Mondeo V6 Spark plug change

[supersport]

Just about to change the spark plugs on my 97 v6, finally got the right ones after Halfrauds gave me the wrong ones.

Had a quick look under the bonnet and in the crappy Haines manual. The front 3 are a doddle, but the back 3 look a little on the scary side. The manual says that I have to take the top half of the inlet manifold off, which looks like quite a lot of work and various gaskets required.

Is this really the case? Can I leave everthing attached and move it far enough to gain a decent access to the plugs or will a knuckle joint and a short extension be good enough?

All hints and tips welcome. Just starting to get back to doing some of my own work, having not done it for 20 odd years, and it looks a little daunting.

[FWDRacer]

Manifold off I'm afraid...

[Dave_ST220]

You can get to them with the manifold on i believe but taking the manifold off is very easy The gaskets are plastic & rubber & can be re-used but really should be replaced. Expensive from a dealer though!!

[dern]

I don't recall taking the manifold off either time I did ours (2.5l).

[Nebby]

I did plugs n my 98 st24 without taking the manifold off but not easy though if you have a few diffrent types of extensions and swivel joints to go on your rachet yoy should be ok.

[supersport]

Thanks for your help guys, seems to almost be even votes to manifold off, or on.

Will have a look on Saturday and see what happens. Just need to keep a calm head and keep the three year old at a good distance.

[Zad]

I haven't done it myself, but I'm told that taking the bonnet off can help considerably.

The folks at www.fordmondeo.org might know more.

[ZZR]

The problem with not taking the manifold off is you won't know if the spark plug has loads of dust sitting around it, which will of course fall into the cylinder when you remove it .

Best to take off the upper manifold, only takes 10mins, but you will need an EGR gasket if yours has one.

[Dave_ST220]

There's a bloody great boot on the plug lead that stops any crap going down there.

[ZZR]

Dave_ST220 said:

There's a bloody great boot on the plug lead that stops any crap going down there.

OK, so can you guarantee that nothing is going to end up in there when the plug lead is removed?

Surely better to be safe than sorry!

[Dave_ST220]

Can you gurantee crap won't fall down the even bigger holes left by the UIM coming off??!!(Not to mention all the gum and crap that the PCV/EGR system will have dumped in the UIM/LIM ports