14 replies to this topic

[stusST]

Hi Guys,

Gonna attempt a major service on my 2004 ST over xmas some time. I bought it last year and they said they would service it before i picked it up which i believe it was done. But looking into the serviceing i cant believe they would have done the major service which was due so iv decided to get all the bits and give it ago so at least i know its been done. Cant justify paying Frauds prices.

I have got all genuine ford parts as i get good discount as i work for Marshall Aerospace and get discount on all marshall garages etc.
Today i got :

Oil Filter
Fuel Filter
Air Filter
Pollen Filter
Spark Plugs x6
and 6 litres of Q8 oil.

All for £90 which i didnt think was too bad.

The only part of the service i am bit woried about is the spark plug change as i understand the rear 3 plugs are bit of a pain to get too as you have to remove the inlet manifold before you can get to them.

Whats your advice guys?????

Happy Xmas to you all!!!

[YORKSHIRENEO]

Well Ive just had to replace all my plugs and leads as the car developed a mis-fire on Cylinder 3 which is on the back bank so had to tackle the UIM removal all on my ownsome. Quite dauting at first but really not that hard if you have all the right tools. At the VERY LEAST you will need an 8mm socket and an 8mm and 10mm spanner and some long nose pliers. Remove the oil cap and take off the plastic engine cover, then put the oil cap back on (VERY IMPORTANT). Now you can see the UIM (upper inlet manifold) which is held on by 7 x 8mm bolts - four across the front, one on the left and one on the right, then one on the back right hand side where all the inlet hoses are. I will take you through it step by step.
1) Remove the silver clip holding the air hose onto the air box, from the air box side.
2) You will then need to loosen the molded rubber pipe that has 2 spring type clips, one on each end and remove this for now.
3) Remove all other pipes from the UIM end as Im sure the rest will now come off by hand. Also remove any other pipes that will be in your way - I think there are only 2 or 3 really but it is pretty obvious if you take your time and study what goes where.
4) Remove the two electrical connectors at the front of the UIM.
5) Undo the six bolts you can see on the top of the UIM.
6) Now here comes fiddly bit No1 - at the back right hand side of the UIM there is an 8mm bolt which is attached from the side and is a pig to get at but you should be able to get a socket on with a short extension. Undo this.
7) Now the REALLY fiddly bit - About 1/4 of the way in from the left, @ the very back of the UIM you will feel a nut. Its quite near the top so you wont have to go too far down. This is a threaded bolt with a 10mm nut which is part of the bolt, then there is an 8mm nut holding some wiring on. Get your 8mm spanner behind the UIM and remove the nut. Then pull off the bracket holding the pipes. Now get your 10mm spanner in there and LOOSEN it off a few turns. You dont need to remove it completely as it only locates into a bracket so once its loose enough you should then be able to move the UIM to one side (As I have described the removal procedure as I did it, you cant take it off the car completely as its still attached to a few bits on the car but I managed ok this way. BE CAREFUL WHEN PULLING THE UIM OFF, NOT TO DAMAGE THE GASKETS UNDERNEATH!!
And thats pretty much it!! Remove plugs and then pretty much reverse the above procedure to re-fit everything. WORD OF CAUTION - be careful when putting the UIM back on that you have the gaskets lined up properly. I didnt have to replace mine as they looked almost brand new but make sure you inspect yours and replace if necessary. ALSO BE CAREFUL WHEN TIGHTENING TOP UIM NUTS BACK UP as I managed to snap one but I managed to get it out from the underside with some long nosed pliers as they are quite long. I dont know the correct torque setting but dont own a torque wrench so just do them up hand tight and then a bit more but not too much!! Now fire her up and fingers crossed all should be ok!! As with all things mechanical, take your time and if you start getting stressed out, walk away for 10 mins or so Im sorry I dont have any pics but I was that stressed out when doing it I just couldn't be bothered mucking about
FINAL NOTE - Im no mechanic and also DO NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU MAKE A HASH OF THINGS. YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
FINAL FINAL NOTE - I was quoted £190 from Skipton Fords for a MAJOR service but this DOES NOT include spark plug and lead changes. This was quoted to me for £270 so a MAJOR service INCLUDING plug and lead changing would be £460!!!! Safe to say I saved meself a few quid doing the plugs and leads myself

[stusST]

Mate that is brilliant.
Thanks for your step by step guide im sure it will be a great help.
im getting my old man to help me as between the two of us theres not many things that beat us.

