I keep reading lots of scary threads about the notorious 05-07 production date GT's in regards to spark plugs breaking in the heads. Is it really THAT common to break a plug? I've got just under 40k miles on my 2008. The heads are the "AA" part number so they have the two-piece plugs. It seems like lots of people break plugs, and lots of people have no issues at all depending on the thread I read. Are these claims exaggerated? Some threads say everyone is breaking plugs, others say it's sort of rare.

What's the real level of concern here? As long as I follow the TSB and use common sense, what are the chances of my spark plug change ending in tears? I know this topic has been beat to death, but each thread about it seems to hype things up in a different direction that I don't really know how "scared" I should be.

 

Only one way to find out ... try it

Or wait till 100,000miles before trying

 

look on the bright side, if you have to remove the heads, it gives you reason to upgrade

 

Been there done that. I read thread after thread about spark plugs before I did mine. I was so afraid, I thought about just not doing them. But figured that the problem is not going to go away until I did finally tackle the project. I printed out the TSB, read it a few times and followed it. I didn't really have any problems. Had slight carbon on all of the plugs, but not enough to break a plug. I did mine with 15k on the odometer. With you having 40k, I'd be a little more careful. Just do not force them. Let them soak longer, and take your time. There's only one way you're going to find out how hard, or serious it is and that's to tackle the job.

 

The answer to your questions is YES.
The problem IS VERY widespread.

I did not find out about this until I had nearly 40k on my car.
I took it to the dealership and had THEM pull the plugs and replace them with the Champion ONE PIECE plugs.

They had trouble pulling every plug. They did not break any but had to let the car sit overnight with antisieze around the plugs in the cracks. They explicitly told me how careful they had to be when pulling them. All this when before I brought it to them they said the only time they heard it happening was on the trucks (which they had happening alot).
When I brought it to their attention that we used the same cylinder head as the trucks the alarms went off in their heads.

Point being the LONGER you wait the more trouble you are asking for when pulling them.

I'd get it done and over with. TAKE YOUR TIME if doing it by yourself. Yes of course you may have some break... but if you wait longer there is almost a certainty they will break.

On a side note... I thought they actually fixed this problem sometime in 08 by changing the shape of the cylinder head.
Have you checked to make sure your 08 has the same head as the past models or if it has the new shaped head without the problem?

 

My sentiments exactly. I told myself if they snap when I go to put a blower on then I guess I'm in it for some new ported heads.

I removed mine at around 12K miles. They felt like it took a lot of torque to move them but once they broke loose they were fine.

I made a mistake and put anti seize on the threads and not just the ground shield.

Last weekend I tried to back them off, at 16k miles, and they are in there GOOD. I am very concerned they are going to snap on me when I go to pull them again. I believe they may have been overtorqued when I put them back in. If they snap then I have noone to blame but myself.

 

I don't exactly know how to pull a head off this motor. I'd probably be pretty screwed as I'm likely missing a few tools to do the job.

They fixed the problem on the 2008's. But the trick is, it's on Mustangs with a build date of 2008, not model year. My 08 was made in the middle of 2007.

 

My advice.
Call a couple of dealerships. Ask them if they have done the procedure before on Mustangs or F-150's with these problems before. Find one that has done some, get it done there.

Will it cost you money? Yes.
But I paid about 100 or so I think for them to pull them
and then paid for the plugs (REPLACE THEM WITH ONE PIECE SO YOU DONT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THIS AGAIN!!!). You will have to order the one piece champions
online. BUT GET THEM. Don't go replace them with the two piece plugs and have to do this all over again in the future. I don't care what anyone here says about replacing them with two piece plugs again as long as they are replaced with antisieze coating. DONT DO IT. GET THE ONE PIECE and have them apply anti seize to those as well just for a little easier removal if you keep the car that long. (But good news is even if they are hard to pull later even with one piece plugs due to carbon build up.. they WONT break.)

As far as having the dealership do it.
At least then you will have someone who has done it times before do it so they are familiar with the "feel" and cautions involved with doing it.

I felt a little weird paying someone to do something like pulling spark plugs lol... but in the end it was worth it knowing they had done it before and were well aware of the whole process and had experience.

 

This thread is like taxes.............you just dont want to think about it. I need to do mine too! Sh#t!!!!!!! I have 18k miles, better now than later.


patrick

 

In another thread a Ford tech said doing spark plugs is $450 at the dealership. I'd GLADLY pay $100 to have Ford pull the spark plugs for me. I'll install the one piece plugs in the parking lot.

So what is everyone paying to have Ford just remove the plugs?