6.2 sparkplugs ?

[JP7]

I was leary of them breaking too, so I had them pulled at 30k miles and they re-installed them with some mild lube which should prevent problems down the road. Not sure what they used, but my Ford tech recommended it.

 

[Squatting Dog]

I was leary of them breaking too, so I had them pulled at 30k miles and they re-installed them with some mild lube which should prevent problems down the road. Not sure what they used, but my Ford tech recommended it.

There is a TSB about using a nickle based anti seize on spark plugs to prevent issues with breakage and galvanic reaction.

-Greg

 

[JP7]

There is a TSB about using a nickle based anti seize on spark plugs to prevent issues with breakage and galvanic reaction.

-Greg

Good news. There seems to be a lot of dissimilar metals in contact with one another in today's vehicles.

 

[RV67]

Ah so, grasshoppah, your expensive off-road weapon will run like yak excrement if you use those plugs.

Yea I know I was just BS'n.I never fell for the hype on those plugs not to mention the $4-5 price on them.Its all motorcraft for me.

 

[Reptar]

actually the 04-08 5.4 changed the service interval to 60k to try and prevent so many from breaking. In the last year they also redesigned the plug so that they are no longer suppose to break. In 08 1/2 they had another spark plug change where the ground electrode is threaded all of the way down and changed the size of spark plug socket again. I haven't attempted to pull out the one on 6.2 yet but I'm sure they are fully threaded down. The ignition coil sits on 1 spark plug then you have a wire that goes down to the second plug. They do go down in the hole a few inches I believe still with the modular engine design I don't see that going away.

lol you need to checkout the 2013 spy shot thread "5.0's and 6.2's aren't modular engine designs, they're just nearly identical architecture to all the other modular motors, but they're too new to count as modulars" lol bunch of know-it-all, know-nothings in there lol



Anyway, the big issue with plugs breaking was primarily on the 3V 5.4 engines. The plugs for those 3V engines look FUNKY. The prior 2V 5.4 engines never had issues with plugs breaking, and those plugs looked like any other standard plug. Earlier 2V 5.4's did have issues spitting plugs with only 4 threads per cylinder, but the later 2V's had 8 threads.

I'm assuming the Raptors plugs look more like a regular ol' spark plug again with the 2V even with twin plugs per cylinder.

 

[Ruger]

I was told by a Ford dealership rep about the peculiar history of 5.4L Triton engine spark plug failures. In all candor he told me that the problem is isolated to cylinders 7 and 8. He told me that head temp on the back of the engine is such that plug threads tend to sieze in the head, and when those two plugs are removed there is a tendency to damage the threads in the head. The old plugs are blithly discarded, and new plugs installed on those damaged threads. Subsequently under high loads, the engine may literally eject plugs 7 and/or 8 from the head. That's what the man told me.

 

[Reptar]

Here's a picture of 3V plugs. I've never changed a set of 3v plugs luckily (only owned 2v 5.4's) but just look at the difference. Judging from where they typically break at, it looks like the lower portion siezes up, and the torque from the thread being so far away from the tip, causes them to sheer off.



Here's a link with a few more pics, wouldn't let me put the images here...
http://www.denlorstools.com/autoblo...lug-removal-tool-picture-of-fords-bad-design/



now look at your 2v plugs, a standard style plug. You don't have the long torque arm between the threads and the tip. It's a very short distance between where the plug socket goes and where anything else could sieze up.

3V plug on left, 2v plug on right




Now the issue on the early 2v 5.4's was they only had 4 threads per cylinder and the plugs could easily loosen up and spit them. If they weren't torqued perfectly you'd have issues. Too tight and you easily strip 4 aluminum threads. Too loose and you eject plugs. 13 ft-lbs was the magic #. For 2003 they updated the 2v 5.4 to have 8 threads per cylinder and this pretty much resolved the issue.

#7 and #8 are the last on the cooling loop on the 5.4's so they do tend to run hotter, which may cause the 3v plugs to sieze a bit easier, but for the 2v 5.4's you seemed to have pretty even odds of ejecting any cylinder on the 4 thread heads lol.


I'm pretty sure the 6.2's use the same style plug as the 2v 5.4's and not that funky 3v style plug any longer. Ford got a lot of rash for that design and the prone broken plugs on changes. There's even special removal tools just to remove them since they break so easily on the 3V's.

 

[pirate air]

The 5.4 3v spark plugs broke off the extended tip due to carbon build up between the extended tip and the cylinder head. The carbon would basically "concrete" the tip extension into the head, causing it to shear off during removal. In fact I had one in yesterday. Depending on fuel quality, some areas of the US saw way more problems then others. Like JD said, the later years of 5.4 3v switched to the conventional spark plug/cylinder head spark plug hole design eliminating the problem. All Raptor 5.4's have the new design.

The 6.2 has a conventional design spark plug, and also twice the amount of threads. Both plugs fire on combustion for better flame front due to the 6.2's bore size. Previous dual spark plug engines (like the newer hemi), and even some single spark plug per cylinder engines fire the second plug/pulse on exhaust stroke to help emissions.

It's going to be hard (actually probably impossible) to find a OHC engine made by any manufacture in recent years that doesn't have spark plugs down in a well, its just part of the design.

 

[Reptar]

at least 4v heads though, the plugs are much easier to get to with the plugs going straight down through the center of the valve cover, rather than cornered to the inboard side of the head (or both sides on the 6.2). An extended spark plug socket is all you need to make the deep wells a non-issue. Harbor freight sells one for about $5 that is the perfect length, sticks just beyond the head so no worries of extensions popping off, etc.

 

[pirate air]

I wouldn't say OHC vs OHV vs 2v vs 3v vs v4 is any easier than the other. Depends on the application, any of them can be a bitch to do. The Lincoln Navigators DOHC 5.4 4v pays 3 hours to replace plugs, those aren't all that fun. Some DOHC's require the removal of the upper intake manifold or superchager just to fit an extension in the well. When the manufacture crams an engine into a mini van or cross-over, its a guarantee #2 bank plugs will be a bitch regardless of plug orientation.

Draw back to through the valve cover creates another place for a leak. It's not un common to find oil in a spark plug well on an engine made by any manufacture with through the valve cover spark plug access.