3 Attachment(s)
Ford 2004 and up 5.4 spark plugs
There are many horror stories about the 2004 and up 5.4's breaking the spark plugs when being changed due to the bad design of 2 piece plugs and carbon build up on the ground sheild. Well I experienced this issue this weekend.
I did some researching on the internet before I did anything, they said that there was about a 95% chance that you will break at least one. I had 123,000 miles on my truck with the original plugs in it and was beginning to develop a miss to it. Champion makes a one piece plug to replace the current 2 piece motorcrafts but they are $20 each.
First thing I did was pull the main vacuum line going to the brake booster and poured 1/2 a bottle of seafoam down it until it stalled out. I let it sit for about 30 minutes then went and drove it for about 30 minutes to help burn the carbon deposits off the plugs. I came back, pulled air intake and other misc items that are in the way to access the plugs. Pulled all the coil packs and disconnected all the injectors. These plugs use a 9/16" instead of the normal 5/8" socket. So I took my 5/8" plug socket and removed the rubber from that and inserted it into the 9/16" and made my own plug tool.
The next step was to break every plug loose 1/8 to 1/4 turn and spray with either a good penetrating oil or brake parts cleaner. I did both and let it sit for about another hour. Now comes the moment of truth, I started on the drivers front plug, it began to turn and make noises (noises are good). You dont want to force the plugs, if they get tight stop and go the other way and then begin loosening again. I did this and the first one came right out. I got 7 in a row out without breaking, down to the final plug (cylinder #4 and hardest one to get to) passanger side rear up against the fire wall. It began coming out and making noises and then the noises stopped and the plug broke off. I was not happy at this point. After the top half of the plug was removed I resprayed the penetrating oil into the recessed area to see if would help remove any remaining carbon build up.
I went ahead and installed the new 7 plugs using a liberal amount of anti-seeze on the grounding sheild (Ford didn't do this) and threads. After the new plugs were installed and hooked back up, I cranked the engine over hoping the compression would blow the broken piece out. This attempt failed. Next step was to begin manuel extraction of the ground shield.
With a plug that I had already removed from the head, I broke it to see exactly what I was up against. It actually took quite a bit of force to break. With the broken ground shield in hand, I had to push the porcelain into the bottom of the stainless tip first. I did this with a hammer and a small pin punch. I then tried to tap the stainless ground shield with a 3/8”x16 tap (that is what other people said they had used and worked) but couldn’t get it to start. I then found a 1/8” NPT tap and it fit into the stainless ground shield and began threading it. I then checked to see if the 3/8”x16 piece of all-thread would screw into it, success. I had the tap tapped to a square nug socket on an extension so it would not fall off during this process. So I went back to the motor and began this process but couldn’t get the tap to fit in the hole that I was using. I was keeping the threaded seat from the spark plug in the head so I would not damage the aluminum threads on the head. The tap was too big to fit through the threaded part completely, so I took a 7/16” drill bit and enlarged the treaded seat to allow the tap to pass through. After I did that and reinstalled the threaded seat back into the head, I was able to tap the stainless ground shield that was stuck in the motor. Once I confirmed that it was tapped with the all-thread, I removed the threaded seat from the plug hole, reinstalled the all-thread, added some sockets as spacers and tightened up the all-thread. I then began tightening the nut against the washer and sockets and I heard the good noise of the ground shield being extracted. I continued to tighten the nut on the all-thread and the ground shield came completely out. In the pictures you can see how the plug broke, and the threaded seat off the plug that I was using to work through. All in all it was a complete pain but was able to get it out without removing the head, buying the $100 tool, or paying someone else to remove it.
