Like I was told; Plugs and wires are a PITA!

[Fischer]

I did the much needed plugs and wires last night. The plugs were not as bad as I thought from reading. The WIRES to the drivers side, now that is a B#$CH!

Only for asthetic reasons could I fathom Ford making the wires route behind everything. I almost just ran them over the top.

Also on the passenger side, you need to take off that tire, also a 3/4inch open ended wrench with a spark plug socket with the hex on the end will save you much time!

 

[Jason_25]

LOL I agree.

My new wires are nowhere near where they are supposed to be!

 

[Fischer]

Well I routed them in the stock holders. YOu need a hand like a kid for that. I must have gotten my hand stuck at least 10 times. Like a Racoon with a shiny object (from "where the red fern grows")wow that was a long time ago.

The majority of swearing and beer cracking was during the wire install. The plugs wern't that bad, jsut busy time consuming work.

Oh yea, get platnum plugs as I didn't and I will get this treat again in 30K miles. WooHoo

 

[mattadams]

hey man, you got off easy. I dont even have spark plug wires! My spark plugs are on the ignition coils and to access them, I have to completely take off the fuel lines, remove the ignition coils THEN the spark plugs sit about 9" down in the engine.
Ahh the joys of a 5.4L V8... its worth it though!

 

[Xplodor]

How often do we need to replace plugs and wires?

 

[jjue]

Yeah, you got off easy with a OHV 4.0L V6. That's a piece of cake compared to the V8 Explorer/Moutaineer. I swear that Ford used a shoehorn on the V8 Explorer/Mountaineer. For at least half of the plugs, I work on blindly since space allowed through the wheelwell and in between the headers and other stuff int he engine bay doesn't allow me to see very well.

Yeah, I've worked on the 5.4L F-150 as well. You're right about that fun.

 

[Fischer]

Dang Matt, that sounds like it sux to change those. Bet you wish you kept the Ex. when you are changing the plugs in the truck. LOL

My pals Legend has those "coil on top of plug" stuff. It is like taking the entire manifold off just to get to the plugs.

I just kept thinking "Damn, with all this technology you would think they could make some of this f*!king Sh@t in my way SMALLER!!!"

Then I would chug about 1/2 a beer and remember to keep breathing, and try not to spaz out and bonk my head on the hood, again.

 

[mattadams]

yeah they kind of make it a pain but hey, look at how far cars have come in the last few years. Hell I remember on my dads aerostar the spark plugs were a ***** to change plus the interval recommended was like every 30,000 miles! Now they say you can go 100,000 miles with the new plugs/wires. When I removed mine and replaced at about 65,000 miles, they were still in fine shape, I was just trying to diagnose a rough idle (spark plugs werent the problem, LOL)

 

[Fischer]

Rough idle on the Ex. or the F150?

Or me like a moron got the plugs, ended up they were not platinum! So I will get to do it all again in 30K. Or I may jsut go get some platinums and make the change while the procedure is still fresh in me head!

What was the cause of the rough idle. I still have it sometimes even after I changed plugs and wires.

 

[mattadams]

Rough idle on the F-150. Explorer idled fine . Haven't found a solution yet for the rough idle, tried just about everything.

 

[Fischer]

Hey, I know what it is. It is bacsuse it is a 351. haha.

No maybe not. GOod luck as I have one sometimes.

 

[mattadams]

oh yeah I forgot to mention, to make my spark plug project even more fun, I managed to break one of the bolts holding the coil on off in the head. Heath was there at the time and got to see my lovely expression as soon as it happened. I still have yet to fix it, but its probably going to involve using a right-angle drill to drill out the hole then threading with another bolt.

 

[Heath]

I need to start holding a camera at all times when you're working on your truck... Its just to damn funny... Especially when you got pissed at the EGR valve!!!

 

[mattadams]

just set up a hidden camera in my garage... with microphone of course! It wouldn't be as funny without the words! LOL

 

[taxx]

When I did my wires I had to buy two sets and use all the long ones, then take back one box full of small ones. There was no waythe would route any way. Best I can figure is some genious out there that boxes these plugs sells the same ones for the OHV and SOHC.

 

[Fischer]

Matt that goes for me as well. There are words that spew out of my mouth that you would think you'd never hear.

Kind of like when I changed my girlfriends sisters fuel filter this past weekend.
Well it was the first time and it kind of Gushed all over. I am under the car with gas all over. "Oh Je*%!, holy $h*#, fu*%, fu*%, fu*%; damn this is like draining a reservoir!"

When I do mine I will use a big turkey cooker thing. LOL