay to get it removed. This tool that Ford uses to remove the broken ground part of the plug is not fool proof. There is still the chance the head will have to be removed to get the broken part out.

SO, changing your plugs now and get the antisieze on as per TSB now will save you a ton of problems in the future.

Someone asked if I can get a picture of the tool I made. Do a search on the net and you will find a pictureof it, it is made by Rotunda. I am a machinst and made my own by looking at pictures and taking measurements from the engine and then reverse engineering it. You will need a tap 9X1.0 mm to tap the broken part in the head.

One more thing. There is a great technical video on the net on this very topic that shows the removal of the spark plug, the way to use the tool if you break the plug and where to put the antisieze (not on the threads). Very well put together, except for the tools that are doing the talking, they should never take on any future acting roles!

 

I might be interested in the removal tool idea. I'm probably going to be replacing mine in the next few weeks, and with 60K miles on mine...it's not looking promising. My car is my daily driver, and I don't really have a replacement vehicle handy.

I just talked with a service manager at the dealer earlier today and he told me $350 labor for replacing the plugs. That is if the do NOT break off. crazy.

 

Yea the removal TSB is about 20 minutes per plug to remove. Up here in Canada it is $500 - $550 to change plugs at the dealer, "plus breakage fees".

 

That's such bullspit! I might sue if they tried to charge me for extra time cuz they broke something.

 

Good luck...this is old news and people have had your thoughts before. Change your plugs now!

 

Your information is great but if you really are trying to help the general public here on TMS it would be great if you could post links and/or pictures of the items you speak of. I know it is a little more trouble to do this but it lends volumes to your posts.
Scott

 

if the dealership wanted $350 plus to change the plugs I would buy the tool myself and do the job myself, the Ford tech I talked to says the tool makes it real easy to come out. He confirmed to me that it is a major problem with the 3V heads and he has changed hundreds and hundreds of these things already. Good thing is he does side jobs and is going to do it for me for cheap. After I was done I would sell the tool on here.

If we could get a supporting vendor here to do a group buy on the plugs and get them down to $10-$15 each I would be all over it. I already contacted Derek at D'Agostino.

 

+1 on the group buy!

 

I think I'm going to tackle it monday. I'll spend all day on it if I can save $350...or more.

 

+2 on the group buy

 

Sorry, I was at work and can't do it with our security settings on the computer.

Click on the link and watch episode #26 http://www.flatratetech.com/index.php?categoryid=4 As I stated before, great information, bad actors!

 

+3 on the group buy

and +1 on the buying of dudustin's used tool

 

I guess I got sidetracked in my post. I meant that if I had no other option I would buy the tool myself, use it and sell it.

But I have a Ford tech that already has the tool so I would rather have him do it, and he's changed tons of these before so he knows what he's doing. He said the tool makes it real easy to take the shields out if they get stuck in there, and he makes it sound like it's not a big deal.

 

Could you post a drawing of the tool you made for those of us that have the meens to make one .As I have a lathe where I work