Ecoboost Spark Plug Change Help

[Black]

Ford Motorcraft (Autolite) plugs have the same chrome plating and they will seize in the cylinder head. As I removed the plugs from my 17 Expy with 6k miles, it took some force to break them loose. I can only imagine if I had to remove them at 50k miles.

I only put a dab near the tip of the threads so it would lightly coat all of the threads as I screwed it in. I tighten my plugs by hand and then do a 1/8 turn with a wrench. Never had any problems.

Did you give them a little shot of penetrating oil and let them sit for a bit?

 

[NASCAR Mike]

Did you give them a little shot of penetrating oil and let them sit for a bit?

No. I only have 6k miles on the engine so I figured they didn't seize in there like the plugs on my wife's 08 Expy at 50k miles. If I were changing them anywhere after 20k miles for the first time I would definitely spray some PB Blaster in there and soak them overnight.

 

[Black]

Got to mine today. No big deal pretty simple swap.
I had no issues getting the connector off the coil. Pop the red tab, push up, push grey tab, pull down.
While taking the plugs out of a hot motor is a NO NO. I thought maybe trying to pull the coils off while warm would be a bit easier as the spring and rubber boot would be more pliable. Mine pulled off prettt easily only one issue.
DO NOT TRY TO PULL THE COIL OUT WITH YOUR FINGERS UNDER THE RING ONCE YOU GET SOME SPACE!!!!!!!! The ring is ultra thin. The rubber underneath is super thick so I am hoping this will not cause issue. I just won’t be fording rivers anytime soon.



Overall not bad. Though I still find Ford’s 100k change interval to be complete nonsense.
Most plugs gap had spread to between .040 and .045

 

[cmiles97]

Thanks guys for sharing your results. I was on the fence about changing them out so early but I'm convinced now.