Yh i cant afford to put it in to fords for that and always have serviced my own cars untill i owned an audi which i had done by them.

Ill let yoy know how it goes and try and get some photos.

Thanks again mate.

[YORKSHIRENEO]

Anytime fella - Its what we're here for PS Did you click the thanks button?? Cheers

[stusST]

I will do mate once i get on my laptop rather than my mobile. big Thanks.

Do i need to reset my ecu??

[YORKSHIRENEO]

I never disconnected the battery although I probably should have but didnt come across any problems so dont see why an ecu re-set would be necessary but it certainly wont do any harm as the car will re-learn your driving style

[stusST]

Thanks bud

[stusST]

Managed to do my service this morn with only one hicup.

Managed to do oil, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter and fuel filter no probs.

Berfore removing the uim to change the plugs i thought id change the front ones first.
After removing the first i discovered the guy at fords has given me the 32's wgich are for the 2.5 v6 instead of the 22's for mine!
Back to fords tomoz then. glad im changing them tho cos the one i took out was well black and the gap was huge. bet they have never been out.

[davegl]

Thanks YorkshireNEO for the briiliant info - I did my brother in law's ST220 this morning and the haynes manual does not have pics for the 3l layout so did not mention either of the bolts/nuts in your items 6 & 7. One difference was that the really awkward one at the back (item7) had a 10mm nut and then the bolt was 13mm.
The torque setting for the UIM bolts is 15Nm

we managed to break the plastic pipe fitting from crankcase breather to air inlet pipe (the rigid 90degree one) and also the rubber at the end fitting to the camcover was perished. The local Ford dealer wanted £20 but could not get one unitl Monday (my BIL goes home on Sunday). We fixed a replacement pipe by using a length of 5/8" heater hose and bits salvaged from the original pipe. The hose was a perfect fit to the cam cover. Removing the rubber from the end that had broken showed there was an identical plastic fitting - the plastic pipe was cut to use this, then removed rubber was fitted over pipe that that weas teh exact size to go in the heater pipe. Hard to explain, but if you have a borken pipe you will soon work out what to do!

Dave

[stusST]

Went to do my plugs this morn.

Well great info i must say guys but what an arse. the bold at the back defeated me. i could see it with the help of a mirror and could feel it but hoe in earth can you get a spanner on it??

[ST220Paul]

I removed the brace from the top of the suspension strut on drivers side. with that off access is much much easier.

[stusST]

Think i will have to try this. thanks

[davegl]

we didn't remove the brace but had two of us- I used the mirror and torch and guided John who used a small 1/4" Teng rachet - he got in from the right hand side after we had removed the accelerator cable bracket and the 'twisted one' at the back that held the rubber mounted pipe union. With those removed there is enough room Just). We needed to use a long reach 13mm socket on the 1/4" rachet for the bracket retaining bolt once the 10mm nut was removed as the thread was too long for a short socket. You could also do it with a ratchet spanner but a normal spanner would be a pain.

Before we refitted we undid that bolt quite a few turns to make it easier to fit. We also loosely fitted the front 6 bolts first to stop the inevitable leaning on the maniford from damaging the gaskets. one other tip - loose fit the bolt on the side as getting that bracket aligned was harder once we had tightened the back one.

Dave

[stusST]

Finally attempted to change the back plugs for a second time after getting an extendable mirror from work.
I did remove the upper strut support and this gives you heaps more room.

