Ford Mercury 8 Piece Spark Plug Set Motorcraft MCERK00011

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Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks!

In this video, we're going to show you how to replace the spark plugs. This is a 2006 Ford Explorer. It has the 4.6-liter 3-valve motor, same motor that's in a lot of different Ford products from Mustangs to F-150s. The items you'll need are 7mm or 8mm socket. It kind of depends on the size of the bolts that hold the ignition coils in. Then you'll need a 9/16 spark plug socket, or we do it with a deep socket stick magnet and a paper towel. We'll show you how that works. Then you'll need a ratchet and extension for both of those.

Open up the hood, and in the engine there are four coils on each side: one, two, three, and four here on the driver side. You'll need to unplug the harness. There's just a little tab that you can press with your thumb and then pull. Pull and wiggle it a little bit to get it off. Then either a 7mm or 8mm bolt that holds the coil down. You see the ones on the driver side. Passenger side is obviously located somewhat in the same position on the other side.

I'm going to remove the second one back. It's just the easiest one to video. Again, push the tab with your thumb. Pull off the connector. 8mm socket with a ratchet and extension, remove that bolt. Then once the bolt is off, make sure you retrieve it. Then the coil will pull out with just a little bit of a half turn, as well as just moving it back and forth and it pulls up and out. With the coil out you can see each spark plug is down underneath the coil. The right tool is a 9/16 spark plug socket. Spark plug sockets have a little cushion in them that grips the spark plug so that when you pull it up and out, the spark plug comes with the socket. You can see I'm using just a 9/16 deep socket and carefully keeping it lined up. You can hear these plugs probably had never been out before so they're making some noise. Then they eventually come out. If you had a spark plug socket, once you get it loosened up you just pull it right out. As you can see here, I don't have one so I just used a stick magnet to go in there and pull the old spark plug out.

To put them in without a spark plug socket, just take a little piece of paper towel and wrap it just once around the spark plug. This does what a spark plug socket should do. You put it in there and then it will stay in the socket inverted. At this point you just put the plug down in there. Make sure that that extension is lined up right in the center of the hole as you start it out, and you should be able to thread the new plug in there basically until it's just about seated, as you can see there. If you have any trouble, you want to back off. You don't want to cross thread your spark plugs. Then you tighten them up to about 18 to 20 foot pounds. Then I'm just using a little pick to pull that piece of paper towel out.

The new coil from 1A Auto is going to go right down in just like the original one. You want to push it down in and give it a good firm push. Make sure that the hole lines up with where the bolt goes into the intake manifold or head. Start that bolt on and tighten it up. Obviously you'll repeat this procedure for all eight, or however many you want to replace. Make sure you reconnect all of your coils, and you're all set.

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