'01 v8 AWD Spark Plug Change

[ggomez2]

Hello all, new to forum as well as owning an Explorer. I've looked around for 2 days on this site looking for a write-up / discussion on spark plug changes for the 2001 5.0L AWD motor. I have a 4.0l '94 Ranger as well and have successfully done spark plugs for it 3 times now. Just would like to research doing the V8 as much as possible; I've looked and it seems the passenger side, closest to firewall, spark plug will be toughest.
Thanks in advance

[my pos mounty]

Take your front tire off and then the inner thin plastic shroud, VIOLA! sparkplugs right in front of you. Easy change, for replacing them, you could try using a 3/8 rubber hose on the top of the sparkplug to spin the plug while you insert it. Highly recommend using air to blast around the plugs before you change them to get the dirt out of there

[techieman33]

you don't have to take the entire fender liner off, just the smaller piece, it's held in the the push clips.

[my pos mounty]

Originally Posted by techieman33

you don't have to take the entire fender liner off, just the smaller piece, it's held in the the push clips.

I only have 1 piece????? The thin black limpy plastic.....

[Spdrcer34]

Yes. The thin black limpy plastic.

There are a couple screws, a couple bolts, and a couple push pin 'christmas trees'

Ryan

[techieman33]

mine is 2 pieces, so are turdle's and celly's for sure. There is the hard plastic liner that fills most of the wheel well. and then a small "limpy" piece that's crescent shaped, and that piece is all you need to remove, it should just be held in with the push pins.

[X6StringerX]

Another tip is that you don't even have to remove the tires. Jack the vehicle up from the front crossmember to the point that the tires are just about to come off the ground and you'll have more than enough room to work. I just replaced the plugs in my '01 5.0 a couple of weeks ago and it was a breeze.

As a safety precaution, use a couple of jackstands to stabilize the vehicle and prevent an almost certain decapitation if the jack fails, lol.

[ggomez2]

Thanks for all the responses, genuinely appreciated!
X6Stringer, did you notice a difference in gas mileage once you did the swap? I'm in Denver, and I'm averaging about 13.5 MPG on my first tank since owning it. I've looked at the plugs without removing any, and it appears they are the original plugs (Motorcraft, they also have the cylinder numbers labeled, never seen that before).
Air cleaner looks pretty clean, it was fairly maintained prior to my purchase.

[X6StringerX]

The plugs I removed weren't wore out, so I didn't see any change. The only reason I changed them is because I Seafoamed the Explorer as well as replaced the camshaft synchronizer. It is recommended that you change your plugs after the Seafoam treatment and the install procedure for the camshaft synhronizer is much easier if the plugs are removed, so I had more than enough incentive to swap in some new plugs, lol.

With winter blend gas and mostly city driving, 13.5mpg doesn't sound too far out of line. Depending on whether or not your plugs are, in fact, the originals and the number of miles on your Explorer, you might very well gain an extra mile per gallon. On my previous 5.0 Explorers, I've seen as good as 17mpg on 50/50 city/highway driving and 20-21 on nothing but highway. I'm currently getting between 14-16 on mixed driving with our winter blend gas.

[celly]

Originally Posted by techieman33

you don't have to take the entire fender liner off, just the smaller piece, it's held in the the push clips.

+1

This is the same advice Eric (techieman33) gave me in person this past summer and I applied it without an issue a month or so later when I got back home. I am a horrible mechanic, but I found plug changing on my 5.0 to be one of the simpler maintenance items I've ever done.

[August_explorer]

another good discussion could use pics!