[RainsFather]

Now when I'm on the highway in 5th gear (3.31 rear) and give it about 1/3 throttle I get a real bad miss. I re-checked the connections on the COPs and the injectors (unplugged them to give me some less clutter to work around). Is there anything else I should check? I put quite a bit of anti-seize on the plugs when I put them back in, but made sure there was none on the tip. Also, i used PB blaster to spray down in the plug recesses when I was trying to break them loose and when they did come out it leaked down in the cylinder, it smoked pretty bad when I first started it but stopped quickly. Any ideas let me know what y'all think.

 

[RainsFather]

Ok, I did not put anti-seize on the threads, I put it on the sleave part that breaks off and I made sure not to get any on the tip of the plug. These were the stock plugs that came from the factory in the car. I plan on putting some HT0s in the car between December and March when I get my nitrous kit, so I decided while I had a little bit of free time last Sunday I would pull my plugs and see 1. If they looked like I had been running rich or lean (they looked perfect) and 2. Put some anti-seize on them so when I go to put the HT0s in when I do the nitrous kit I'm not dealing with a broken plug as well. I used the ford specified nickel anti-seize. They are gapped to whatever they were when frank at the ford factory put them in while on the assembly line, which have worked just fine until today. I was also thinking maybe one is fouled but it's only missing at part (less than half) throttle while the car is under load. Doesn't do it at idle or anything more than half throttle, that is what is confusing me. I double checked the connections for the COPs and injectors again and they are all secure and pluged in properly. I will try to pull them agan tomorrow and check if any of them are fouled.

 

[RainsFather]

Why is this a problem???

I would check for codes.

No codes and no CEL.

 

[RainsFather]

Try to regap them, it'd be the cheapest thing to try.

is there a way to do it without the special tool? What should I gap them at, factory specs or something else?

Hopefully one of them didnt crack on the re-install...

didn't think about that. I really hope that's not what happened.

 

[RainsFather]

Ok, I'm still at work but I did have another question. How much anti-seize should I put on? I put quite a bit of it and am thinking maybe some of it squeezed down into the cylinder and got on part of the tip. I'm going to pull them tonight if it doesn't rain and clean them off and check for any fouling. As soon as I get the tool to gap them I will pull them again make sure that's good.

 

[RainsFather]

ok, on wednesday I pulled the plugs and none of them were fouled so I cleaned the excess anti-seize off of them and re-installed. Still had the miss. So, today I decided to make my own spark plug gapper since the $30 one that was suggested just seemed to simple for me not to make on my own. I checked and all the plugs were just slightly more than .45 so I readjusted all of them to .45 and now the miss is gone. Which really confuses me! How is it that they worked perfectly up until this point? When I pulled them even though none of them broke could the outer sleeve moved just enough to open the gap up enough to cause problems?

 

[RainsFather]

check all the connections for the cop's and injectors by pulling up on them to make sure they are locked...alot of times you will break off the locking tab while removing them.

All the connections were perfect. I checked and double checked them everytime I pulled them as that would have been an easy fix. What I'm wondering now is how would the gap have changed or if it didn't why did they work before since changing the gap fixed the problem?

 

[RainsFather]

On a second note. Whats wrong with putting antiseize on plug threads? If you have antiseize on the thread then you dont have to worry bout them breaking and dont have to use cleaner to get them out! And a lil antiseize goes a long ways. Your supposed to use antiseize on any aluminum threads or studs especially when heat and water is involved with it! I have used it on the threads and never had a problem and have never used any cleaner. Never had a miss or any fouled plugs and I check and change them often with N2O!

you must be one of the lucky 08 owners that got the new style plug. Please LOOK at the tsb posted in this thread. It will explain why we don't use anti-seize on the threads and do use anti-seize on the lower sleeve/body.

 

[RainsFather]

Glad it's working better!

Thank you. I'm alot less sad when driving it now.

 

[RainsFather]

Figured I would give an update and some thoughts. The miss did come back, it was so random that I thought it may have been bad fuel. After several fill ups it would still happen at random. I went ahead and ordered some champion 7989s since nitrous is not going to happen anytime soon. It fixed the problem, I honestly don't think it has ever ran this smooth. It almost feels like there is more power now, I'm sure it does now that i'm getting all 8 all the time. A note on the 7989s, the gap from the factory ranged from .30 to .55 which is [email protected] un acceptable. It is easier to gap but I have never in my life had that big of a difference in any of the hundreds of plug changes I've done over the years.