Truck comes back soon!
 

Hopefully getting my truck back any day now, can't wait!!!!!

I thought I read something about this on RF, but I really thought you had already got it fixed!! Good luck I am sure it will feel great to drive it.

Unfortunately not, hes had it since saturday though so I'm hoping he'll be finishing up soon.

I wasn't really worried about it until my cousin towed it away on saturday, now I'm getting excited about having it back.

I dont know how some of you do it. I cant stand not driving around in my own car/truck.

If I didn't work at home I wouldn't have been able to, it was either wait or take it to the dealership and pay a ton for it though.

I'm kind of bummed I couldn't do it myself, thats the first time I've had to give up and have someone else do it with me. I just felt I was only going to mess it up worse though so I had to make the call.

Where did you all come from?>?

What happened to your rig?

I can understand that. I have been there before and honestly sometimes that is best decision. leave it to the pros...

Zach invited me from R-F. It's good to see you guys here!!

Yeah Zach invited me as well.

Rick, spark plugs broke when I was trying to remove them, ended up being more of a pain than it was worse for me to continue messing with it.

Ouch! Did the threads break off in the heads Trent?

Who did you get to fix it for you?

No just the porcelain broke off the plug. My cousin is good friends with a guy that works downtown at University Ford. He has a huge shop at his house up in Stem and is working on it for me at night. Super nice guy

Good to hear the threads aren't trashed!

i dont think it usually trashes the threads. its mainly that lower part of the plug sticking in the head below the threads.

Yeah I did some searching and couldn't find anything about anyone having problems with stripped threads on the 04-08

What years did the 5.4L have a problem with plugs blowing out of the head?

That was the older gen so 97-03 maybe?

I've heard to many horror stories about changing the plugs and plugs breaking off, threads seized, etc., - i just figured I'd save up my coin and have the dealer do it.

My dealer quoted $396 IF everything goes smoothly. Hourly rate after that...

Thats what mine quoted me as well. I don't trust the local dealership service shop though, the service manager is a greedy pig.

Next time I'm just going to the dealership in Raleigh though

ugh, im going to need to do this soon. im at 65,000 right now and i figure the sooner the better. i will probably do it myself because im afraid to ask what the dealer here would charge.

How many miles does yours have Trent? Mine has 75K.

From what I've seen you are more techy than me, I think you could handle it. I would defintily soak the plugs if you do choose to do it though, don't try to do it any other way.

72k.

Finally talked to the guy thats working on it, hes gotten the 3 I broke out and the other 2 are soaking today while hes at work, hes going to get them done tonight. Hopefully I'll have it back tomorrow or Monday.

Check out the 5.4L spark plug procedure in this link Patrick
posted. It says the engine should be warm, not cold or hot:

http://www.flatratetech.com/index.php?categoryid=4

Yeah I know, thats what the TSB says too. I did mine warm

That sucks to hear, they changed all of my spark plugs before I took delivery of my Mark lt. I was scared to do it myself, so I did some haggling and got them to agree to it! Shes idling much smoother than the test drive! Good luck with the truck, and hopefully you get her home soon!

Sean

Good call, I tried to get them to do that when I bought mine with 50k on it but they refused.

Well just got off the phone, he said it was $420 to fix it. Ughhhhhhh

It failed inspection the first time so hes out driving it trying to clear the system and get it to show ready. He said it threw a code for the throttle body but I'm hoping it just needs a good cleaning since I had it off for a while. But I'm sure I'm wrong and I'll have to buy another ****ing one of those too. Ergh

Dang, at least it is fixed now. Well at least that part.

Yeah, at least its driving now. I'm praying it will pass inspection, I really don't care about the rest. As long as it drives and its legal I can take care of the rest later.

Ouch! But that's still cheaper than my dealer would been!

If it makes you feel any better we had to take one of the cats to the vet yesterday and had to pay $265. lol

Well, if we're trying to make him feel better with things we had to pay for recently... I just spent a total of $1200 to get my root canal done, and I have to go back next week to get another cap put on it... That will be close to $1000.

Sean

Oh man I know how that goes.
A few years ago I had to have four root canals (I blame this on my mom for what it's worth, lol). Insurance only covered $1000 of it I think.
I still need crowns on all of them, but I need root-lengthening surgery first. Plus I need all four wisdom teeth removed. Since I'm in Kentucky now, my job has great medical insurance but no dental (not surprised). I just refuse to spend that much money out of pocket until something hurts like hell. We do have a fair amount saved up on a Humana flexible spending card so I'm hoping I can find an understanding denist/oral surgeon who will agree to fix everything and empty or spending account. ugh

Four wisdom teeth? How unlucky can you get.

In my experience, I can get VERY unlucky. lol

we all go through those times!

Having all four wisdom teeth being cut out was awesome.....well the ride home was awesome....seeing four of each car.

Yeah it sucks, trouble isn't over though. Guy won't answer my calls now and I have no idea where the hell my truck is. Hopefully I can get in touch with him tomorrow and get my truck back.

isnt he your cousin? that doesnt sound good...

No hes my cousins friend, my cousin would never do that. My cousin warned me that hes terrible about calling people back...he wasnt kidding.

Trent, did he give you any details on how he got the remaining plugs out?