Loose Spark Plugs

[2k05gt]

I hope my situation may help someone else out.

anyway, I replaced my Plugs in March 08, I used the Anti-Seize and torqued the plugs at 25 ft/lbs. about three months later I started to hear a popping from my exhaust, I thought it was just getting hot due to summer and the Long Tube headers would do that. over time the popping got worse and I even had a Dyno tune done but still it was popping. I started to smell gas while driving and thought the fuel tang vapor exchanger was bad, but nope. then last week the popping started when I would get on the gas so I decided to pll the plugs and to my amaisment allthe plugs were loose, three were so loose that I did not even need the wrench to lossen them.
I pulled them all and two of the tip was melted to a nub.

I am replacing all the plugs today, Could I have dammaged the valves since the cylinder was sucking air around the plug making it lean? and Idea or suggestions? what should I look for..

Thanks

 

[klaw]

Funny - when I changed mine I thought 25 ft-lbs seemed pretty low too. I'm going to re-torque mine and will let you know if I find anything irregular. I suppose you could do a compression check. Damaged valve/seats might lead to poor combustion chamber seal and therefore low compression. I would think that the extra meat of the valve would lead to better heat dissipation and potentially lower chance of heat damage (at least relative to the spark plug tip). I'm no expert though so can't say for sure.

 

[kooldawg6]

That sucks! I got to the parking lot just as your car was going through its last dyno pull, but heard no popping. Also later that day when I rode with you from BK, I heard no popping Seems these cars are hit or miss with spark plug issues I know Marc didn't use anti seize when he put the new ones in after the cam swap. I've been putting off even checking mine. If I have no problems, I'll probably wait until sometime early next year and change them when I do the cam/header install.

BTW, how did the converter swap go Sunday?

 

[01White5spd]

Did you use anti-seize on the threads themselves or just the cap where the carbon builds up? If you also used it on the threads, the torque specs will not be accurate. Although I thought it would bias it towards overtightening.

 

[stang8urimport]

Did you use anti-seize on the threads themselves or just the cap where the carbon builds up? If you also used it on the threads, the torque specs will not be accurate. Although I thought it would bias it towards overtightening.

I agree. Ford specifically states not to put any anti-sieze on the threads themselves. Doing so can cause the plugs to work themselves loose with that low of torque.

 

[hydro5606]

I might be new hear but I can tell you that if you “lube torque” you plugs the torque value changes drastically from “dry torque”. From experience on aircraft and my own flub-ups be very careful to use the OE recommended torque method to a T on these new cars and trucks. There is a mathematic equasion to refiguring the torque but I can’t find it at the moment, and it is a big pain in the but lol.

 

[2k05gt]

That sucks! I got to the parking lot just as your car was going through its last dyno pull, but heard no popping. Also later that day when I rode with you from BK, I heard no popping Seems these cars are hit or miss with spark plug issues I know Marc didn't use anti seize when he put the new ones in after the cam swap. I've been putting off even checking mine. If I have no problems, I'll probably wait until sometime early next year and change them when I do the cam/header install.

BTW, how did the converter swap go Sunday?

Yes I finally got the converter installed, It took about 5 hours, but I crossed the cables for the Turbine speed sensor and the intermediate speed sensors so I spend another hour trying to swap them.

The TCI Super Street Fighter 3500 is looser than I thought it would be, and the RPMs seems to hang up to 2500 RPM before it shifts under light load, I hope to hit that track soon to try it out. I am trying to work out two issues
1 - the O/D light will blink once and a while, code says 2nd/5th gear servo failure
2 - Plug Issue, still missing at idle and backfires from exhaust while I hit that gas at launch, It looks like the COP Boots are bad because the spark on one or two plugs is traveling along the surface of the Plugs porcelain insolator.