Ford Triton plugs, WTF! Discuss

Seriously!? Really!? Haven't gotten one full set of plugs out intact yet. No amount of patience or penetrant seems to help. Am I missing something or do they really suck that bad?

try this...

http://www.autolite.com/learn_more/spark_plugs?product=425

I have heard about this from people, I am very curious to understand why this happens. What physically causes this? Heat and cooling over and over again? Why is there no recall to fix it?

3V heads or 2V heads?

3V's suffer from carbon buildup around the electrode. Think of trying to pull a knotted shoestring out through that eyelet in the shoe. Plus the E36 M3ty 2pc shells suck dogE36 M3.

2V's, they just suck. Usually overtorqued into the head without any antiseize.

I've replaced hundreds of plugs but the tritons love to break off in the head leaving the lower portion metal, porcelain and electrode seized in the head. Think I'm over reacting? Simply search triton plug extractor kit. I hope whoever came up with those has been sacked!

I guess that's why they sell this?

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/p-16225-lisle-65600.aspx

yep. that's the huckleberry. I'd rather pleasure a bobcat in a phone booth than do another one of those anytime soon!

Did them on my 07 F-150 a couple years ago and only broke one! I followed the Ford TSB to the letter. I got my extractor tool from Amazon for about $60.

we pulled some out of a mustang ahead of schedule and got away w/ only one broke but this was an 04' f-150 that was in for its 100k service.

So, let the dealership do it. Check. Thanks, Ross with his 06 F150 5.4

Mine are staying in until they don't work anymore. I've been generally happy with my F150....but looking under the hood of my buddy's '10 Tundra had me shaking my head.

Everything clean, easy to access, uncluttered. That's how you package an engine.

Ford tech buddy of mine quotes that spark plug job as $250-1500. People normally ask why the wide price range. He explains that it depends on how many plugs actually come out and how many fall into the chamber necessiating head removal.

Working on ford fleets for almost 4 years i can say this is a perfectly normal thing, sucks but it is what it is.

Do a heater core on a ranger right after that and see how you love life lol.

Seems like every vehicle has it's quirks and downfalls.

Tyler H wrote: Mine are staying in until they don't work anymore. I've been generally happy with my F150....but looking under the hood of my buddy's '10 Tundra had me shaking my head. Everything clean, easy to access, uncluttered. That's how you package an engine.

Too bad the rest of the truck is such crap.

JtspellS wrote: Do a heater core on a ranger right after that and see how you love life lol.

I did one in my 96... Seemed fairly easy.. Now a Grand Cherokee makes a Ranger look like a non-AC Fox heater core......

That's one of the problems with plugs that last so long.

The 70's & 80's GM with V8 used to require contortionists and removal of wheels, etc., etc. to get plugs out. Many people ran with 1-2 cylinders where the plugs were never changed.

It took me all day long to get to the rear plug on the passenger side of an 80's GM stationwagon. Had the jack the car high enough to be able to move freely, remove the wheel, cut hole in fender well to go along with a 2nd pair of hands from the top.

Prior to that I swore changing plugs in a GTX was hell on earth. After that I longed to change plugs in the easy to access GTX. It only took tools with a special bend and patience as you backed it out 1/16 of a turn at a time. That was a piece of cake by comparison.

carguy123 wrote: That's one of the problems with plugs that last so long. The 70's & 80's GM with V8 used to require contortionists and removal of wheels, etc., etc. to get plugs out. Many people ran with 1-2 cylinders where the plugs were never changed. It took me all day long to get to the rear plug on the passenger side of an 80's GM stationwagon. Had the jack the car high enough to be able to move freely, remove the wheel, cut hole in fender well to go along with a 2nd pair of hands from the top. Prior to that I swore changing plugs in a GTX was hell on earth. After that I longed to change plugs in the easy to access GTX. It only took tools with a special bend and patience as you backed it out 1/16 of a turn at a time. That was a piece of cake by comparison.

i've never seen an 80's GM car with plugs that i couldn't change.. maybe i just got lucky?

are these Ford spark plugs the same ones that are known to get blown out of the head because Ford decided that they only needed to tap a couple of threads, figuring that the carbon on the tip would hole the plugs in place?

if so, you either can't get plugs to stay in or you can't get them to come out..

In reply to novaderrik:

Same displacement, different cylinder head configuration.

Ranger50 wrote: In reply to novaderrik: Same displacement, different cylinder head configuration.

ok.. gotcha.. so their idea of improving the design was to create a different problem..

I think I read somewhere that there was a revised plug around ~08 and this isn't happening with the new plugs.

Suppose a guy is thinking about changing the plugs in his van. We'll use an '02 Econoline with the 4.6, in this hypothetical scenario. Is there a warning sign before a plug breaks? Will they unscrew smoothly and then just snap, or does it take eleven-teen hundred torques to snap? Can a guy start, meet resistance and say, "berk it, that plug can stay." since it only gets driven once in a while?

I got all of mine out without incident in my 03 5.4 F150 and all the new ones went in with anti-seize. I changed them at 80,000 and wish I'd done it sooner. I was told that aging plugs put extra strain on the Coil On Plugs (cops) and can cause premature failure.

In reply to Entropyman:

In '03, they were the 2 valve head design. The plugs breaking off inside the head are on the 3 valve heads. ('04-'10)

Ranger50 wrote: 3V heads or 2V heads? 3V's suffer from carbon buildup around the electrode. Think of trying to pull a knotted shoestring out through that eyelet in the shoe. Plus the E36 M3ty 2pc shells suck dogE36 M3. 2V's, they just suck. Usually overtorqued into the head without any antiseize.

This ^

DO NOT repeat DO NOT!!!! Use the Autolite replacements. Sure they're a 1 piece design, but they berkleying suck. Prepare to have misfires is all I'm saying. The easiest way to get those out is go rn a REAL fuel injection cleaner through the engine and then take them out while the engine is still hot. It sucks for the mechanic, but you'll most likely get all of them out intact. We use the BG system here at my dealership. Works like a charm. Snap on sells the extractor for the plugs just in case though.