Posted on 8/18/2011
For any vehicle owner, the distinction between auto maintenance and auto repair is critical to ensuring a long and healthy life for their preferred method of transportation. Both are essential in the smooth operation of a vehicle, but the terms are often confused for one another, which can lead some owners to pay more than they should over time. Auto maintenance is a broad term that covers regular and preventative actions taken to help keep a car that is running properly stay running. This maintenance can include things such as oil changes, transmission flushes, as well as annual inspections and tire rotations. All of these services help to keep a car that is running smoothly stay that way, and help prevent the need for auto repair. Auto repair is what is necessary when a vehicle has a failure of some kind - be it a broken fan belt, failed spark plugs, steering issues or braking problems. In these cases, it is necessar ... read more
Posted on 4/28/2011
Some 2004-2005 Ford F-150 and 2005 F-Super Duty, Expedition, and Navigator vehicles with a 5.4L 3-valve engines may experience difficulty with plug removal. This may cause damage to the spark plug and leave part of the spark plug in the cylinder head, requiring an expensive extraction process, and in some cases, even cylinder head removal or replacement. [caption][/caption] There are special procedures Ford has recommended in a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) that may reduce the number of broken plugs. Unfortunately in the real world, many still break because the spark plugs were not changed early enough. Ford, like many manufactu ... read more