Goldenpony

You can continue to use the two piece plugs. More power to you. I'm very happy with the performance of my Champions as well as the peace of mind they give me.

BrianK

Amen - I'm going to use the one piece Champion too. Why risk using 2 piece plugs when a good 1 piece is available which will completely eliminate the issue of the plugs coming apart for what ever reason.

157dB

1 out of eight broke off. Lots of soaking.
This was my solution without taking a 10
mile trek to the parts store. If they even
had the Lisle tool in stock...

BrianK

That is a pretty looking slick tool! Alot cheaper than the store bought one too I'll bet.
How did you clean the porcelain fragments out of the cylinder?

ROBOMUSTANGS

dealers don't make them or own them they get training to fix them and they are forced to buy specialist tools to fix them if ford don't have a fix for a problem why should a dealer be expected to pay to fix your car Dealers don't want to break them but some cases there is no getting around it if you don't want to pay or believe you shouldn't have to pay my recommendation would be to contact ford motor company directly if enough people do maybe they will come to the party but i am not holding my breath. do not blame the dealers

cheers

DippinBob

Because by law you cannot purchase a new car from the manufacturer, you can only go through a "dealer". Good Customer service would dictate that if any Dealer cared to have repeat customers, they would own up to their mistakes and cover those costs. I don't know for sure but I would think the dealers have back channels to get compensated for the manufacturer's design decisions. I'm sure Ford never intended for parts to break and I'm fairly positive the dealer didn't intend to break anything so why force those costs on the consumer? Of the 12 times I've purchased a car from a dealership I've only experienced good customer service from only one.

BrianK

When I took my car to the dealer and asked about them changing the plugs, the Service Advisor just laughed and said $600 if none break, and could be up to $1000 if they all break. No ownership from them or Ford for a poor design - that was obvious. While I doubt that Ford intentionally designed these to fail the way they do and break, the fact that they preferred to design a "Broken Spark plug removal tool" rather than address the issue properly, until 2008 models with a design change, with more than just a TSB for future failures, says that the consumer is required to pay for design screw ups once past the warranty - and in this case, in all probability the spark plugs last longer than the warranty period.
Similar with their PTU's in AWD vehicles and no facility to drain the oil properly - they say it is a lifetime fill but for some wonderful reason/oversight, the PTU is right next to the Cats so that cooks the oil and turns it to sludge and that doesn't lube the bearings very well - fortunately for Ford, it generally lasts until the warranty expires - generating another $1500 expense by the consumer for a poor design to replace the PTU. So similarly to the broken spark plug issue and because it isn't a safety issue, not much the consumer can do except bend over.

Rugermack

Mine were just done when cams were installed, all came out but were a bitch according to mechanic. 82k mile on motor

Goldenpony

I have run a couple of sets of the 1 piece Champions without any issues. I was having a rough idle some time ago and I decided to put in a set of Motorcraft SP547 plugs. These are not 1 piece, but I have read they are redesigned to not break as easily. I put them in and car runs fine. The plugs were not the cause of the idle problem. Next plug change I might go back to the Champions. One thing I have read is to pull your 2 piece plugs every 20K miles, clean them and re-apply anti-seize (nickel hi temp). The only real safe thing is the 1 piece Champions. I still am surprised there hasn't been a group lawsuit over this stupid design.

tbear853

The worry about plugs breaking, separating, etc is a lot worse than the actual job. Just have air handy and the Lisle 65600 kit at minimum, and the 65710 porcelain puller is great to have, added together it's a 65700 includes all of it. You have easy access on a Mustang, unlike a F-150 5.4 three valve.



Complete kit is 65700, comprises 65600 and 65710 kits.

These are out of a 2007 F-150-3v . I only had the 65600 kit, then #8 just the threaded body came out, left lower barrel and all of porcelain with center conductor in head, #8 was way back under the cowling, there was no way to get to it to break off porcelain and retrieve it way down in the plug well, (I could only feel the tip with a finger) so I ordered the 65710 puller, overnight, it snaps onto the top, then the aluminum tube 65610 is lipped down which prevents the puller from releasing the electrode and pulling that will remove the upper porcelain so the 65620 extractor can finish the job. The 65670 pusher limits it's push depth, it only pushes the remaining lower porcelain into the lower barrel far enough for the left threads of the 65620 puller to bite into the upper part of the barrel. The left hand nut means you aren't unthreading it as you turn to pull it up through 65610 sleeve. You can see on #2 how far the pusher will push, I left the puller in the barrel of #8 to photograph it.

I have no fear facing plug removal in a 3 valve now. Like I said, the worry was worse than the job.


I used Kroil, did everything slow and with patience. #2 broke and the extractor worked fine.

I used an air gun with 18" long 1/4 ID hose on it to blow air into spark plug holes, hose was loose fit through hole so the air blows back out with any porcelain chips.

Nickel anti seize goes only on the lower barrel of new plugs.

Follow the instructions, it works.
Just like the plugs for the 3 valve 4.6 are the plugs for the 3 valve 5.4, the number differs as the heat range is a hair different, but all of them have a specification of 10 mm (0.3937") OD (I mentioned because there is a myth that the barrel is smaller on newrer plugs, but it's not, I measured) . The SP546 is the newest updated plug, I see it also extended the upper spring seat higher to more compress the spring from the coil. SP515 was the first up date, the SP507 was OEM in a 3 valve 5.4. It does look like the SP546 was changed in construction, maybe the barrel is welded different to the upper threaded body. I do not hope to see one pulled apart, but after the first time, such holds no fear for me. I'm also not inclined to pull these plugs until I replace them. The SP507 is the cleanest one that came out of mine.




I almost look forward to doing the Mustang, it's a 2008 GT, as I can see into all 8 plug wells.