Boy was there a lot of detouring in the second half of this thread. Pages of debating copper vs. platinum plugs really don't help in a how-to article. I've been listening to guys debate copper vs. platinum for at least 25 years now. The debate is about as useful now as it was 25 years ago. Worth having ... but an absolute distraction in a how-to thread.
Back on topic ...
There is a commonly available, cheap spark plug socket that makes the passenger side plugs
much easier. I'm very surprised to see no one using them. They make this job trivial. Sources:
-
O'Reilly GM8556 (11" long - identical to mine)
-
Pep Boys GH8556 (also identical to mine)
-
Advance Auto TP80546 (a little short)
-
Auto Zone 52-135 (same shorty)
-
NAPA SER3930 (short, not reliably in stock)
The Advance, Auto Zone, and Napa shorties all appear to be a rebadged Gearwrench one, which is also available
from Amazon cheaper than all the parts store rebrands.
These swivel sockets have a limited range of motion and put the swivel point much closer to the plug. Knock on wood, I've
never broken a plug ceramic with one of these swivels. They give you just enough shift in angle to make life easy, but not so much wobble that the socket wants to twist off and break the plug.
The 11" version gives you a perfect, straight shot to every plug. The only thing I remove is the air intake tube and the dipsticks. No shifting the coolant reservoir, and no 2' crazy assembly of different extensions and multiple u-joints. I do throw one extra 3" extension on for #6 (the passenger rear), which is just enough to get the ratchet just above the coolant tank but below the cowl, where it's easy to work. If you end up with a shorty, throw an extra 6" regular extension on it and you will probably be fine for all six.
These also mostly have a centering spring in the swivel, so they want to straighten up, which makes it easier to use it to start the plugs as well.
I've been using these since I was messing with foxbody Mustangs 25 years ago - they are the only way to easily reach the back passenger plugs there past the HVAC equipment, unless you have two elbows per arm and hands the size of an infant's (but with a longshoreman's grip). Those are VERY tight in the engine bay, the Lib is just ridiculously friendly to work on by comparison.
The other place I see people struggling here is with the coil connectors. The main tip everyone might not be doing is to push the plug further
onto the coil connector before you try to press the tab to release. That takes the pressure off the tab that makes it stick. Push, press tab, then pull. They come off much easier that way. (Overall, after working on both Jeeps and Fords for years, all the connectors on these beat the snot out of 90's Ford wiring. I'm getting spoiled with this thing.)
For the hard to reach #6 connector, if your hand is medium or smaller in gloves and you can slide it under the coolant tank, you can have it right off. Use a long flathead screwdriver to
carefully press the release tab from the top. Takes seconds, so it's always worth trying this first. If you find your hands are too big, then maybe it's worth shifting the tank.
Hope some of that helps anyone who makes it down here after all the spark plug debating mess. Having the right tool on hand makes all the difference for this job.
