I thought my SVT spark plugs were tough...

[Redlineracer12]

<rant> I gave my gf's 96 ranger a quick (or so i thought) tune up today with new plugs and wires. Easier said then done! First her truck is 2wd Auto w/ 2.3L 4Cylinder. 160k miles on this bad boy including MN winters. After scraping the dirt off the wires i figure out they say 1996 Motorcraft!!!! Regular Maintenance anyone? Anyhow i look a little closer... ummm there are spark plugs on the intake side AND exhaust side??? I look into the manual a little bit, yes sir this is apparently what they call a 2.3L twin plug. 8 spark plugs on that little hot rod. Which was totally crazy to me lol it has 2 spark boxes and 8 wires (original and 10 years old).

Anyhow after having her buy EIGHT autolite double plats and a new set of EIGHT autolite wires I went to work. Every one of them was old, dirty, and a stuck on. Spark plugs were corroded and stuck in almost every spot. I actually had to fish all different extentions through the breaks in the intake manifold to get at the plugs. It was a heck of a project and when it was all said and done i ruined about 3 wires trying to pry the suckers off but have all new plugs gapped and wires hooked up (the 3rd and 4th under the intake manifold were a real treat). runs great a little more pep then before, not much still though :) . I'm tempted to take pictures of those plugs cuz they are pathetic looking.

I can't beleive in the last 10 years no one thought to replace the plugs.... Unless they did and saw 8 wires winding around both sides of the engine, got a little intimidated and shut the hood ;) </rant>

[Kremithefrog]

My boss told me to throw plugs in one of those one day. I was like, umm hey look at this, it's gonna take me a while. Then he figured in the fact that it could very well need plug wires once we pull them off and looked up the labor on it all and we ended up not doing it. Made me happy as I only get paid by the hour.
Give yourself a pat on the back and a cold beer, I know you didn't have fun.

[todras]

The little Mexican likes to do those.

[Redlineracer12]

My boss told me to throw plugs in one of those one day. I was like, umm hey look at this, it's gonna take me a while. Then he figured in the fact that it could very well need plug wires once we pull them off and looked up the labor on it all and we ended up not doing it. Made me happy as I only get paid by the hour.
Give yourself a pat on the back and a cold beer, I know you didn't have fun.
HAHA thanks man :) it was a battle i probably started around 4 or 5PM and finished around 8 with supper in there too lol so not too bad i guess.

[Viss1]

Heh, I did the same thing last summer. I remember a couple of the plugs being a real PITA. But luckily none of mine had seized.

And when I thought I was done, I looked down at the old plugs and realized there were only 7. So I had to pull out a few to find the one I had missed :rolleyes:

Gotta hand it to Ford for:
1. Desinging one of the few longitudinally-mounted 4 cyl's in existence with difficult-to-change plugs
2. Developing a twin-plug design that still makes no power :wink:

[GS474]

if i remember right i think they did it for emissions i could be wrong

its sposed to burn the fuel better