Has anyone replaced or had the 8 plugs replaced in the 2.5L VIN-C Engine? I took my truck in for a tuneup/plug change yesterday..to a local Ford Dealership. I was quoted a price of $62.00 for the tuneup. After an hour the service manager came up to me and said its going to be awhile yet before my truck is ready because the mechanic is having a problem removing one of the spark plugs. It ended up taking him 4 hours to remove it. And get this, they billed me an extra $100.00 for labor because of it!!!! Don't you think a certified Ford mechanic should be able to remove and replace the plugs in this engine wihtout incident? I think I was scalped by them. Its not my fault the mechanic took so long. I am writing a letter of complaint to the dealership owner today about this.

Has anyone changed the plugs on this engine themselves? I know some look hard to get to but a Ford mechanic with proper tools and training should, in my opinion, not have this type of problem.

In fact I am not really sure he got that plug removed or just left it in. The work order shows 8 plugs but who knows!??
I don't think I will be going back to that dealership anytime in the next millennium

 

Kill HIM no but realy i used a socket and a swivl head on my 98 ranger with the dual sparkplugs and it took about an hour because of the plate i had to remove to get to the driver's side plugs but the passenger side was a breeze no more than 5 min maybe even less its the driver's side that is a major bitch! realy i'd go see the owner becase it does not take 4 hour to replace a sparkplug plus ford dealers charge 125 an hour so maybe you paid for the extra hour?

 

My 97 took MUCH less time, but them again I'm not Ford trained and never did a 2.3 before.

 

Thanks for your replies Johnbead and 97Ranger xlt. I would have changed them myself but the bank on the drivers side looked like a toughy. Thought maybe Ford had special tools for those. Thanks to your inputs, I will changed them myself next time. I don't feel that its my fault their mechanic was inept at doing this. But I guess they care more about making money than satisfying customers and sticking to the quoted price.

Good luck to you both and thanks again for your valuable information.

Jippy