Removing the plugs from the 3v's is quite easy really, its which one breaks that makes it change difficulty. The main reason they pull apart is the carbon from engine combustion grows on the shaft, when you try to remove the hole for this shaft isnt large enough and you get a binding and with enough force, pulls the plug in two halves. The main thing to try to get them out is, loosen them only a few turns, maybe two full turns if that, just enough to unseat the plugs from the head, spray pb-blaster or similar into the plug wells and let them sit for a good hour and come back, retighten them, and then try to remove them. Normally this works as it loosens that carbon enough. If not, well, you'll have to pull them out with the special puller. Anti-seize is to be put on the shank of the new plug to help with this problem.
Ps- If you're removing the coils please replaced the COP boots at the same time, and minute cracks are whats going to lead to misfires and what not. Linemen test their gloves a lot for any pinholes for this same reason, high voltage will find a way through the smallest holes.
This here is the only guy that has gotten the problem and solution correct so far. Write this down.
Spitting plugs were the early Triton engines. About 2003 that problem disappeared as the head were redesigned with 2x the thread depth they had earlier. Improper torque was often fingered as the root cause but hard to prove. In any case Ford was a bit Scotch with the threads in the early Tritions... It didn't happen to all of them or consistently, but it was a significant problem. Not universal.
3V engines have the seized plug problem, and it is as Mr. Grinder describes. In the SD that is from 2005+. I think it was in the 150 a year or so before that, but I do not keep up on the 150. They revised the design later on, but I don't think there is enough time out there to know if they solved it or not.
Every vehicle has it's issues...
\Soapbox...
Look, I am a "Ford guy" for a couple reasons. The first real car I bought was an SHO Taurus because it was awesome at half the price of the relatively comparable BMW. Then I got to like them, and got used to them.
Every mfger has it's quirks, so if you stick with a brand, you know those quirks. That makes my life easier as I do all my own car work. I have hated GM interiors for years. The old saw "Body by Fischer, interior by Fisher-Price" is spot on, or at least used to be. GM interiors used to make my stomach turn they were so cheesy. And the interior is what you as the driver look at all the time. In recent years they have gotten much better, but there is still room to improve on the older designs (not too much left of that anymore - Luminas = YUCK). On the truck front, it is undeniable that they had weaker structure than Ford's did for a number of years. This too has apparently been fixed in just the past couple years. Paying attention to that stuff makes you better. Competition does that.
Chrysler's overall problem is one of a 2nd tier mfger. I know this first hand. I used to work in an adhesive lab that dealt with automotive adhesives. We would get spec metals from the big 3 for testing. GM & Ford had pretty much the same spec for their galvanized steel. Chrysler did not. It was far worse. Adhesives that would not hold well enough on the GM/Ford metal samples would cause the Chrysler galvanizing to fail. The problem was that Chrysler spec'd a much cheaper galvanizing than the other 2 did. It was often the case that something that did not stick well enough to the GM & Ford galvanizing would peel the Chrysler galvanizing right off. To say that is bad, is an understatement. This is EXACTLY why people often say "Chryslers rust out quick"...
GM has improved their interior work to where it is pretty respectable now. They have improved their truck frames too (so I hear - have not looked at it) I do not know if Chrysler has ever spec'd decent steel as I have been out of that business for 15 yrs now. But the points I state are/were true.
Sorry guys, but these are facts. Those of you who stake your life on Ford/GM/Chrysler are really not thinking rationally about all this. If you prefer one, hey great. I
prefer Fords for 2 main reasons: 1. I know their quirks, 2. I like their designs, features and quality. But if you think all others "are crap," well you are just being juvenile. Strengths and weaknesses change with time, specs and designs.
/soapbox off
