05' and above 4.6L V8

[zimmerc]

05' and above Ford 4.6L V8 & 5.4L V8

You S197 folks are in for a treat. For that matter all 05' and above Ford V8's. Ford recomends changing your spark plugs at 100,000 miles. To be on the safe side I would change them now. So far I have tried 3 types of plugs. Motorcraft work of course but they have a fatal flaw I will get into in a minute. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use Autolite. CRAP CRAP CRAP. So far the best I found were Champion 7989's. Here is the reason. When Ford made the 3V V8 they tried to re-invent the proverbial "wheel". Of course they had to make a new style spark plug and they screwed the pooch. Over time, carbon deposits build up and and, for the lack of better terms, lock the plug in the head. This would not have been a problem if Motorcraft wouldn't have been cheap and made the plugs worth the metal thats in them. The Motorcraft spark plug (part number SP-462) are made of three pieces, the porcelain insulator, the jamb nut and the ground strap. When the carbon builds up enough around the ground strap, they have been known to seperate from the porcelain and the jamb nut, leaving the ground strap behind. Here is the TSB on removal of whole spark plug and, if things go bad, the removal of a partial spark plug.
http://www.justanswer.com/uploads/jmcdo28/2009-01-02_155622_tsb08-07-06.pdf
Champion was smart when making these bad boys. #1 they are of one piece construction and #2 they can be easily gapped unlike the Autolite and the Motorcraft. They can be purchaced on the Champion website. The only downside is they are a slight bit expensive but so are new heads.
http://www.championsparkplugs.com/more_info.asp?AAIA=1432173&pid=27288

EDIT: COPY AND PASTE FOR THE VIDEO>>> mms://multimedia.ford.com/seopts/Tech26_250k.wmv

 

[zimmerc]

Copy and paste the last URL for a video. Thanks Gibs. Sorry, this was my first article ever. Hope you all enjoy and leave a comment and a rating.

 

[blackstallion06]

Do they make them in a zero degree for NOS and Blowers? I am going to change mine again when I get back to MO along with a oil change and maybe putting some more RTV on my lower pully

 

[northerncountry02]

Yeah I second that My boss has a 5.4 3v in his truck and they broke he had to take off his heads lets just say he wasnt a happy camper. so take the hint and get some new better plugs ( me included)

 

[zimmerc]

Im no sure if Champion does or not. I think you can just gap them for S/C or turbo applications. I do believe there are other brands that do. I did this article on the 3 I have tried on my N/A GT. Of course Autolite has a heat range colder but the HT1 part # didnt work for me maybe the HT0 works??? Brisk makes one. They are at http://www.steeda.com/products/brisk_spark_plugs_silver.php but disregard the image at the top of the page. This is the Brisk 497-3VR14S and the 497-3VR17YS. Part number 497-3VR17YS is recommended for applications up to 450 flywheel horsepower. Part number 497-3VR14S is a colder heat range and recommended for application at 450 flywheel horsepower and higher.

 

[lemonademaker]

that was really interesting! gonna replace mine when i get a chance! thanks!

 

[DrunkFatguy]

On a side note before ordering plugs on these, the 3V heads were changed over from a 16MM Plug (05-07)to a 12MM Plug in 08. Heres a bit of Tech or Blurb from Dagostino Racing website describing the how to Id the differences:

Engines with late style 12MM spark plugs can be identified by coil engineering number 8L3E
Engines with early style 16mm "High Thread" design spark plugs can be identified by coil engineering number 3L3E part number.

They offer the new head designs in the Ford racing Ported versions and for some reason they are cheaper than the older ones.