Seems like they went from the two piece 16mm spark plugs to a one piece 12mm plug in the early 2008 MY 3Vs but the rest of the architecture stayed the same.
What Did You Do To Your Car Today?
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joemomma
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Yes it was in '08 they went to a different plug design. Prior to the change, you had the two piece plugs which are notorious for being a huge PITA to remove. You can typically tell by the boot color. Brown/black seems like, but I don't remember which is which.
Bronco2Fan
Active Member
Yes, I remember those plugs. Same ones that came in the 5.4 in my Harley-Davidson F150. Notorious for breaking. They even had a class action lawsuit about them.
Drove it for the first time in a week. Was good.
And no battery issues.
Although it would appear that now the display for the radio has stopped working. Strangely so has the separate cd player display... They still work as they should, just both have nothing to tell me. Sigh....
TMW
And no battery issues.
Although it would appear that now the display for the radio has stopped working. Strangely so has the separate cd player display... They still work as they should, just both have nothing to tell me. Sigh....
TMW
07GtS197
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The later style heads used the brown cop boots if I’m not mistaken. They’re likely the earlier heads. I’d switch to one piece plugs while it’s apart. That’s what I did in my 07.
RAU03MACH
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I went to a 1 piece MSD plug on my 05 mustang 3v
i still need to change them out on my 07 truck using the MSD plugs
i still need to change them out on my 07 truck using the MSD plugs
Got in it to move it so I could get round the back of the house as it blocks a gate.
Click click click click click - battery. Sigh.
Opened it up to swap in the old one that is charged and when removing the negative terminal I spotted this....
Yes it's broken and won't tighten as a result - it actually lifted off as if it wasn't connected at all but was making contact still..
So question - could this be what has been killing the battery? It's making contact but not solid enough.
Thoughts appreciated whilst I find a new connector...
TMW
Click click click click click - battery. Sigh.
Opened it up to swap in the old one that is charged and when removing the negative terminal I spotted this....
Yes it's broken and won't tighten as a result - it actually lifted off as if it wasn't connected at all but was making contact still..
So question - could this be what has been killing the battery? It's making contact but not solid enough.
Thoughts appreciated whilst I find a new connector...
TMW
New terminal purchased and connected.
Interestingly this is the old battery...
And it's working fine.
And I have radio lights again.
TMW
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Musturd
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Yea a bad ground will cause the car to not start or seem like the batteries dead for sure .
J_lope82
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Where did you purchase it at?
Battery came from a nationwide car parts chain and the terminal I fitted came from a different reputable nationwide UK parts chain.
TMW
That's a really nice terminal. I like how it's constructed.
weendoggy
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Helped my painter fix his son's Bronco. He had a slight meltdown and had somebody "try" to fix the mess. Well, I got to fix the mess! Spent most of the week going through what the other brainiac tried to do. Plug has 57 wires and there are 12 pair that are the same color. I assume he was just cutting and splicing in the colors as he came to them. WRONG! Although I give him credit, he got 10 correct. 
A job for the "NOT faint hearted" or fear of letting too much smoke out. That was already done. Anyway, it runs and now waiting for the ignition key acutator lever (piece of pot metal/aluminum doo-dah) that needs to go in the housing. Only used on tilt wheel trucks 87-91 or so. It's been a long time since I was in one of these. OMG!
How the job came to me...
Using a Ford wiring manual for all truck types (1990). Book is huge, binder style with multiple fold out pages.
Had to test the engine side of plug (went through firewall) and took the LF fender off to make it easy on myself.
Final job done. Had to move several of the "other dudes" wires. Could've made it easy by just depinning the damn plug and moving one wire at a time. But NO, he was too smart for that. I did leave his heat/shrink/crimp wires alone if they were good. Mine were all done crimp/solder/heatshrink. I had to move 4 wires into a new harness that didn't have a spot due to the melted 57pin plug.
What I was dreaming all week...
A job for the "NOT faint hearted" or fear of letting too much smoke out. That was already done. Anyway, it runs and now waiting for the ignition key acutator lever (piece of pot metal/aluminum doo-dah) that needs to go in the housing. Only used on tilt wheel trucks 87-91 or so. It's been a long time since I was in one of these. OMG!
How the job came to me...
Using a Ford wiring manual for all truck types (1990). Book is huge, binder style with multiple fold out pages.
Had to test the engine side of plug (went through firewall) and took the LF fender off to make it easy on myself.
Final job done. Had to move several of the "other dudes" wires. Could've made it easy by just depinning the damn plug and moving one wire at a time. But NO, he was too smart for that. I did leave his heat/shrink/crimp wires alone if they were good. Mine were all done crimp/solder/heatshrink. I had to move 4 wires into a new harness that didn't have a spot due to the melted 57pin plug.
What I was dreaming all week...
maillemaker
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I washed mine today.
Helped my painter fix his son's Bronco. He had a slight meltdown and had somebody "try" to fix the mess. Well, I got to fix the mess! Spent most of the week going through what the other brainiac tried to do. Plug has 57 wires and there are 12 pair that are the same color. I assume he was just cutting and splicing in the colors as he came to them. WRONG! Although I give him credit, he got 10 correct.
A job for the "NOT faint hearted" or fear of letting too much smoke out. That was already done. Anyway, it runs and now waiting for the ignition key acutator lever (piece of pot metal/aluminum doo-dah) that needs to go in the housing. Only used on tilt wheel trucks 87-91 or so. It's been a long time since I was in one of these. OMG!
How the job came to me...
View attachment 30016
Using a Ford wiring manual for all truck types (1990). Book is huge, binder style with multiple fold out pages.
View attachment 30017
Had to test the engine side of plug (went through firewall) and took the LF fender off to make it easy on myself.
View attachment 30018
Final job done. Had to move several of the "other dudes" wires. Could've made it easy by just depinning the damn plug and moving one wire at a time. But NO, he was too smart for that. I did leave his heat/shrink/crimp wires alone if they were good. Mine were all done crimp/solder/heatshrink. I had to move 4 wires into a new harness that didn't have a spot due to the melted 57pin plug.
View attachment 30019
What I was dreaming all week...
View attachment 30020
This makes me happy. I love electrical.
RAU03MACH
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Thank god for manuals
joemomma
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Nice work. I don't mind electrical if I can actually get to it. I imagine working under the dash for that amount of time was a major PITA.
weendoggy
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Not really. The Bronco (like a F150) had the plug right at the e-brake pedal. So, folded up throw rug under my knees and used the floorboard as my bench.
Pulled the dash cluster out to make sure wires went where they're suppose to (two didn't) so that was a plus. Now just sitting on the seat while I put the steering wheel/tilt/actuator back in. As for the under hood stuff, that was handled by my shop stool, so I sat while I checked. More tedious than hard. Kid is gonna' be really happy! 
Nitrobob41
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