How to Replace Spark Plugs 2008-12 Ford Escape

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the spark plugs on this 2012 Ford Escape. If you need parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com.

All right, we're just going to take this cover off. There's some clips right here. One clip here, one right there, over here, over here. Total of four. Slide that cover off. Set it aside. I'll just pull the air filter out. Just grab it from the front, slide it off. Disconnect this connector, this little lock tab, you need to move out, so I'll just take a straight blade screwdriver, slide it out. Then you can push down on the lock. Disconnect the connector. Just take a straight blade screwdriver, loosen up this worm clamp. Over here, I'm going to loosen up this worm clamp, the same straight blade screwdriver.

That's pretty good. Just slide that off, just like that. Now I'm going to slide this snorkel off here, just like that, out of the way, then I can grab the box and just pull it up. There's some retainers right there that hold it down. Pull it up and out of your way.

All right. I'm going to remove this intake snorkel. I don't need to remove this, but for filming purposes, I'll take this off. I'll just use a trim tool. We actually sell this trim tool at 1aauto.com. Slide these retainers out. Just pop up from the center first, and then get underneath and pull them out. Slide this out of the way.

All right. Now I'm going to take this snorkel off. Just take a straight blade screwdriver, loosen up this worm clamp right here. Wiggle this out. There is a wire connecting it right here and you just slide that off. Then there's a hose underneath here. There's a little lock. Push on the lock, and then we can slide the hose out. That's how you release that.

Now I'm going to disconnect these connectors. I'm going to use a pick tool. Release the lock right here and push down, slide the connector out. We can disconnect this connector over here. Push this connector down. Release that. Just use this trim tool. Release the wire from this retainer. Slide that out.

The connector right here, push down on the tab, slide the connector out. There's a connector right here. Push down on the tab right there, and slide that connector up.

To release this hose, it's a little bit tricky. There's a little retainer that holds it in, so these two fingers need to be pushed in just a little bit. I'm just going to use the snap ring tool. You could probably use a couple screwdrivers, just push them in a little bit and push those in. Then, over on this other side ... There may be a special tool to use for this. Then on the other side, you're going to pull this little white retainer out. When that's out all the way, then you can slide the hose up.

Now I'm going to use some hose clamp pliers. I'm going to remove this hose clamp right here. Just move it down the hose, squeeze it. You can twist the hose a little bit while we take this off, and just slide it just like that.

We're going to do the same with this hose. Just take the hose clamp pliers, twist back and forth. Now, with the hose clamps and then I'm going to use a hose pick, and just slide underneath. It's just a large 90 degree pick. Try to get underneath the hose to release it, just try to push it off. There we go. Slide that hose off.

There's some wire retainers on the back side, the intake right here. I'll just take this trim tool, get underneath here, try to wiggle those out. Try not to break them. That one. There's a bracket underneath here that holds, supports this side of the intake. We are going to remove that. There's three bolts that hold it on, they're eight millimeter bolts. We'll use an eight millimeter socket and ratchet. We'll remove those.

Take that bolt out. Then the other two bolts, they're kind of hard to see. We'll have to get those out with the same socket and ratchet. Then we're going to take the last one out.

This last bolt, I just loosened it up and then moved the bracket out of the way. I don't actually have to take it out all the way. All right. We're going to take these two bolts out for the EGR valve. I'm going to use a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet.

Now, when you take these bolts out, you are going to need to replace the gasket, or it's a good idea to replace the gasket. Take that bolt out. I'll take the other bolt out. I'll take this bolt out. You can see the EGR valve is separated from the bracket right there, the gasket's right there. Once the intake's off, we can remove that gasket.

All right, now I'm going to remove these bolts for the intake. There's two over here, these two, this one, and those two. Seven total. Loosen this one up first. This one is going to be the long one. Now I'll loosen up the other ones.

All these bolts stay with the intake. This long one--this is the only one that actually slides out. I'll set that aside. We can grab the intake and just release it. You might have to pull on it really hard to break the seal. Let's slide the intake out. Watch out for the wiring harness, send that through there. Pull the intake off.

