I figured I'd reply to some of these on here. Marc, I respect your second response, but I do disagree a bit. I think you misread a bit due to my lack of clarity.

The plug that was bad was not said by Ford to be number 3; it was in fact the 3rd coil which I am not by any means blaming Bob for. The coil I think was going bad because Rodman essentially told me what happens. The service guy (Doug) I spoke with told me that a bad coil can cause fuel to be dumped into the system and potentially damage the converter. Hence, this was probably why the P0430 was occurring periodically those few weeks prior... raw fuel was heading to the drivers side cat causing it to fail the 3 step efficiency test. So that was not something I believe was his fault. The plugs I NEVER EVER touched. Bob said that the plug was bad, not me. Never ever touched them. What it sounds like to me was he started to remove a plug, said it was going to break and bailed and put it back to where it was. But I don't buy it at all. There was never any gas smell. You can't miss it. It's like raw fuel in the cab. That has never happened. I read about it all the time. People do a plug change and they smell gas after- I usually see that they did not torque them down properly. I bet that is what happened to my truck. Also all that aside, he lied to me. I specially asked, "Will my truck be ok?" He said yes, no issue. So he couldn't tell the rough idle? Who doesn't test drive a truck after you perform work on it? Did he fail to do that? I'm just lost here. He claimed my truck would be ok and in fact it came back worse than it was brought in. Why would he be calling Ford? Bay State was a jerk to my brother and dad when they went in to look at trucks. He was unhelpful and didn't want to check his inventory. No way I would ever go to that dealer. My brother bought a 2010 from another one with a great deal anyways

But anyways, I do understand the "DO it or screw attitude is harsh, but put yourself in my shoes. What would you do if this shop told you to bring your truck back and then just says yes, there is an issue, but we'll call you. How does that make any sense? If he wasn't able to complete the plugs, he should have never told me he could. All I heard from them was they are the best shop around, but he couldn't do the plugs and called Bay State. He claimed Ford dealers would have me sign a $4k waiver (Not he himself). Rodman never once mentioned such a thing. Was I upset when I wrote that first post, yes, of course. And I still am. I was screwed by him because he left me with my truck needing to be fixed and said he would call to see if someone would even touch it. I still can't get over that. And I can't stress it enough that the codes that were being thrown were not at all what was being thrown the few weeks prior. They were completely different and I told Bob about the Cat (P0430) code so he was aware. Something happened when he touched the plug and intentional or not I don't feel like he handled it properly.

My conclusion to any thing like this is as follows:

Think of a person that you deal with on a daily basis. How does that person act when things go well and how do they act when things go unplanned and problems occur? He was all good and dandy when the truck was being brought in and when I left. WHen something wasn't right he was still nice, but he didn't fix it. Then when I threaten him with the bill he flipped. Marc, you seemed to have a good experience with him with your truck, but what if you had a 3v had ran into this? Would you just say ok, I'm left with a stranded truck? I highly doubt anyone would be calm if their truck was throwing codes they have never seen turn on before and have a truck bucking like a sob. I'm still upset with how he yelled at me and told me the truck was ok even though the truck was running funny when I was on my way home, not even 10 miles away. I know people have had good experiences their, but with an engine like this, you either know it or you don't. He probably realized the quote was under the work it actually would take to do this right and tried to put it back. That to me, is wrong.

MGD, someday man, just not for a while

Happy New Year's everyone

 

http://www.thespec.com/print/article/307333

I'll send you a copy - when I get around to it


MGD

 

I got a laugh outta that

 

Not sure what everyone else is paying but my first trip to the dealership was diagnosed as 5 bad plugs. They just replaced the 5 and charged me $21 per plug and a boat load of labor. Total bill $395

One week later the truck starts the same thing all over. This time they replaced the remaining 3 plugs at $29 per plug and a coil for $95. Total bill $346

Needless to say I had a heated discussion with the service manager about full retail on parts when they didn't get it fixed correctly the first time. After some banging on a calculator they cut the total for both trips down to almost $550.

I am going to plan on getting some spare plugs and coils to have on hand even though I won't attempt to wrench on these myself at least I can cut the parts cost in half. What sucks is they kind of have you over a barrel when your truck is all tore down on their rack and in a small town getting parts anywhere else is usually not an option.

 

Yup... they messed up with the design and we bend over. There should have been a recall on this to some degree.

 

Auto recalls are safety related. Sorry but the plug debacle is not a safety issue.

 

Oh I see, that makes sense. It stinks none the less

 

Well Ford could do like they did the 2005 5.4 3v fuel injectors, but I doubt they would do it.

 

That's more of what I meant, but I'd say at this point it's nothing to hold our breathe on. The only thing we gotta hold our breathe on is to hear the final bill amount

 

so what would one say its safe to change the plugs before any symptoms approach?

 

It's safe to change the plugs at any time - as long as you know what you are doing and have the right tools. If you ignore the TSB you may have some serious issues. Some people have decent luck doing it "their way" but I personally wouldn't recommend it.

 

Once again, the planets align, and I find myself in complete agreement with you

IMHO ...

There has never been better time for folks to do this themselves:
- the tools are mature
- the tools are readily available and not overly expensive
- the TSB is solid
- we now have a nice assortment of alternative plugs ( E3, 2 OEM MC's, Brisk, Champions)
- the OEM plugs are redesigned ( spark tip cutaway, smaller diameter sleeve)
- there are many, many early adopters who have already done this
- most (if not all) of the failure modes have been discovered and addressed

And - most importantly - there is an incredible support system on this site w.r.t this procedure - unlike ANY other


MGD