The fortunate guy that removed the spark plugs in the photo above was impelled to post the picture of them still intact, MANY others aren't so lucky. This article are for those of you that haven't heard about the problem of broken spark plugs, that break upon removal on some 5.4's. Many unsuspecting shops and truck owners are finding out the hard way, that the spark plugs can break upon removal on some 2004 or newer Ford 5.4 engines. I thought I would mention what we have found to be the best method for removal. First a little history. A couple of years ago, all we had to offer our customers was a Rotunda 303-1203 specialty tool designed by Ford to remove broken spark plugs. The problem (besides the expense of a couple of hundred dollars) was that the tool did nothing about the issue of removing the broken section of porcelain, so that the tool could be used to remove the electrode shield. I would get calls from our customers after they received the Rotunda 303-1203 to ask how to remove the porcelain. At the time the best method seemed to be chipping away at it for half the day until all of the small pieces could be removed with a shop vac. Not a very efficient method. Then Ford introduced a new tool that had "one time use pins" that were loc-tited into the center of the porcelain (where the electrode normally is) and then pulled out. Then and only then, the tool could be used to remove the stuck electrode shield. The Rotunda porcelain remover was so expensive when it was first introduced (around $600) that we refused to sell it!

A Better Solution

Since then Calvan thankfully came out with a couple of copies of those Rotunda specialty tools. We have sold a ton of those, saving our customers a lot of money. Both Calvan tools can be purchased for around $75. The Calvan tools use the same method of removing the porcelain and electrode sleeve as the Rotunda tools do. After-all they are copies of those tools. More recently though, Lisle has developed a tool for around the same cost (around $75) that has quickly became our best seller for removing broken spark plugs. I've used this tool myself and took pictures of it in use. This tool uses a different method than removing the porcelain, instead it pushes the porcelain down further (without the porcelain going into the cylinder) so that the second part of the tool can be used to self tap into the spark plug's electrode shield for removal. I was first hesitant to recommend this tool, but it has had all positive feedback from our customers. including some Ford dealerships that prefer this method over the use of the Rotunda tools.

See pictures of the specialty tool in use.