What was ford thinking?....again

Here's a photo of a sparkplug from one of the 3 valve V8 engines from Ford.



I think (hope) they stopped using this design, but it is still in many of the engines on the road.

A friend of mine works on these engines a lot, and says there is a problem when carbon builds up on them below the threads. When you try to remove them, the bottom half of the plug can fall off into the combustion chamber.

The fix for now is to just crack the sparkplug loose and spray penetrating oil at the threads and let it soak a bit before unthreading the plug all the way.

Just thought I'd mention this for anyone that owns these engines.

Thanks for the info Bill. I can't believe that they have to reach so far that they put such a long extension on the plug, looks wierd. Makes you wonder how they are sealing the plug/combustion chamber if the threads are getting carboned up.

Geesh! It looks more like a glow plug instead of a spark plug!

I'm going to have to find the part number for the plugs in my F150.

It's not really the threads this time.:frown:

It's below the threads, you can see where the parts were welded together, it's kind of bluish in color.



Here's a shot showing this plug number.



You might want to ask the dealer about this, but I'm not sure that will help, as Ford has had a habit of denying any problems with their products lateley.

Of course these engines are used in Lincoln trucks and SUV's also.

Those PZT 2Fs scare the &#>@ out of anyone that works on early production 3Vs. The long tubular business end siezes in the head, the weld breaks, and you end up winding only half the spark plug out of the engine. The leftover piece can't "fall off into the combustion chamber"; it's become bonded to the metal of the head!

This happens so commonly Ford issued a TSB detailing EXACT removal instructions to minimize breakage occurance.

Here's the copy'n'paste of TSB 06-05-09:

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"ISSUE:
Some 2004-2005 F-150 and 2005 F-Super Duty, Expedition, and Navigator vehicles with a 5.4L 3-valve engine may experience difficulty with spark plug removal which may cause damage to the spark plug and leave part of the spark plug in the cylinder head.

ACTION:
Refer to the following Service Procedure for techniques to remove the spark plugs.


SERVICE PROCEDURE

General Spark Plug Removal

To remove spark plugs without damage, it is necessary to adhere EXACTLY to this procedure before removal is attempted.

Make sure the engine is warm (hand touch after cooling down).
CAUTION: DO NOT REMOVE PLUGS WHEN THE ENGINE IS EXTREMELY HOT OR COLD SOAKED. THIS INCREASES THE CHANCE THE THREADS COULD BE DAMAGED.

CAUTION: BE SURE TO WEAR SAFETY GLASSES FOR STEP 2.

Remove the coil-on-plug assemblies and thoroughly blow out the spark plug wells and surrounding valve cover area with compressed air.
Back out the spark plugs, no more than 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn. Apply penetrating oil (AeroKroil or equivalent) and fill the spark plug well just above where the jamb nut hex sits. A minimum period of 5 to 10 minutes of soak time is required. The penetrating oil will wick down to the ground electrode shield in this time. DO NOT WORK the spark plug back and forth at this point.
CAUTION: EXCESSIVE PENETRANT, OR REPEATING THE PROCESS SEVERAL TIMES WITH TOO MUCH FLUID, COULD INTRODUCE ENOUGH LIQUID VOLUME TO HYDRO-LOCK THE ENGINE.



CAUTION: DO NOT USE AIR OR POWER TOOLS FOR PLUG REMOVAL. THE PLUG MUST ONLY BE REMOVED WITH HAND TOOLS.



Slowly turn the spark plug out. Some screeching and high effort may be noticed but, not in every case. The expected removal torque is about 33 lb-ft (45 N-m) but should decrease on the way out. If it is higher, try turning the spark plug back in a half turn, then back out again. If the turning torque still seems high, repeat the back and forth rotation along with some penetrating oil to reduce turning effort.

NOTE: ONCE THE SPARK PLUGS HAVE ALL BEEN REMOVED, NEW PLUGS SHOULD BE INSTALLED USING A FILM COATING OF MOTORCRAFT HIGH TEMPERATURE NICKEL ANTI-SEIZE LUBRICANT (XL-2) ON THE GROUND ELECTRODE SHIELD OF THE NEW SPARK PLUG (FIGURE 7). DO NOT COAT THE ELECTRODE STRAP OR THE PLUG WILL MISFIRE. THE NEW PLUGS SHOULD BE INSTALLED WITH NO LUBRICANT ON THE THREADS AND TORQUED TO SPECIFICATION, 25 LB-FT (34 N-m). "

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If all of this still doesn't work and a plug breaks, a later issue of this TSB, and TSB 06-15-02, cover the use of Rotunda Special Service Tool # 303-1203 that's a special magic puller for getting the electrode tube out of the head!

One point must be clarified: PZT 2Fs WERE ONLY USED IN ENGINE ASSEMBLY. The replacement spark plug is PZT 1F, which has a slightly smaller diameter electrode tube and doesn't sieze in the head.

I've personally never seen anyone have problems with the 1Fs, but I still always use anti-sieze on the electrode tubes when installing them. (Be sure to read the last part of the TSB!)

If all this frightens anyone, get your factory 2Fs out while the mileage is low.

One last thing: the spark plug hex is smaller than usual. It's only 14mm. You must buy a specialty socket for these plugs.

Thanks Frankie, for clarifying this. I've never removed these plugs myself, I was just going by what my friend told me. I'm not sure if he actually said that they would fall into the combustion chamber (my fault) but either way, I think it's important that people get these plugs out of their engines as soon as possible.

I can only imagine how hard it would be to remove these plugs at the recommended plug change interval.

Is Ford telling the owners to remove these plugs now, or are they just waiting for the problems to appear in the future?

Ford's not telling 3V owners anything!!!

At tune-up time, techs follow the removal procedure and hope for the best. If a plug breaks at a dealership, the Rotunda tool is a lifesaver. It still requires ~ 1/2 hour to get each tube out of a cylinder, but at least we're not replacing heads.

If it hasn't happened already, it surely will: aftermarket tool companies making a version of this puller. Does anybody know if one's available?

So far at my dealership, it's only happened three times during retail jobs. The service manager ate the labour each time so the customer wouldn't be charged anything additional.

For all the times it's happened during warranty work, we just bill FoMoCo "Actual Labour Time" for additional consequential repairs.

To repeat: 2Fs were the assembly spark plugs on '04s and early '05s. By midyear production, they were gone. Late build '05s to present use 1Fs. Now, that being said, they don't zip out like butter either, but they don't break.

Following the "back off slightly/penetrating fluid/slow turnout" method is good advice for any type of spark plug.