How do you change 3 rear spark plugs of 1999 Ford Windstar?

Answer 1

I have a 2000 SE with the 3.8 Liter engine. It is a real pain getting to the rear plugs, but I found that I had to remove the throttle body and air bellows to get your right hand around back on the right (as you are looking at it from the front bumper) side. There is already barely enough room on the other side for your left arm. First thing to do is use compressed air to clean out the plug wells. You will have to lay over the front hood latch area and you can get each arm around the engine to work blind. You can fit a mirror there to help locate things, but you will be working blind for the most part. Getting the boots off is a little painfull, but feel with one hand to locate each boot and twist and pull with the other. For the plugs, I used a 3/8" breaker bar for best control and a short extension to the plug socket. There is room back there to swing the handle as needed and the breaker bar provides a little more torque with less effort. It is handy to have either a little handle on the extension or a stubby ratchet to get the plug out by hand once you have broken the torque. The first time, it took me a couple of hours to get to them for inspection, but the next day, I was able to replace them in about 1/2 hour. It ain't pretty, but you basically have to lay over the hood latch and engine to reach around there to work. Fortunately, the plugs are platinum and can last 100K miles so you should only have to do them once or twice. Good luck with it. Chuck the driveway mechanic. A better alternative is to remove the two-piece cowl below the windshield. You will have to remove the wiper arms, but you will have much more room to work. ++ added info ++ Removing the cowling and wiper mechanism is a must. The wiper is attached to the cowl, the washer hose has to be disconnected. A small puller gets the arms off the mechanism posts. Also some of the vacuum hosing can be removed, instead of damaging it as you yank and pull on wires. If replacing the plugs at 100,000+ miles, why not do the wires at the same time. For all the trouble, its good preventative maintenance. Take care to note the order they assemble on the coils and match their lengths. Use silicon on boots at the plugs and at the coils too.