[naturalhoosier]

Hello to Everyone!

I feel really bad to ask such a newb question, but I've never dealt w/Fords before and have very little knowledge of the world of domestics. The car is my fiancee's car and it's a 2001 SEL v-6 Duratec. I'm a Honda guy, so please don't hate on the Import Guy here!!!

How do I get to the spark plugs to change them in the back bank of the engine. Do I need to remove the intake manifold? I bought a Haynes but it really gave little insight, I think I'll return it. There are those CD's on ebay that have service manuals on them and sell for like $5 but I know in the Honda world they are basically crap. I couldn't find a Chilton's in my area. www.helminc.com has the Helms but they are $180 and out of stock.

I really don't want to jump into this w/out knowing what I'm doing. I'd hate to frick up her car. Who would have guessed it'd be such a PITA to change some plugs.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Nick

 

[JasonBVHS]

I have a 98 duratech contour and i had to get my car up on ramps and i changed the plugs from underneath the car. still was kinda akward though.

 

[qwertz9586]

Some people do remove the intake manifold. I woudl think that'd be easier than jacking up the car and trying to feel your way from underneath.

 

[SableOHC]

We're in the opposite situation. My car is the Duratec, my girlfirend's car is the Honda

On the Taurus Duratec you can't get to the plugs from the bottom. I changed my by removing the upper intake manifold to get at the rear bank.

It's not difficult, but it is tedious and time consuming if you haven't done it on that car before. It tooks me several hours to get everything apart the first time, but I could get it off again much faster.

The Haynes manual actually has the wrong information. It shows pictures and instructions from the Contour.

Know any good Honda sites

I'm starting projects on the GF's Civic and have been looking at the Super Honda and dseries.org sites.

 

[naturalhoosier]

Thanks for all the useful information. One of my friends said that if you kneel up on the engine you can still your arm in and around there. I didn't trust that, hence I'm not going to try it.

QUOTE

I changed my by removing the upper intake manifold to get at the rear bank.[/b]

Do you have any pics? I don't want to screw up any sensors or anything. I started taking the bolts off around the upper intake manifold (first time I'd seen bolts attached to rubber grommets), but thought it was the wrong way, so I put them back in after I removed 4 or 5 of them.

QUOTE

The Haynes manual actually has the wrong information. It shows pictures and instructions from the Contour.[/b]

Thanks, I'll definitely be taking it back then. No need to waste $15 on something I don't need!!!!!!!

Anyone else w/any helpful insite??

QUOTE

Know any good Honda sites  I'm starting projects on the GF's Civic and have been looking at the Super Honda and dseries.org sites.[/b]

Personally, I think superhonda sucks. Mostly ricers and you have to dig through a bunch of crap to get to useful info. www.honda-acura.net is OK. I have a crx w/a ZC engine. I'd recommend www.theZCResource.com if she has a 4th Gen civic/2nd gen CRX. Great place w/knowledgeable visitors. Shoot me an email if you have any specific questions, I'll try to give you a hand.

Nick

 

[qwertz9586]

Originally posted by naturalhoosier@Mar 10 2004, 06:31 PM
Thanks for all the useful information. One of my friends said that if you kneel up on the engine you can still your arm in and around there. I didn't trust that, hence I'm not going to try it.

That's not a bad method. My dad got right up on my engine to get the #1 spark plug ( could get the rest, but #1 is a PITA). But my motor's an Essex so there's a bit more room than the Duratec, but it's till cramped.

 

[Damon]

Well, I have a duratec and tune up time is upon me in about 5000 miles. I have all the tools and plugs, and I have talked to my buddy who is a master mechanic at the local mercury/lincoln dealer. He says the best way is to remove the intake, and just flop back the TB (its got a flexible boot). You can also get to the PCV that way on the duratec as well.

-Damon

 

[SableOHC]

Let em add that mine is a 96 (third generation) and yours is a fourth gen, so not everything from my car will apply to yours (or the Haynes manual) Sorry I didn't catch that first go around. Before you return the book, check out the bolt loosening/tightening sequence on the UIM. Also, do the pictures match. You can tell the 96-99 book has the wrong section because the pictures of the intake manifold are wrong.

I have also heard that you can reach in from the passenger side. On mine you'd also have to remove the coil pack, but I think the setup is different on yours. I went ahead and removed the UIM so I could clean out all the carbon.

Here is a link to my Superford site which has a few pictures of when I changed plugs.

Thanks for the Honda notes.

 

[naturalhoosier]

Well, today I attempted to do change the right-hand/rear plugs. Of course, I didn't complete the project. I did take off the intake as was suggested. THis made it tons easier to get my arms behind the intake manifold. I ended up getting up in the bay and onto the engine it helped, but not enough. I think I'm going to resort to removing the upper intake manifold. I didn't want to do it, but when I can't see what I'm doing w/that thing on there. Wish me luck!!!!

 

[Kermit]

Good Luck! I just wanted to add I have a 2001 CD from E-bay and it is VERY Helpful, it's the actual CD that FORD uses to diagnose the cars, it's just in CD form instead of a hard copy (shop manual). Best money I have spent on my car.

 

[silvapain]

I have never before been so happy to own a vulcan. I replaced all my spark plugs in less than twenty minutes! HA!

 

[mobiuslogic]

Just a quick plug for the CD. It's worth it's weight in gold. I've got one for my 2000 and it gives lots of pictures about taking apart everything, or damn near everything. You could probably rebuild the tranny on your own being armed with just the CD. Like Kermit said, Ford made the CD for their techs so the techs would know what to do, so it's extremely complete. Also has lots of wiring diagrams and schematics. My only grief is it doesn't give socket size to tell you what wrench you'll need ahead of time, but it does have the torque settings. Definitely get one.

-mobiuslogic

 

[naturalhoosier]

Thanks for the reassurance on the CD's. It sounds like it'll come in handy.

Didn't change the plugs this weekend, got kind of lazy and thought I'd wait for the CD. Maybe this coming weekend. Gotta change the cam seal on my honda but other then that, the weekend is wide open.

 

[Noir04]

You can a Chilton's from there website

http://www.chiltonsonline.com

 

[diesel600]

Originally posted by silvapain@Mar 15 2004, 02:48 PM
I have never before been so happy to own a vulcan. I replaced all my spark plugs in less than twenty minutes! HA!

A little extra time to change the spark plugs to me is a small price to pay for DURABLING!

 

[silvapain]

Yeah, that's where my diabolical plan for Vulcans to rule the world falls short. In pretty much all other aspects, the Vulcan bites.

 

[diesel600]

Lol, I wouldn't say that. Having owned both, I have never had any complaints about either motor. More power is always fun though.

 

[Damon]

Originally posted by naturalhoosier@Mar 16 2004, 07:04 PM
Thanks for the reassurance on the CD's. It sounds like it'll come in handy.

Didn't change the plugs this weekend, got kind of lazy and thought I'd wait for the CD. Maybe this coming weekend. Gotta change the cam seal on my honda but other then that, the weekend is wide open.

Did my plugs the other day. You have to take the intake off. 8 bolts on the intake, 2 for the EGR, and remove the flex boot from the TB. Then you just flop the intake up and move it to the right, just above the EGR (I had mine resting on the EGR). THats it, pretty simple if you ask me.

Just remember you WILL need a new EGR gasket

Also, it helps to have new upper intake gaskets on hand, but mine were fine. I just hit them with intake cleaner to clean em up a bit.

-Damon