Solved 2004 4.6l started after 2 years having issues after 20 miles

[94Eddie]

Thanks Eddie. What a pain in the butt scooping coolant and sand out of the spark plug wells without a proper air compressor is! Any suggestions for what cleaner to use on the coils?

You can buy a set of boots and springs from Rock Auto for around $35. I would go this route. Motorcraft boots do not come with the spings. Denso, NKG or AC Delco would be a brand I works buy and they are reasonably priced and come with the springs. Do the best you can to get the grit from the wells BEFORE you remove the spark plugs. You don't want this material getting into yhe combustion chamber.

2004 FORD EXPLORER 4.6L V8 Spark Plug / Ignition Coil Boot | RockAuto

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[Stuw]

Alright so spark plugs are changed and intake manifold is out.

Probably took 20 minutes per spark plug bore to clean all the junk out of them. Cylinder 4 sparkplug bore was the only really clean one.

I got a little O-ring pick tool set and shoved rolled up pieces of shop towel down there and used compressed air Duster cans to get the loose stuff.

Found a little chunk of the interior coolant passage missing on the manifold around the cylinder 1 coolant crossover. Really not in the mood to buy another manifold but I just know this is going to bite me again if I put this back on.

maybe I can put some sealant around the outside lip there.

*UPDATE - I just ordered a doorman replacement intake manifold and coil boots from rock auto. It just won't be right to go through all this and have it leak again.

 

[Stuw]

Well she's alive and running great. Still needs a muffler but the drivability issue is solved.

My best guess is that the coolant leaked into the spark plug wells either from the aluminum crossover seal where the manifold was internally broken or from the upper radiator hose.

The coolant and moisture caused significant corrosion in the coil spring area and was likely interfering with the ignition process which was sending unburned fuel into the exhaust which also sent excessive oxygen from the failed combustion process. This must have triggered my lean codes.

I cleaned the corrosion from the coils and installed the new spring and boots from rock auto. The NGKs fit perfectly.

I made sure to clean up all the connectors with electric contact cleaner and used some dielectric grease on all my connections.

Thanks for all the help Eddie and everyone!

 

[94Eddie]

I am glad to hear it is running well. The 4.6L 2V engines are are one tough SOB.