So you wanted to change your spark plugs?

Depending on the time of year (this time of year) and ya look close, you can see my house from 16.

As you approach the intersection of 16 and 86, look up and to the left. That's where I live.

If water ever reaches my house, we're all in HUGE trouble.

BTW, there's always a beer in the fridge if you're so inclined.

Chaz

 

I’ll keep that in mind! Should be heading down a time or two in April between a pancake run to portville, trout fishing Ischua and spring turkey in PA! Come on spring!

 

Your mechanical skills are a amazing. There is class-action litigation against Ford about them using recessed, two-piece plugs. Just as you experienced, the original Motorcraft plugs would snap in half due to carbon buildup binding the plugs. Lisle made a fortune on that extractor kit. Supposedly the problem was worst on the 5.4l engine....I had a 4.6l V8 in my Exploder and upon hearing about the issue, had the plugs changed at only 40,000 miles. I changed them myself every 20k after that, using Champion one-piece plugs and nickel anti-sieze on the threads. There was also a lovely design defect on the Exploder wherein rain would leak past the windshield wiper pan and down into the two rear spark plug wells. Even though I had a long-wand compressed air cleaning tool, a lot of rust and gunk remained in the plug well. The 9/16 extended socket wouldn't fit over the rusted plug and i had to use an Irwin Bolt-Grip to get it out. Those where some tense moments.....Kroil, back it out 1/4 turn, Kroil, back out another 1/4 turn.....the sense of relief was incredible when the plug finally came out in one piece. I sold that damm thing two months later.

 

Hi tech junk

 

I wouldn’t go that far..... I’m just an idjiot with some wrenches. As far as the recall funny thing happened last week while I was in the middle of this project.! I got a recall notice in the mail for the truck pertaining to the possible front end shimmy. The ford guys will know it as the death wobble and ford just said you may experience it and the remedy is proper tire pressure! Got it!

 

Maybe you could submit your parts costs to Furd and get reimbursed, if it is an actual recall. We did that with a trans from GM once. Trans became a recall and we had already fixed it so GM reimbursed us. Surprised me.

 

ford glow plug tips breaking - in reality on the units with regeneration ( over regeneration) - that system is overheating the exhaust valves which then crack - breaking apart which in turn breaks the glow plug tips- overall it becomes a catastrophic failure- want to sue someone, then it would be the EPA as it is their policies that are causing this. This generally is occurring by 100k miles sometimes more - Long block around $15k.
( possible bad heat treat of the valves- on going investigation - somewhat sporadic) Death Wobble- tire pressure nope it isn't caused by that ( nice excuse though) The two times I have chased this were tire related - Firestone- belts slipping around on the casing under the tread- almost impossible to tell if the tires are fairly decent shape externally. There are other factors in play as well- stacked tolerances on worn parts in the front end and in my other unit bad bushings in the rear antisway bar ( that might not be the correct part name). Changing brand of vehicles doesn't help just swapping one set of grief for another. Only real problem with the cummins is what is wrapped around it( yep not a dodge fan). 6.9 ford diesel - never had much trouble with that one except the glow plug relay would burn out all the time ( $80) drove that unit right into the ground. got rid of it when the frame started to go south wasn't much left above that, 450K miles rebuilt the auto tranny once around 250K , drive train still good when i sold it. Was a plow truck all its life, orange death.

 

Ah huh

 

Just doing a little snooping on the recall. Looks like the deadline for submitting a claim was last February, guess I missed that one. Surprised I never received a letter on this, but that’s my luck. Doesn’t look like I’d have got much back anyhow. You had to have had dealer service with records prior to your claim as well as have the plug change done at the dealer. Also the repair had to be over $300 and they would cover only a percentage of the total.
On the other hand if you do your own work you would receive $50

 

The clock spring actually did break on my driver side cam phaser. It kind of sounded like someone dropped a 1/2" nut in the front of my engine pinging around like a ball in a pinball machine then was followed by a loud slapping noise, similar to baseball cards on the spokes of a bicycle but way louder.

This all happened a month after I bought it (yes it was used) but it did have a 3 month 3,000 mile warranty for the lot that I bought it from.

Ford OEM parts were $1,500. The Ford dealership wanted $1,200 to do the work. So I thought that I could help the car lot out (small family owned 2 hours drive for me) by saving him some money and do it myself. I had to pay for everything out of pocket fax him my receipt and he'd reimburse me. Let's just say it too 3 months to finally get reimbursed!

When I got it all apart, I saw the problem the loud slapping noise was the other half of the clock spring that was still attached to the cam phaser slapping the valve cover. There must have been a problem with this cam phaser earlier in its life because "China" was stamped on this phaser the other side was still original Ford.

Since the spring went through the front of the engine I replaced everything that hadto do with the timing even the solenoids that were not in that part of the engine. I was told if your doing the timing replace the solenoids because that is what helps supply the proper amount of oil to the cam phasers and that's why this probably happened. Yeah I guess it has nothing to do with an inferior product!

Before I did that the engine when idling had the dreaded "5.4 tick". Now it idles smooth and quiet and sounds like a brand new engine!

192,000 miles and going strong! Maybe I shouldn't speak to soon, it does have a lot of miles on it. Hmmmmm I wonder what will be next?

 

Huh, everything I've read on the subject suggested using the Motorcraft glow plugs to avoid the swelling. At least for the 7.3

 

synthetic oil and change it out every 3k, those solenoids are almost zero clearance internally dosen't take much to get them stuck. and yes they supply the oil pressure to the cam phasers via computer control. ( gm units have same issues)

 

My guess is the rear brake backing plates. They rot out and the pins for the shoes pull through.

 

Oops disregard I meant to respond to blacksmith

 

That’s ok.... I just replaced all my rear brake hardware and backer plates this spring because of that!!!
Makes for an interesting time at the boat launch. Back down ramp, step on parking brake, whammy! No brake hold..... sounds like rolling marbles in the rear wheel

 

Today’s job was a 2004 6.8 dually. Both exhaust manifolds, 9 broken studs flush or deeper. The left front axle ujoint exploded. Needed rear pads, rotors And the backing plates are pulled through.

Today was a good day. Love the older Superdutys!

 

Yup had my parking brake come apart on my way back from Scotty Overkill's house. He lives about 10 miles from me. I had to limp it home, if I went any faster than 2 mph the brake shoes would flop around and lock up my wheel! It took awhile to get home to say the least and had to fix it the next day, not a fun job!

 

Pretty awful you had to not only spend that much cash but that much time.
At least it didn't spit the plugs out at a bad time.

I don't know why they didn't issue a recall or tsb stating the plugs need to be changed every x amount of miles. Seems it could have saved everybody alot of head ache.

They have to do it because they haven't met their 25% fuel efficiency gain they promised with their bailout loan that is due in 2020. Even with a tax funded Ecoboost then the aluminum body and now 10speed I don't know if they will make it. Nobody seems to care so the conditions of the bailout loan probably won't ever be met.

 

You know what the worst part of that job is? Parking to close to the wall to be able to pull the axle shaft! Don’t ask me how I know

 

If I remember correctly ford never subscribed to that bailout flim flam.