ok so some of you knew of what was happening on the "what did you do to the expy today" thread but to understand the difficulty and how frustrating it is I feel some of you might want to skip out on replacing plugs yourself and let the dealer deal with it in case this happens to you......
Ok first off I had a recent engine swap, the "newly" swapped engine had 120k on it and obviously original plugs, I told the shop doing the swap at least 5 times to replace plugs while its out of the car but nope they didn't
Anyways 3 days ago I get a misfire code so I decided to replace plugs, I got a lisle tool 65600 and new plugs and got to work
Now the fun part: all 8 plugs broke in 3 pieces, 7 of which came out without any struggle using the lisle tool but lucky plug #3 (the one that ignited the CEL) decided it wasn't coming out, after repeated attempts trying to remove it the lisle tool stripped and with that it also stripped the electrode.
1. I bought another kit in hopes it grabs the electrode but it wouldn't catch,
2. I tried hammering the puller screw on to dig it deeper that didn't work
3. I got a 3/8-16 extended tap 6" long, tried to tap the electrode but all it did was strip off the top lip of the broken electrode and it kept breaking piece by piece
4. I gave up hope at this point & started counterplating my life and all the choices I made to get me to this point!
5. Started to tare down the intake thinking I have to remove the heads now... Then in the mids of it I decided to beat the living hell out of the electrode using a 1/4" drive 12" long extension and a 4-lb sludge hammer and I just started pounding at it (I was very angry)
To my surprise 10 minutes later I go to remove the extension and it's stuck, so I kept wiggling it until it came out.... Then it hit me, the square tip has created a dimple inside the electrode which might be just enough for the lisle tool to grab onto, and holly smokes it grabbed it and pulled it out
Though might I remind you the electrode got pushed so deep that I couldn't get the nut on the puller screw using the spacer that came with the tool, I had to use a 1/2 drive 13/16 deep socket and a 1/2" SAE washer on the bottom and top and as I screwed the nut it actually worked.
I spent $160 & close to 16 hours in 5 degrees weather just on plug #3, in not counting the first 4 hours I spent on the other 7 plugs
Anyways I'm never touching this engine again, it's to the dealer for everything from now on even for oil changes in tired and fed up with fords 3v 5.4, I will never recommend it and will never buy anything again powered by it!
Pics of what it took will be coming soon
Ok first off I had a recent engine swap, the "newly" swapped engine had 120k on it and obviously original plugs, I told the shop doing the swap at least 5 times to replace plugs while its out of the car but nope they didn't
Anyways 3 days ago I get a misfire code so I decided to replace plugs, I got a lisle tool 65600 and new plugs and got to work
Now the fun part: all 8 plugs broke in 3 pieces, 7 of which came out without any struggle using the lisle tool but lucky plug #3 (the one that ignited the CEL) decided it wasn't coming out, after repeated attempts trying to remove it the lisle tool stripped and with that it also stripped the electrode.
1. I bought another kit in hopes it grabs the electrode but it wouldn't catch,
2. I tried hammering the puller screw on to dig it deeper that didn't work
3. I got a 3/8-16 extended tap 6" long, tried to tap the electrode but all it did was strip off the top lip of the broken electrode and it kept breaking piece by piece
4. I gave up hope at this point & started counterplating my life and all the choices I made to get me to this point!
5. Started to tare down the intake thinking I have to remove the heads now... Then in the mids of it I decided to beat the living hell out of the electrode using a 1/4" drive 12" long extension and a 4-lb sludge hammer and I just started pounding at it (I was very angry)
To my surprise 10 minutes later I go to remove the extension and it's stuck, so I kept wiggling it until it came out.... Then it hit me, the square tip has created a dimple inside the electrode which might be just enough for the lisle tool to grab onto, and holly smokes it grabbed it and pulled it out
Though might I remind you the electrode got pushed so deep that I couldn't get the nut on the puller screw using the spacer that came with the tool, I had to use a 1/2 drive 13/16 deep socket and a 1/2" SAE washer on the bottom and top and as I screwed the nut it actually worked.
I spent $160 & close to 16 hours in 5 degrees weather just on plug #3, in not counting the first 4 hours I spent on the other 7 plugs
Anyways I'm never touching this engine again, it's to the dealer for everything from now on even for oil changes in tired and fed up with fords 3v 5.4, I will never recommend it and will never buy anything again powered by it!
Pics of what it took will be coming soon