Hi, I'm a Ford Engineer, and I can't route spark plug wires to save my life.

[SVO LOU]

Rant on>>>>

97 5.0...Changed wires today and I have to ask myself what kind of rocket scientist decided to route ONE wire all by itself sitting ON the passenger-side valve cover! Would it be so hard to design the secondary ignition so that each bank had its own coil pack?
I'm better now.

<<<<OK, Rant off.

Lou

 

[section525]

It was probably an intern.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I know what you mean. Plus those clips they use to hold the plugwires are imposible to un-snap too

 

[EliteConcept]

i find that the silly clips ford uses on many things are very easy to break when you are trying to undo them, one that comes to mind is the clips that hold the headlight bulb to the socket....i always tend to break those stpuid basturds

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

One word, ZIPTIES, or is that two words

 

[jasonb]

nah... its only two words if you type ZIP TIES with a space. so your cool!

and i dread the day i do my plugs. i've seen so much pain and suffering about them here.

 

[SVO]

Lou,

Didn't I used to talk with you on the phone @ Motion Dynamics????


jeff

 

[chadhargis]

Should have bought a 4.0. The plugs are a breeze to change. Plug wires are easy too. I can imagine that the 5.0 would be a bit tight.

 

[taxx]

the SOHC sucks too. Last time I did them I got the wires for the OHV twice so this time I kept asking are you sure they are right?

And once you do find them (autozone doesn't have them) they are $40 for the cheapos, or $90 from the dealer! Then the plugs are a ***** to get too. much easier now though that I am SFA, just reached into the wheel well for the hard ones.... But to get the others I had to sit on the engine! Gotta love being so big a 6'2" guy has to clime in to work on it!

 

[Muskrat]

I had that problem as well, the wires going to the driverside went through the intake plenum, What a PITA, I just ran them over top and it works just fine

 

[SVO LOU]

Originally posted by SVO
Lou,

Didn't I used to talk with you on the phone @ Motion Dynamics????


jeff

Jeff, I dont believe so. I never worked at or dealt with Motion Dynamics as far as I know.

BTW, I can honestly change the spark plugs in under 45 minutes, probably closer to 30. You don't even have to take the wheels off, just lift by the frame to get some room between the top of the wheel well and top of the tire, peel off the inner rubber liner, and you're all set with a 4' extension.

Changing wires is a whole other animal.

Lou.

 

[BradE.]

Originally posted by Muskrat
I had that problem as well, the wires going to the driverside went through the intake plenum, What a PITA, I just ran them over top and it works just fine

My wires were routed through the intake too. It's a major PITA. Who ever decided on that routing should be shot.

 

[dogfriend]

Originally posted by BradE.
My wires were routed through the intake too. It's a major PITA. Who ever decided on that routing should be shot.

Apparently they did this on the 97 and later with 4.0 OHV.

Its a pain because aftermarket wire kits are sized for the early 4.0 which routed around the rear drivers side valve cover instead. But the clips are missing at the back of the cover since the factory routing was through the plenum.

I had one set of aftermarket wires and then switched back to Motorcraft just recently. I don't like the way either one was/is routed. I don't have enough slack with the OEM wires to route any other way.

 

[DarkFox1]

hrmm... I was thinking about changing my own wires.. now I'm not so sure hehe

 

[97BlackX5.0]

You better believe the 5.0 is in there tight.... i bought my X with 75k on it and was disgusted to find that it had the original plugs in it. so i set out to change them.... bought bosch plats for 1.89 a piece...and started to work 3 hours and 3 busted wires later i had them all out and the new plugs in...i then got to wait a week for new wires to come in.... 65 bucks for belden liftime warranty wires.... then since the rocket scientists at ford put really gay clips on them and routed them all together around everything possible on the engine i took them all off at once and copied the original "loom" with the new wires.... got it all back together finally and not looking forward to it again.

 

[Hokie]

Hey Lou,

You wouldn't know if Ford has any openings for interns or co-op's would ya? I'm currently co-op'ing with Honda R&D in Ohio, and I've decided it would be alot better to work on american iron (and not have to decipher broken japan-glish).

 

[SVO LOU]

Originally posted by HokieBert
Hey Lou,

You wouldn't know if Ford has any openings for interns or co-op's would ya? I'm currently co-op'ing with Honda R&D in Ohio, and I've decided it would be alot better to work on american iron (and not have to decipher broken japan-glish).

I bleed Ford blue but my money would be with Honda.

Lou.