Once i had the uim off we cable tied the wires up instead of putting that bloody bolt back on. we also then modified that bolt as it didnt need the lil nut on anymore.
Made life alot easier if it needs yo come off again.
Thanks for ur help and advice guys.

[jae06]

YORKSHIRENEO, on 22 December 2011 - 06:00 PM, said:

Well Ive just had to replace all my plugs and leads as the car developed a mis-fire on Cylinder 3 which is on the back bank so had to tackle the UIM removal all on my ownsome. Quite dauting at first but really not that hard if you have all the right tools. At the VERY LEAST you will need an 8mm socket and an 8mm and 10mm spanner and some long nose pliers. Remove the oil cap and take off the plastic engine cover, then put the oil cap back on (VERY IMPORTANT). Now you can see the UIM (upper inlet manifold) which is held on by 7 x 8mm bolts - four across the front, one on the left and one on the right, then one on the back right hand side where all the inlet hoses are. I will take you through it step by step.
1) Remove the silver clip holding the air hose onto the air box, from the air box side.
2) You will then need to loosen the molded rubber pipe that has 2 spring type clips, one on each end and remove this for now.
3) Remove all other pipes from the UIM end as Im sure the rest will now come off by hand. Also remove any other pipes that will be in your way - I think there are only 2 or 3 really but it is pretty obvious if you take your time and study what goes where.
4) Remove the two electrical connectors at the front of the UIM.
5) Undo the six bolts you can see on the top of the UIM.
6) Now here comes fiddly bit No1 - at the back right hand side of the UIM there is an 8mm bolt which is attached from the side and is a pig to get at but you should be able to get a socket on with a short extension. Undo this.
7) Now the REALLY fiddly bit - About 1/4 of the way in from the left, @ the very back of the UIM you will feel a nut. Its quite near the top so you wont have to go too far down. This is a threaded bolt with a 10mm nut which is part of the bolt, then there is an 8mm nut holding some wiring on. Get your 8mm spanner behind the UIM and remove the nut. Then pull off the bracket holding the pipes. Now get your 10mm spanner in there and LOOSEN it off a few turns. You dont need to remove it completely as it only locates into a bracket so once its loose enough you should then be able to move the UIM to one side (As I have described the removal procedure as I did it, you cant take it off the car completely as its still attached to a few bits on the car but I managed ok this way. BE CAREFUL WHEN PULLING THE UIM OFF, NOT TO DAMAGE THE GASKETS UNDERNEATH!!
And thats pretty much it!! Remove plugs and then pretty much reverse the above procedure to re-fit everything. WORD OF CAUTION - be careful when putting the UIM back on that you have the gaskets lined up properly. I didnt have to replace mine as they looked almost brand new but make sure you inspect yours and replace if necessary. ALSO BE CAREFUL WHEN TIGHTENING TOP UIM NUTS BACK UP as I managed to snap one but I managed to get it out from the underside with some long nosed pliers as they are quite long. I dont know the correct torque setting but dont own a torque wrench so just do them up hand tight and then a bit more but not too much!! Now fire her up and fingers crossed all should be ok!! As with all things mechanical, take your time and if you start getting stressed out, walk away for 10 mins or so Im sorry I dont have any pics but I was that stressed out when doing it I just couldn't be bothered mucking about
FINAL NOTE - Im no mechanic and also DO NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU MAKE A HASH OF THINGS. YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
FINAL FINAL NOTE - I was quoted £190 from Skipton Fords for a MAJOR service but this DOES NOT include spark plug and lead changes. This was quoted to me for £270 so a MAJOR service INCLUDING plug and lead changing would be £460!!!! Safe to say I saved meself a few quid doing the plugs and leads myself

hi m8 thanks for the step by step.

i am changing my plugs and leads nxt weekend and but i want to take the manifold right off and give the whole engine a clean. is there much more to take off to get it out? also would u perhaps have a part number for the gasket as id like to have one just incase i break the other one.

cheers gareth