PSA: Check your spark plugs

I was almost ready to get out the BFH on the left rear one. Ended up being a piece of cake with some large forceps. Of course that was the last one.

Lesson learned for when I do the plug swap down the road.

 

LOL, I don't mess around when I'm wrenching. Thought it would be worse than it was.

 

They have change intervals of 90K, but on average they shouldn't be missing at the mileage. Check the tightness of your plugs as you may have loose ones and the oil getting through may have snuck its way past causing mild misfires, and if not, you may be looking at a or multiple defective coils.

 

Thanks. My MINI would act up under heavy acceleration when the coils were going bad, but oddly enough ran fine otherwise.

 

I believe the OM says 90k for the plugs? That is a seriously short interval for double iridiums.

The packs should last the life of the Taco.

 

It is 60k for spark plug replacement.

 

Lol. Nooo.. not with the build quality of today's electronics they shouldn't. (The coils)

90K is a general service interval for the plugs, you could go past that, sure, but there are other factors that come into play here which are not being accounted for.

 

The spark plug problem isn't going to be the same as Ford had with the 4.6L and 5.4L is it????? Blowing out?

 

Yes. That's exactly what I'm talking about.

 

Forceps for the connector? I love my long set. Infinitely useful

 

WTF, @stungun is banned... Welp, there goes my TW Friday entertainment and TW will not be the same

 

Yep. I don't know if it was that I couldn't get enough pressure on the clip or if it just couldn't flex enough. I struggled with all six and have the same issues disconnecting the HVAC panel. I never had this problem on other cars? The left rear was the least accessible and just not budging for me. Gently as possible grabbing the both sides of the connecter with the forceps released it way easier than by hand. I feel that it strained the connectors less because I was not accidentally loading the harness either.

Yeah. Forceps are an essential tool.

 

Do u have a set of those needle nose hose clamp pliers? Those work well on connectors too

 

Agreed. I have seen 100k intervals for platinums for ages now. Iridiums should generally last longer, but like you said, there are other factors. I know one of our old cars used the plugs to sense knock, so it was important to replace them. Those cheap coppers every other oil change was NBD and a 5min job with that particular setup.

 

Like vice grips? If so, I do not. I have only one large pair of those nut fuckers. I can see those working, but I like the flexible nature of forceps. I have four different sizes and shapes of those.

They're invaluable when working on the bike.

 

Yeah exactly. Plugs are relatively cheap to buy and should be considered a consumable item and that's what I've been telling the boosted group for a long time now. People shouldn't be afraid to replace them early if they look ugly.

 

Not unless the spark plugs are also two piece. That was the issue with the original ford triton motors

 

Wow. You're getting push back on that? Amazing.

That was why most folks went with the cheap coppers on that car. With boost and a certain sensitivity and big time cost of that coil pack assembly (Saab Trionic), it was better to stick with NGK coppers and toss them. Wayy less expensive that a roasted pack cassette.

I have not followed along much in the FI stuff since the FOB tunes fixed my issues. But, I wonder if the same solution might be possible? Cheap coppers replaced often? Of course, Mat would know best there.

 

Like these. Work good for pushing on the tab that releases the connector.

 

I still have a 1997 F150 w/ 4.6L , one piece plug. The mechanics asked me how many times I have "blown" a spark plug. Luckily I never had. 226,000 mi. Pretty common I guess.