4.6L spark plug problems

[superboat]

Hey whats going on guys,I kinda ran into a bad situation.I own a 06 mountaineer with the 4.6l v8. Its my daily driver to get back and forth to work. As of most of you already know that changing the spark plugs are a hassle. Well last night cly 8 started misfiring on me.

I pulled the coil out and noticed that there was water inside of the hole which was causing the plug to miss on me.I blew out all the water and any dirt laying down there put some dielectric grease on the coil boot and mounted everything back. Still had a misfire.

So I decided to change out that plug and a 9/16 deep socket that I grounded down so it would fit between the plug and the wall. So I decided to give it a turn and my bad self stripped the plug. The threads are still fine since the plug never turned but the spark plug its self is stripped.

Any advice or any help would work. I cant find anything on the computer about this problem but I am sure im not the first to run into it. I really don't want to pull the head off to fix a little spark plug. Thanks guys

things i already tried:
6point 9/16 deep---socket slips off
6point 14mill deep---socket slips off
heated up the engine and froze the 14mil socket in the freezer hoping that the cold socket might shock the plug and being that its hot might come out,nopeee---socket slips off

please guys help

 

[penemyone]

I had this problem in my Stang GT. I got an extender and deep 1/2 inch socket and tapped it on (did this before on wheel locks). It grabbed and came right out. My problem ended up being bad coils (2 actually) that I replaced with some JEGS aftermarkets. Hope this helps. Good Luck

 

[superboat]

I had this problem in my Stang GT. I got an extender and deep 1/2 inch socket and tapped it on (did this before on wheel locks). It grabbed and came right out. My problem ended up being bad coils (2 actually) that I replaced with some JEGS aftermarkets. Hope this helps. Good Luck[/QUOTE

do you remember if you used 6point or 12point?thats the next thing ill try hopefully it comes out and doesnt strip it out more...

 

[swshawaii]

Lisle 65600 Spark Plug Remover. One of many posts. GL
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=374468

TSB's
http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/TSb/DownloadPdf?id=142690
http://www.revbase.com/BBBMotor/TSb/DownloadPdf?id=151053

 

[swshawaii]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=322777

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325277&highlight=water+spark+plug

 

[Explorer_PL]

swshwaii -

Superboat got completely fifferent problem now. He rounded off the hexagonal part of the sparkplug that is above the head level, that you use to extract the plug. Kind off like rounding off the wheel lug nuts.

I would use 12 point sockets, (try every 1 mm size) and lightly tap it on.

The #8 is prone to seizing in the head since the water drips inside from the windshield on a hot spurkplug and basicaly welds it with the head.

Mine # 8 was so stuck that I twisted it off below the hex part and had to drill the head. But initialy I used the extended 9/16 special socket for Triton engines that fits in the well perfectly and extends above the valve covers.

 

[superboat]

swshwaii -

Superboat got completely fifferent problem now. He rounded off the hexagonal part of the sparkplug that is above the head level, that you use to extract the plug. Kind off like rounding off the wheel lug nuts.

I would use 12 point sockets, (try every 1 mm size) and lightly tap it on.

The #8 is prone to seizing in the head since the water drips inside from the windshield on a hot spurkplug and basicaly welds it with the head.

Mine # 8 was so stuck that I twisted it off below the hex part and had to drill the head. But initialy I used the extended 9/16 special socket for Triton engines that fits in the well perfectly and extends above the valve covers.

Ill try the 12point 13mm and the 1/2inch being that a 9/16 and 14mm are lose around the plug..I seen on another form on here that heating up a smaller socket like 13mm till almost red and tap it onto the socket when it cools it should shrink around the plug and hopefully comes out..

 

[superboat]

so i ended up spraying some potant rust away into the hole and let it sit for 15hours hoping it would help loosen up and partical stuck to the spark plug.i used a 1/2 12 point deep socket.i tried to tap it on to the spark plug and it ended up being to small so i heated the socket up till it was just turning red.then i beat the socket onto the plug and waited an hour for it to cool down.

i put my 3/8 ratchet on the socket and started putting pressure into it.all of a sudden i felt it get easier.i worked the ratchet back and forth about a 1/8 of a turn both ways until when i pulled the socket out and found that hexagon nut on the plug snapped off with about 3 threads on it.

so now i got more then half of the threads left plus the ground shield stuck in the head.tomorrow ill be towing the truck over to a buddy of mines shop to attempt to remove the rest.ill fill you guys in with more info on how i made out...P.S ill love to meet the cheap f*** who never did a tune up on the truck!!

 

[Explorer_PL]

You need to read this:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=314791

I had the same problem, we used some creative solution and that was at 99k, now I am at 153k and it's just fine.

I forgot to mention in my post that I also had to cut the boot, remove the graphite insert from the coil spring, and cut the spring a little. You'll know what I am talking about when you get to that point and if you use my "fix".

I was facing removing the head or using the special inserts for those (forgot the name). In my case 2 hrs and I was done. Good luck.

Ask questions if you have any.

 

[superboat]

wow,yeah im in the same situation.so you used the leslie tool to pull out the ground shield and all that was left was your threads from the old spark plug.

now do you remember how the leslie tool worked,since it has to screw into the spark plug hole to press the electrode down so the other half of the tool Can grad it and pull it out?

and what is the HELP 42025 spark plug repair kit?that kit comes with a helicoil im guessing?i got the leslie tool on order should be here by friday.

