My truck is a 2004 with 3V 5.4 with 123k miles. I got it about 3 yrs ago with 103k. I bought it from a small independent dealer and he told me they did a full tune up including plugs. Well when I found out about the fun times changing these plug I was skeptical that it had been done, but it was running great so maybe. Recently it had been running rough and progressively got worse to the point a couple times stopped at idle I thought it would stall. It did not but still wanted it fixed and I figured the plugs.

I finally got around to it and did not break a single one. Actually they did not look too bad. Not great, but not too bad, except for 1 which was not even tightened in (was hand loose when removed) and really black with oil. It was the plug all the way back on passenger side. A couple other plugs on passenger side were a bit oily on the anode. The rest were dry with a bit of rustyness to the anode side sleeve.

Any idea why the one was so oily? I am attaching an image of the plugs I removed

 

looks like carbon from being loose, mixed with water left that mess for ya

 

Took it for a test drive and it runs 100% better, seems to have a lot more power too.

 

Hi Barry;

First, congrats on a great job!

And I agree with TJ - that thar looky like a loose plug to me, with blowby whut maked a dang mess'n all.

By the part number shown ( and the cutout shape at the tip), those are indeed not the OEM plugs used in 2004.

Always Nice to read success stories like this. Thanks for sharing!

 

So do those look like plugs with 120k miles on them? They are the SP507s so older plugs. Could the loose plug have cause low compression in that cylinder and the rough running?

 

Hi.

Without seeing the gaps up close, hard to say. Looks like plugs that are 123k-103k = 20k, lol.

No wonder they came out easy - and yep, most certainly a loose one can cause those symptoms.

You put in SP-515's that superceded the 507, right?

 

If those are SP507 (PZT14F), they are not original. The 04's came with SP462 (PZT1F).

 

OK they were PZT14F so they were probably changed by the seller as he said. I did use SP-515s. I am attaching a pic of 2 of the plugs compared to a new one closer up. I am just glad it is done and the plugs all came out without breaking. It runs better and should get better gas mileage

 

Did you coat the shanks with anti seize? I bet the old plugs were any in around 25k miles at the most. All except the on that was loose look really good.

 

Yup coated the sleeves with anti seize

 

A VERY thin, light coat of the Hi-temp nickel A/S...

This feller either used the wrong stuff, and/or he put on too much see Step #9) lol

http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/must...ml#post1419555

 

lmfao