ctgriffi
Member
- Joined
- February 2, 2017
- Messages
- 32
- Reaction score
- 3
- City, State
- Springfield, MO
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1997 Explorer XLT
I just bought this 97 XLT a few months back, and it's in amazing shape for the age—just about everything works, and the body is rust-free! I don't know the maintenance history, other than it's had a lot of dealership work, but I figured it's always a good idea to do plugs/wires, like I've done on all my vehicles for many years. Well, not so fast...
I started pulling the Motorcraft plugs and they were pretty tough to get out; took a lot more force than I expected, given that they're supposed to be torqued to just 20ft/lbs. After pulling just two of them, I stopped and tried installing a new plug, threading it in slowly by hand, but it just doesn't feel right to me. The plug will go in like half a turn and then stop, despite me backing it out and trying all kinds of angles, etc. I do not want to just wrench it in there because I'm worried that will destroy the threads, obviously.
Any ideas? Is this typical on a 20 year-old Ford? What would you do? (Btw, on the two plugs that I removed, gap is way below the spec of .054".) Appreciate the help!
I started pulling the Motorcraft plugs and they were pretty tough to get out; took a lot more force than I expected, given that they're supposed to be torqued to just 20ft/lbs. After pulling just two of them, I stopped and tried installing a new plug, threading it in slowly by hand, but it just doesn't feel right to me. The plug will go in like half a turn and then stop, despite me backing it out and trying all kinds of angles, etc. I do not want to just wrench it in there because I'm worried that will destroy the threads, obviously.
Any ideas? Is this typical on a 20 year-old Ford? What would you do? (Btw, on the two plugs that I removed, gap is way below the spec of .054".) Appreciate the help!