 

[Explorer_PL]

The repair kit is made by DORMAN HELP 42025:

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/DOR3/42025.oap?pt=05425ppt=C0334

You can get it anywhere. It contains 3 parts: HT1 sparkplug like 3 valve triton uses, special rubber boot, and the bushing. It is designed for 2 valve Tritons.

The boot is useless in our case, the part you need is the bushing.

The bushing is a self tapping part, you just screw it into the head after you drill a proper hole.

You are right that I could not use Leslie toll the way it was intended. Since I could not screw in the main body of the tool, I only used the center extracting piece by hand, pressing it down to get the electrode out before drilling out the broken treads. It took me few tries to engage the "reverse treaded" tip into the electrode, but after about 5 minutes I had it out.

Now the tricky part: I lost contact with my buddy mechanic. You need to get a long shank drill bit, and I do not know what the size was.

If I were to do it again, I would get the kit first, determine what size of the outside tread the bushing is. As a rule of thumb, you are supposed to drill a hole that is 80% of the size of the final tread.
Since you get only one shot to drill the head and tap in the bushing ( in case you over dill the hole too big), I would get from HomeDepot a flat stack 1/4" aluminum and experiment the sizes.
I realize that with this kit, my #8 sparkplug is recessed into the port, and the tip is higher up because of the bushing, but it had no effect on my motor. I already clocked 54k miles since then.
The last part is you'll need to cut the original sparkplug boot and spring about an inch.

Hope all of that makes sense. Everything took maybe 2-3 hours, and some new gray hair on my head
Good luck whichever way you go.

FordMotorCo is better off not knowing how many curses I sent their way for this stupid design.

 

[superboat]

i started looking into some kits for fixing the situation that im in.my local advance auto parts as the DORMAN HELP 42025 kit in stock for $65.00.so i told them to put it on the side for now.after work i went back to my buddys shop to continue where we last left off.i sprayed every plug with this kroil penetrant oil that i have and let them soak for 3hours or so.spark plug 1,2,5,6,7 came out alittle tough but there out thank god.spark plug 8 as you know of snapped on me a few days ago.well now spark plug 3 also snapped and plug 4 is tight as a virgins ass,so that one might snap also.i have it soaking over night and will try again 2morrow.so being that i have holes that need fixing and maybe a 3rd i did some more research on the computer and found a Ford 3V Spark Plug Thread Reapir kit for $207.54.

http://www.denlorstools.com/home/dt...ls_cal_39300_ford_3v_spark_plug_thread_i.html

being that that dont want to end up pulling the heads and this seems to be a faster easier and cheaper way out, im going to over night this product and go for it.Explorer_PL if cyl 8 was my only problem i would of used the doman 42050 kit.ill keep everyone informed on how it worked.hopefully this form helps someone out in the future..thanks guyss

 

[Explorer_PL]

Hey Superboat -

that definitely looks like much more appropriate tool. You are right, with just one, 42025 would work, with more, I would not have a good feeling, although it "might" work as well, but I would not like it anymore.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[superboat]

alright guys its been another long weekend without my truck since the shop is closed sat and sundays.i ended up taking a half day at work so i can put more time into my spark plug issue.i went out pizza found a 19/32 half inch shank drill bit about 6 1/2inchs long.

also i had to find a 1/2inch chuck right angle drill.cylinder 4,7,8 the plugs broke under the hexigon nut on the plug.cly 3 spark plug almost snapped on me but came out pizza took some of the threads with it also.so the kit that i bought CAL 39300 has a reamer,tap pizza 8 inserts.

i used the 19/32 drill bit pizza the right angle drill on clyinders 4 & 8 since there kinda tucked under the fire wall.then used a regular drill on cly 7.the drill bit was used to cut the threads away from the spark plug.

so i wasnt free handing it worring about if i was straight or angled alittle bit,i used the guide tube from my kit that drops into the cly so that the reamer and tap are 100% straight.the drill bit was alittle lose but better then nothing.

i drilled out the old threads making sure not to go to deep and hurt the heads.next i reamed out every clyinder and then tapped them for the inserts.i used a air gun,shop vac with a small hose to fit down inside the head for any loose shavings.

next i crank over the enigne a few times and blew back into the head with the air gun.i took red lock tight and put it on the threads of all 8 inserts and put one by one into the heads.new plugs and new boots for the coils.

to bad i wasn't able to fire her up had to leave the shop early so tomorrow is another day!i hope this thread helps someone in the future any question if you want to get more involved on what i did private message me.

total spent for job...
$207 for the CAL 39300 spark plug kit
$168 for a set of plugs pizza boots for the coils
$150 to my friend for using his shop pizza storage.

$525.00 alot better then and cheaper then pulling heads.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Nice job. It sure beats few thousand bucks of yours that Ford would want to fix their screw up.

I think you are the first one on this forum to use that kit. I saw it when I was doing mine, but I was afraid to use it.

 

[superboat]

yeah the kit works great.if any one runs into this problem and wants to put new inserts in all cylinders i suggest to use the CAL 39300 kit..i picked up my new plugs and coil boots this morning spent about an hour or so putting everything back where it had to go on the top of the engine.crossed my fingers and turned the key.the first 30 sec it ran like **** and my check engine light came on so i shut the truck and cleared the codes which were misfire on cyl 8 and bad coil circuit.started her back up and took it for a drive down the highway for about 10 miles and about 5 miles of back roads stopping and going.truck ran mint and hasn't shuttered or missed once.put about 100 miles on her today.thanks guys for the help and leading me into the right direction!!