ErinCat

Hello. I'm new to this forum I hope I'm in the correct section.
Toy start off I have a 2002 mustang gt 4.6 . It has 98,000 miles on it. I want to change my spark plugs. I bought 8 motor craft sp-493. I am worried that I am going to ruin my engine because of horror stories I read about the plugs backing out and causing severe damage to the motor. I would greatly appreciate some advice on what I should do. I just want to do it right. Thanks -erin

uberstang1

The plugs usually backout due to the fact of the small amount of threads the heads came with from the factory, I would spray some penetrating oil into all the wells and let it soak for a day then go from there, alot of people have good success doing that combined with a 1/4 electric impact.

Stevo86

I've never had to use penetrating oil to get plugs out of a 2V (3V is a different story) but if those are original it can't hurt. Just make sure the garage door is open when you fire it up.

When re-installing your plugs be sure to use a torque wrench and tighten them to 12-15 ft/lb. Improper tightening is usually the cause of spark plug blowout.

ErinCat

I I have anti-seize for them. I should deffinately use that right? And I'm going to have yo purchase a torque wrench. I am willing to buy one if it is a necessity. I do not want them too lose and I deffinately dont want to strip the threads.

ErinCat

If I buy a torque wrench, and I tighten it correctly, then there shouldn't be a problem right? I am just stressing out over a simple job because of what I read.

CalBoy101

These plugs sit in a vertical recess so before taking out the plug if you have a compressed air source blast the hole out to get out any dirt or grit that could drop in the cylinder when you take the plug out. If you don't have compressed air at least use a shop vac on them.

After that hit them with some penetrating oil.

I also just bought a stang with around 100k on it and was nervous about the plugs. I used some penetrating oil on them before taking them out.

5 of them came out easily and felt good. One was way too tight but came out without any apparent thread damage.

2 of them were so loose that they came out with just hand turning of the socket. This freaked me out at first but it looked on the spark plug threads that carbon and sealed up the plug and the new plugs went in ok and the engine is running strong now.

I torqued them to 13 ft-lbs and will retorque them in few months to keep them from loosening up again.

You can take the plugs out without removing the injector rails but for a couple of them you'll need a 6" extension and I think on one of the back ones I had to combine a 6" and 3" extension. For some of them you need to take the electrical connector off an adjacent injector.

Good luck-

WJL

Good info

ErinCat

Thank you all for your advice. It worked out very well. I have had no problems and its been nearly 1 month since I changed my plugs. I used compressed air to clean all debris away from each plug before removal. I used penetrating oil to loosen them up. And used anti seize on each new plug. I torqued each plug at 13.5 ft lbs. My motor is running strong. Thank you again