escape spark plugs?

[fish2live]

looked at the engine and didn't want to start taking things apart so i called the local ford shop and they said 250.00 to change the plugs. seems kind of outrangous are the plugs really that hard to get to? it has the 3.0 v6

[Capt. Don*]

Hard is a relative term. You have to remove the upper intake manifold and all things that attach to it to access the spark plugs. When reassembling you will need to replace the upper intake gaskets and egr gasket.

I do them daily so its not "hard", its work. $250 is not bad. Doing it yourself depends on your ability, only you can determine that, beyond that, it boils down to your time and what its worth, $500-$600 worth of the right tools can sure make a difference.

[jltimm]

Gotta love them Fords!

[Jeremy airjer W]

Sounds like a pretty good price to me also.

How many miles does it have on it?

I just did one last week. Deffinetly not the hardest plenum to do!

Fords, mitsubishi's, chrysler and just about every other manufacturer has some engine that requires the removal of the plenum to do a tun-up.

[fish2live]

almost 70,000 but, i heard ford was having trouble with spark plugs backing out and causing alot of damage and very expensive. so i figure tune up is cheaper and needs it soon anyway.

[Whoaru99]

They're probably platinum plugs which are several times more expensive than regular plugs too - but, OTOH, probably good for 100K...

[fishing tech]

I have seen a few blow out. 1 was at 62k miles. The customer complained to Ford because they are suppose to last a 100k. Ford would not help them because they could not prove they regular maintenance was done. Save your reciepts if you don't have your work done at a dealer.

[Whoaru99]

Huh???

I don't know the details, but it would be hard for me to swallow that bill on the grounds of no routine maintenance if the plugs are supposed to be 100K service interval and one blew out at 62K.

Is the insinuation one should have checked for loose spark plugs each time the oil is changed or something like that?

I didn't know removing the intake plenum (or what ever it is) is considered routine maintenance these days.

Like I said, I don't know the details but sounds kind of seedy to me if that's anywhere near the facts of the matter.

[fishing tech]

I myself thought Ford should have helped out the customer. I have seen them do it for others with a lot higher and I mean a lot higher miles then these vehicles. Dealer input and if you are the original owner has a lot to do with it.

[Scott K]

I have worked as a ford tech for 16 years, I havent seen a plug blow out of an escape, not that it couldnt happen but I have never seen it. I have seen them blow out of the f&e series, 5.4, 6.8.. As for ford paying the bills, alot has to do with the dealer you brought it to, and the reason I say that is, lets say you do all your other work on your truck elsewhere, then you bring it to ford when its out of warranty and you want them to fix it for you for free. Well if you did all your maint. at the dealer , the dealer would say to ford they are a good customer, lets take care of them! The dealership I worked at I have seen us warranty stuff upto 100k for a good customer, and turn stuff down at 36,001 miles for a customer that doesnt bring his truck in there for maint and that didnt buy it there. So that would be the advatage of bringing it to a dealer and spending the extra couple $ for your maint.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I have not seen them blow out of the DOHC 3.0 myself. Plenty of 5.4 though. Kinda funny how they only use a couple of threads for the spark plugs but the drain plug has an inch and a half of threads holding it in!

[Capt. Don*]

You have nailed it there, 3.0 DOHC has been around since 1996 and have never seen a plug blow out or even get loose. This so called 100,000 mile spark plug is a misconception too. The manufacturers have done a good job with this marketing, sure a spark plug will go 100k or more, under the right conditions. I would never recommend leaving them in that long unless you put 30000 miles a year on the vehicle. Getting an original steel spark plug out of an aluminum head after its been in it for 8-9 years could make a $250 tune up seem like pocket change. We have fixed many, many cars and trucks well outside of the warranty period on Ford and the dealerships dime.