Greetings!

I have a 2001 Ranger with the 2.5L Lima engine. I plan on doing my second tuneup at 150k, yet the truck came from the factory with half thread plugs - which I can no longer get, not even from the dealer.

I am afraid that if I replace my half thread plugs with full thread plugs, that the full thread plug will extend further into the combustion chamber. Any thoughts on this? Someone said that the full thread plug inserts like a half thread - no worries. Is this true? Do I need to use a torque wrench to install the full thread plugs?

Any feedback would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Any takers?

 

What plugs you using? I replaced mine with the Motorcraft fine wire platinum SP432 models. They run fantastic. I think they may have been the longer threads. I never use a torque wrench with plugs, just throw some anti seize on them and run them in pretty tight. They will just about stop you dead when the are in there good enough.

 

BTW have fun with those rear driver side plugs. Actually the wires where the hard part plugs weren't too bad. I ended up taking off the upper intake manifold and cleaned it up in the process.

 

Thanks for the helpful reply, Shelton

Getting a lot of different feedback on the use of full thread (as opposed to the factory spec half-thread plug). Someone suggested that I "chase" the threads first, before inserting the plug?

 

A chaser tool looks like this:



Its almost like a tap. You just insert it in first and it cleans the threads (apply some vasaline to gather the dirt). Sometimes you can get dirt and all kinds of crap in those threads.

I never did this. I just blew some compressed air on the plugs before removing to install the new ones.

The lima block has the plugs at an angle so there isn't that big of a pocket for dirt to fall into. My mustang has completely vertical plug holes and they are like 6 inches deep, more likely to trap dirt.

 

Shelton, I can't tell you how helpful you've been. Thank you!