2004 Ford F-150 sparkplugs

SHARONLANDERSON

MEMBER
2004 FORD F-150
V8
4WD
AUTOMATIC
104,000 MILES

Brought son's truck in to figure out what was wrong with it, he said that as he was driving it would die out on him and he would put it in neutral and start the truck again and go on down the road. So we took it to the ford house. They ran a diagnostic on it and said that it was getting intermittant fire so we proceeded to change the spark plugs. The mechanic broke 6 plugs and is now saying that they have to pull the heads to remove the plug (only after breaking the tool he was using to pull the plugs.)What started out as a $400.00 bill has turned out to be $3000.00. Am I being screwed?Please help

1 Reply

DBAKES06

MEMBER
5 POSTS

The answer to you "am I being screwed question"; yes and no. The 5.4L motors are natorious for the spark plugs breaking off. I just did mine and 2 of them broke. Most the time this is a big deal, BUT since it is such a common problem there is a massive aftermarket for tools to remove them without pulling the heads. The tool I used worked real slick. There is a possiblity that the heads do need to be pulled. Thus putting the 3K dollars into affect because he would have to take the cab off the frame to do so. However I would look into other shops that have tools. Many people know about this and pulling the heads is a last resort. Many of the ford dealers have specialty tools to get them out. And a tow bill and a ford bill will be cheaper than paying someone to pull the heads.