Step by Step 05 to mid 07 gt spark plug replacement
12-15-2009, 01:51 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 32
Step by Step 05 to mid 07 gt spark plug replacement
so im going to trying to put my five cents on the problem that is in front of me, and hopefully it goes smoothly. these are the steps that i have done so far with my mustang.
1. seafoamed my car 1/4 poured into the break booster tube, and half in my gas tank. will reserve rest for crankcase right before i do an oil change. And i have been running the car for a week with seafoamed engine, hopefully it will help a little.
2. purchased seafoam deep creep that will be used to put in wells to remove the rest of the carbon buildup
3. purchased champion #7989 one piece spark plugs from kragen o'reilly autoparts, for so-cal residents, at the store they price-matched internet prices, i went with the price that champion was selling them for which is 12.95 a piece. for 8 and cali state tax, came out to 113.70 total.
4. also purchased permatex anti-seize, i got the regular copper, graphite one because they did not have nickel anti-seize, even at the ford dealerships in glendale near my location.
5. since i'm typying this step by step at the moment its nighttime in socal, so im basically doing the simple things as gapping the plugs to "0.045" most of the plugs were at "0.045" already, so i just checked and made sure.
here are my plugs with my gapping tool:
i will be continue with pic of installation when i start it in t-minus 7hrs.
wish me luck...
my mileage is at 44k.
1. seafoamed my car 1/4 poured into the break booster tube, and half in my gas tank. will reserve rest for crankcase right before i do an oil change. And i have been running the car for a week with seafoamed engine, hopefully it will help a little.
2. purchased seafoam deep creep that will be used to put in wells to remove the rest of the carbon buildup
3. purchased champion #7989 one piece spark plugs from kragen o'reilly autoparts, for so-cal residents, at the store they price-matched internet prices, i went with the price that champion was selling them for which is 12.95 a piece. for 8 and cali state tax, came out to 113.70 total.
4. also purchased permatex anti-seize, i got the regular copper, graphite one because they did not have nickel anti-seize, even at the ford dealerships in glendale near my location.
5. since i'm typying this step by step at the moment its nighttime in socal, so im basically doing the simple things as gapping the plugs to "0.045" most of the plugs were at "0.045" already, so i just checked and made sure.
here are my plugs with my gapping tool:
i will be continue with pic of installation when i start it in t-minus 7hrs.
wish me luck...
my mileage is at 44k.
12-15-2009, 11:14 AM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 32
alright.. started around 7:30am with my heart racin while doin each step SLOWLY.
step 2: unplug all any obstruction that may prevent you from getting to the coil packs and spark plugs
step 3: unscrew bolt that holds down the coil packs then pop them out. before that make sure you use compressed air or vacuum that has option to blow air.
driver side view
passenger side view
step 4: break loose each spark plug to max 1/4 turn.
this part scares the ish out of me because it was hard to break loose, the other very scary part as well was after it broke loose, there was no tension, it felt very smooth turning it 1/4.
step 5: adding deep creep to wells up to the jamb nut hex
step 6: pack of cigarettes and a cup of joe, if not a smoker, well.. i dunno lol but im freaakin out right now, just praying everything up to this point is going well and that the deep creep is doin its job... gonna wait about an hr to remove the spark plugs. till then stay tuned..
step 2: unplug all any obstruction that may prevent you from getting to the coil packs and spark plugs
step 3: unscrew bolt that holds down the coil packs then pop them out. before that make sure you use compressed air or vacuum that has option to blow air.
driver side view
passenger side view
step 4: break loose each spark plug to max 1/4 turn.
this part scares the ish out of me because it was hard to break loose, the other very scary part as well was after it broke loose, there was no tension, it felt very smooth turning it 1/4.
step 5: adding deep creep to wells up to the jamb nut hex
step 6: pack of cigarettes and a cup of joe, if not a smoker, well.. i dunno lol but im freaakin out right now, just praying everything up to this point is going well and that the deep creep is doin its job... gonna wait about an hr to remove the spark plugs. till then stay tuned..
12-15-2009, 02:31 PM
#5
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 32
step 7: while waiting for deep creep to penetrate into the shields i prepped the one piece spark plugs with anti-seize
step 8: after about 2hrs of waiting, i set my torque wrench to 25lbs. as said earlier how after my plug broke loose, they felt smooth turning, well still felt the same, no screeching like some people experience or hard turning. they all came out with no resistance. PHEW!
some plugs had a good amount of carb buildup deep creep nom nom'd it pretty well.
step 9: still keeping my torque wrench to 25 pounds, i first screwed the plugs into the cylinder head and hand tightend then torqued each one accordingly at 25lbs. after that plugged everything back in. and turned on the car; wahhla! fired up well!
these are the tools i used for the task:
15mm hex 2inch adapter(for old plugs)
5/8 hex 2inch spark plug adapter(for new plugs)
small wrench and torque wrench
3inch extender 1/2inch adapter
2 1/2inch extender 3/8inch adapter
1/2 to 3/8 adapter for torque wrench
9mm hex adapter(coil plug screw)
Note: what i did prior to this task was i seafoamed the car. thats the biggie IMO. 1/4 to vacuum tube. 1/2 in gas tank. and from the get go i have always used cheveron 87 gas or shell 87, sometimes i use (76) 87 gas. for the first couple years i used cheveron and recently switched to shell.
this is my write-up and experience with this issue. i hope this helped and will help others with the stock motorcrap plugs and the flawed design of the cylinder head.
step 8: after about 2hrs of waiting, i set my torque wrench to 25lbs. as said earlier how after my plug broke loose, they felt smooth turning, well still felt the same, no screeching like some people experience or hard turning. they all came out with no resistance. PHEW!
some plugs had a good amount of carb buildup deep creep nom nom'd it pretty well.
step 9: still keeping my torque wrench to 25 pounds, i first screwed the plugs into the cylinder head and hand tightend then torqued each one accordingly at 25lbs. after that plugged everything back in. and turned on the car; wahhla! fired up well!
these are the tools i used for the task:
15mm hex 2inch adapter(for old plugs)
5/8 hex 2inch spark plug adapter(for new plugs)
small wrench and torque wrench
3inch extender 1/2inch adapter
2 1/2inch extender 3/8inch adapter
1/2 to 3/8 adapter for torque wrench
9mm hex adapter(coil plug screw)
Note: what i did prior to this task was i seafoamed the car. thats the biggie IMO. 1/4 to vacuum tube. 1/2 in gas tank. and from the get go i have always used cheveron 87 gas or shell 87, sometimes i use (76) 87 gas. for the first couple years i used cheveron and recently switched to shell.
this is my write-up and experience with this issue. i hope this helped and will help others with the stock motorcrap plugs and the flawed design of the cylinder head.
12-15-2009, 03:44 PM
#7
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 32
12-15-2009, 04:39 PM
#8
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location:
Posts: 3,319
Good choice going with the Champions. I have 23K+ on mine with zero issues. Car runs great. I recently had a leak down compression test run on my '06 GT (61K miles). The tech at Modular Depot said the Champions looked great and put 'em right back in.
12-15-2009, 04:47 PM
#9
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 32
sweet. yea i was about to go with brisk but im really not planning to do F/I anytime soon. yea im happy so far. drove it around for a bit, car feels brand new, i noticed smoother feel to engine. when i had my motorcraps they started give me rough idles consistantly, hopefully these wont anytime soon.
