Maybe a permanent thread needed?
Forgive if the info is present and I can't find as I am a terrible searcher.

What i want to know is if there is a procedure to follow when installing COP. The reason I ask is because of water and corrosion in spark plug well. I did see a post about the possibility of coolant leaking and getting in some time back.
My case is on #7, code indicated bad firing, and after pulling COP I notice a lot of reddish brown on lower portion of boot. I look down in well and see lots of corrosion on walls and at bottom. Likely both aluminum and iron. This obviously took a rather long time to get this way.

And as far as I am concerned this is a defect of some sort. Is the boot supposed to seal so that water or condensation can not accumulate in the spark plug well?

 

Clean the well out the best you can.

When installing the new COP, apply dielectric grease to the inside of the boot, taking care not to get grease on the contact spring. Also apply some to the top lip to help the boot seal.

 

water on #7 usually means the wheel well skirting is gone or damaged. You could also avoid big puddles. the cooling system lines are above 3&4. Dielectric makes them water resistant..

 

Why not on contact spring?
When they first went to these high voltage ignition systems, it was advised to apply a thin coat to the spark plug wire contact and connecting tip of spark plug. Has that changed? The reason for it was to prevent corrosion on the metals. Even a slight arcing with these high voltages would produce ozone which is very corrosive. I did have one where the corrosion because of poor contact nearly destroyed the connectors.
Back a little further, it was a must to apply a little to the rotor tip or that arcing would eat it in short order.
And applied to the contacts of your incandescant bulbs on vehicle can avoid a headache. Many bulbs had used a soft contact of lead I suspect and the slight corrosion will create a resistance generating heat. The heat then eats the bulb socket, sometimes melting the plastic and sometimes heating the springy socket contact to the point it looses all springy strength and has poor contact.

Update me if I've missed something as to the thoughts of applieing a thin coat to these high voltage contacts.

 

Because I just recently got the truck, 53K miles, and my Dad has passed, it would be hard to learn how the water got there. Skirting seems to be intact. Vehicle had been garaged all those years and he was not a high mileage driver.
I learned that later years had a piece of skirting that was at front from side to side. Did the 01 have such and maybe missing?
Dad was not into mud bogging but may have been running in rather deep water.
Beginning to think the truck is a disaster. Besides problems resolved I can only wonder what else Ford has lined up for me. Was thinking this would be a simple case of changing plugs and installing new COPs. Other than written issues of getting at some of them, it would only require blowing dust from wells. The level of corrosion in that well will take some effort to clean up. I took a second look and the aluminum is pitted.

Any ideas on how I can keep the debris from falling into cylinder? I am thinking of running a rotary wire brush down the walls of it and will certainly need to pull plug to get to the bottom.

 

No grease between contact points, ie spring and plug (just at the spring end). I made a vid of that one time, can't locate. It's because the connector has insufficient pressure to push away non conductive grease,- unless you go with solid connectors.

Regular plug wires have solid connectors strong enough to expel grease at the contact point. COP springs don't have that strength. You can always upgrade to solid connecters. Granitelli sells just the solid connectors and boots as a kit if your concerned.

Coils convert signal to pulse, in case your unaware.

1. Typically, grease the inside of the boot liberally with a long screwdriver.

2. Slide the boot over spring connector.

3. Grab the spring end w/hemostats/tweezers or what not.

4. Expose about 1/2" of the spring by pulling abot that far from the boot end and hold it there.

5. With mineral spirits or better yet lacquer thinner clean the spring end (about 1/4" of it).

6. Release tweezers or hemostats so that the spring recoils back into the boot.

 

Here yuh go, - best connectors on the market, -

http://www.lightningforceperformance...onnectors.html


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Also, - best two valve coils for the money on the market (I think glc had posted up these, not to long ago,) -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-E150-F150-VISTEON-IGNITION-COILS-DG508-ALL-8-BRAND-NEW-/181091202637?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a29e0764d&vxp=mtr
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Another thing, - the best dielectric to use is the type that DOES NOT solidify over time.

 

Thanks for that info. Interesting, but what I'd prefer at this point is a boot that really seals. On the NorthStar I had, plugwires, they had a tight seal at the top of the well. It was like a big rubber/silicone stopper with a flange at the top and wire sealed through. Maybe about a 1/4 inch went into the well and sealed against sides like big o-ring. And the flange/flaired areas sat on top. They apparently did the job as i washed it a few times and never had water get in spark plug well.

 

I jumped on the situation yesterday morning. Mopped out water, cleaned as well as possible and pulled plug. I managed to get it satisfactory before assembling. I did notice the OE plug was not nickel plated and not threaded to the seat. And it had quite a bit of surface rust due to water. Although platinum the gap was at the maximum setting with 53K miles. Don't know what gapped at from factory.
You can deduce from OE plug description that the head is bored into from the seat maybe a 1/2 inch before the threads start. I question such design because it would have allowed for twice as many threads, which is what the Motorcraft replacement plug has.
I tightened plug as I usually have and then put torque wrench to it to find i was already past 28 ftlbs. That makes me curious as to why so many are having plugs back out. Was the original spec way too low?

 

Yes, the factory spec is like 7 to 15. Way too loose.

 

I hear yuh and Ford SHOULD have designed the boots that way. That's an engineering slip up which to my knowledge wasn't fixed thru the 10th generation. I've come across quite a few boot designs like you mentioned in the past and don't know why Ford left the chambers open like that. So what a few people I know of had to do was to seal the chambers w/silicone or dielectric. Not tightly, but some kind of flexible umbrella of sorts.

Some have tried the O-ring method, - I believe Bluegrass has and I'm not sure how that panned for him. But if you were to incorporate the right size O-ring and use a good silicone gasket making formulation in order to keep moisture from collecting, -sitting on the inside seal, then you would have something.

You have to keep in mind the coil has to be somewhat loose on the bushing, - nothing rigid or the coil body will crack around the transformer eventually compromising it, just from vibration... Once the coil is torqued, they should move freely by hand. The End lol

 

I was about to order the accel cop set for $210 for my 2005 4.6 truck. I figure using nitrous that a hotter coil set can only help. Anyone using these with good luck?

 

I've never had water issues and I do big puddles and I wash my engine. Well I have shorted a couple of coils. I have a big box of exra's so it not a big deal. Just save the good ones..

 

I wouldnt use accel. There have been guys report failures of newer accell coils and the Vistion coils I used have been very solid.

 

junk...