06 Expedition Spark Plugs

[darmahsd]

OK, there's a principle here. It shouldn't be about the money. If you want to pay, more power to you. I'm an old fart from the old school. I remember what money could buy, what fuel used to cost, etc. As good as this vehicle is, it's just wrong that Ford would charge you for it's own design flaw. And as others have said, make you pay when their mechanic breaks the plug. I'm going to buy the tool. Turns out that it's not expensive @ $59 bucks---http://tinyurl.com/86s5rtf
I'll break my own plugs, thank you. And when I install the re-designed one piece, hopefully, it won't happen again. After I'm done, I can sell it to a mechanic who might use it over and over. OR, through PayPal, I can rent it with a deposit to cover the cost. Say Twenty bucks plus refundable deposit. After 3 or 4 times, the tool's paid for and I can just loan it out for just a deposit. Not looking to get rich here, just an idea to help people on this forum who'd rather not help put some Ford techs kid through college for what should be a simple spark plug change. Is that a plan?

 

[thegeneral]

spark plugs changed for 4-5-600 dollars???

does anybody else see anything wrong with this?

I changed out the plugs in my Yukon in 30 minutes. None of them broke. Simple walk in the park.

The plugs I got I believe were around 60.00 for the best ones that autozone stocked at the time.

Why should it be 600.00 to replace plugs?

Reading through this thread is making me crazy...

 

[thegeneral]

In my old Yukon that I replaced with an expedition I might add

 

[timberwoof]

I did my plugs in my '06 not tI long ago and didn't break any of them. I just followed the instructions I found on YouTube. Only difference is, I used PB blaster instead of the carb cleaner. Figured if I was going to use a liquid to squirt in my engine it would be one with a high flash point and burn when I started the engine back up instead of risking a hydrolock situation.

 

[darmahsd]

I did my plugs in my '06 not too long ago and didn't break any of them. I just followed the instructions I found on YouTube.

I'm still trying to figure that one out. There are many You Tube techniques.
Which one do you use? The one that makes sense to me is contrary to the factory method, which I think promotes breakage---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIQevez-DG0&feature=fvwrel
Normally, I would be against using an impact. But in this case, it's for removing something, and with the engine hot. The Ford method wants you to do it with the engine cold.
A warm engine would be like capillary action in the plumbing trade. The heat should draw the fluid, whatever it is- carb cleaner mixed with acetone, a PB Blaster mixture, etc. down into where the carbon build up is. It should then break free the plug from the aluminum head easier with everything warm and the 3/8 impact.

 

[hovocop]

the reason for the expense is the 5 hours of labor associated with changing the plugs on these ^$%$ cars. I purchased a used one a couple of months ago, and decided to try to change it myself....... luckily, I was pursuaded to let a pro do it after the horror stories of plugs flying out of the coil causing thousands in damage. When you change, use only motorcraft original parts...... and if I were you, pay the pro to do it.

 

[timberwoof]

This is one of the videos I used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gz5Pd-hrWQ

 

[hovocop]

guys, I had purchased bosch 4x platinum, but mechanic said could not give warranty unless it was genuine (motorcraft) plug........ cost is about the same, but when I heard stories of plugs shooting out of coil, I returned the bosch and had him put in motorcraft

 

[darmahsd]

when I heard stories of plugs shooting out of coil, I returned the bosch and had him put in motorcraft

The plugs shooting out of the head is mostly associated with the two valve motor.
Depending on the build year and engine, Romeo or Windsor, Ford only had minimum rows of threads in the soft aluminum heads for the plug to catch. If you didn't hand start the plug with a good amount of antisieze, you were going to have a problem from there on in. And that's not just with the Ford, but any with aluminum heads, right down to your lawn mower. When I had my '97 5.4, I always changed the plugs myself and had no problem, and no one else I could blame. Years of working on imports with aluminum heads taught me how to correctly do plugs.
The second generation, 3 valve engine had a different issue in that the three piece plug would seize up with carbon build up and break apart when you tried to remove them. Techs might chime in and complain about all my whining with the costs associated with a plug change when the intervals were less frequent, at 100,000 miles instead of the $30 plug changes of pre OBD cars of 25 years ago. But the 100,000 mile interval works against the carbon build up of the faulty designed, 3 piece plug. That's why I must consider the age of my truck,(7 years), and not the low for it's age, 50K, and change the plugs.
I'm pretty sure that motor had deeper threads that weren't as easy to strip as the 2 valve. At least I never heard that issue with the 3 valve.

 

[hovocop]

I changed my honda civic plugs in 15 minutes.............. designing a car that takes hours to change plugs on top of other things that can go wrong is bad form........... surprised that they did not correct the flaw in later models....... mine is 98