I am planning to address my leaking intake manifold this weekend.
While the intake manifold is off of the car, I will take this opportunity to change out the spark plugs. This is simple enough for me—I’ve done lots of spark plug changes before. I want to start fresh, with a set of plugs that hasn’t had coolant dumped all over it!
But a couple of horrible thoughts occurred to me. Please keep reading...
Approximately three years ago, I was married to a woman who had a 20 year old son. The son absolutely LOVED my Mustang, and one day he took it so he could detail it and give it some TLC.
When I got it back, he had washed and waxed the car (but used rubbing compound on some spots on my clearcoat finish…GRRR….I still see the scratches).
He also changed the spark plugs and installed new spark plug wires.
The car has run just fine with “his” spark plugs in it, but I am wondering a couple of things now:
1) What if he didn’t use anti-seize compound on the spark plug threads? How much of a struggle am I going to have removing the plugs?
2) Is it possible that he might have cross-threaded any plugs? The car has been running FINE, so I am going to assume that he properly threaded all of the plugs, and that I won’t have any messed-up threads…FINGERS CROSSED….
I plan to spray a bit of PB Blaster down around each spark plug and let it soak in, just to lubricate things a bit more.
I want to say that things will be fine. But I can’t help feeling some panic at the thought of encountering some serious damage that has been hidden to me up to this time. My ex-wife’s son was a good boy, but he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
Should I be worried about anything? Is there anything I haven’t mentioned that I should be worried about?
Thank goodness my 4.6L is a 2V type and I don't have to worry about leaving a piece of spark plug buried inside the head like folks with the 3V type engines do!
Nervously awaiting the weekend…..
While the intake manifold is off of the car, I will take this opportunity to change out the spark plugs. This is simple enough for me—I’ve done lots of spark plug changes before. I want to start fresh, with a set of plugs that hasn’t had coolant dumped all over it!
But a couple of horrible thoughts occurred to me. Please keep reading...
Approximately three years ago, I was married to a woman who had a 20 year old son. The son absolutely LOVED my Mustang, and one day he took it so he could detail it and give it some TLC.
When I got it back, he had washed and waxed the car (but used rubbing compound on some spots on my clearcoat finish…GRRR….I still see the scratches).
He also changed the spark plugs and installed new spark plug wires.
The car has run just fine with “his” spark plugs in it, but I am wondering a couple of things now:
1) What if he didn’t use anti-seize compound on the spark plug threads? How much of a struggle am I going to have removing the plugs?
2) Is it possible that he might have cross-threaded any plugs? The car has been running FINE, so I am going to assume that he properly threaded all of the plugs, and that I won’t have any messed-up threads…FINGERS CROSSED….
I plan to spray a bit of PB Blaster down around each spark plug and let it soak in, just to lubricate things a bit more.
I want to say that things will be fine. But I can’t help feeling some panic at the thought of encountering some serious damage that has been hidden to me up to this time. My ex-wife’s son was a good boy, but he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
Should I be worried about anything? Is there anything I haven’t mentioned that I should be worried about?
Thank goodness my 4.6L is a 2V type and I don't have to worry about leaving a piece of spark plug buried inside the head like folks with the 3V type engines do!
Nervously awaiting the weekend…..