All right. So that we don't drop anything into the intake, we're just going to take some rags, because we don't want anything to drop into the engine while we're working on it. You want to make sure you take these rags out before we put it back together, but for now, just put these rags in. Just cover those intake ports up just like that.

Now with the intake removed, we can access all the coils and spark plugs. Now you can disconnect the connector for the coils. Just push down on this little lock tab, slide the connector out. I can do the same with the other ones. I'm going to remove the bolt on. I'm going to use an eight millimeter socket and a ratchet. Take this bolt out. I can grab the coil, just wiggle it, and slide it up. I can do the same for the other ones.

Now, I'm going to use this spark plug socket. It's got a little magnet on the end of it. This is a 5/8 spark plug socket and extension. We actually sell this spark plug socket at 1aauto.com. Slide it into the hole. Use a ratchet. Loosen this up.

Since it's pretty loose, I can do it by hand. Slide it right out, and this spark plug will come right with it.

When you go to put your new plugs in, you want to compare it to the old plug and make sure that these threads are the same. Make sure the amount of threads are the same, because you don't want the new plug had longer threads--you're going to end up hitting the piston and you can cause internal engine damage. Make sure those are the same. These look good. We can install the new plugs.

We'll take the spark plug tool, spark plug socket, slide the new spark plug in and gently, you want to be careful not to drop it, slide the spark plug into the hole. Start it by hand. All right, once that snugged down, then we're going to take a torque wrench and we're going to tighten this to 133 inch pounds. Make sure you're on inch-pounds, not foot-pounds. That's good, and we're going to do the same with the other ones.

All right. With the new coil, just take a little bit of dielectric grease, put some of that in there. You're going to want to do that on all the coils. Then, slide the coil in place. Just wiggle it down a little bit. We can reconnect the connector, lock it in place. Then I'll take the little bolt and a eight millimeter socket. Tighten these down by hand first, and then with the torque wrench, we're going to torque these to 62 inch pounds. Make sure you're on inch pounds, not foot pounds. That's good. We're going to do the same with the other ones.

All right, now I'm going to take a pick tool on the back side of the intake, and just grab the old seal. Just like that. Slide it out. You want to make sure you compare it to the new seal and it looks the same. There's a little tab that lines up with that. Just take a rag, wipe the intake down. There's a little bit of oil in there, that's okay. Now, I'll take the new gasket, line this tab up first, and then press it down. Should stay in there. You shouldn't need any type of sealer or RTV or anything, just push it in place.

If you're going to replace the gasket for the EGR valve, you're going to want to make sure you clean this area off. Just take a razor blade, you can go through that, and then same on the EGR valve itself, just take and pull the old gasket off, and take a razor blade and clean any excessive gasket that's there. We don't have a new gasket, so we're just going to reuse our old one, but it's a good idea to replace it.

We want to make sure we take these rags out--remove these. Just going to take some parts cleaner and a rag, and I'm just going to clean off the area where the seal is going to meet the surface area. Just make sure it looks pretty good. If there's any dirt or anything and make sure it doesn't go into the intake ports.

All right. This looks cleaned up, and we can slide this on. Make sure we slide the wiring harness through this hole right here. You want to make sure you don't crimp any of the wires.

That's all lined up good. That looks good. Start tightening these down. All right, while these other bolts are still loose, take the long intake bolt and we'll get that one started. All right, I'm just going to tighten these all by hand, and then I'm going to torque them. There's a sequence to torque them in.

All right, with a eight millimeter socket and a torque wrench, I'm going to torque these to 89 inch pounds and I'm going to torque them in this sequence. This is number one. This is number two. This is number three, number four. Then number five, number six, and last, number seven. We're going to go through and do that. Number one.

Next, we're going to go back in the same sequence and we're going to tighten these bolts another additional 45 degrees. If you have an angle meter, you can use an angle meter. I'm just going to go half of a 90 degree.

Next, we're going to connect this connector back here. This is for the map sensor. Lock it in place. In the back here where the wires were connected to the back of the intake, you're going to want to reconnect those right there. Ours are broken, I'm just going to have to wire tie them.
Next, we'll connect this hose. Just use our hose clamp pliers, and then just wiggle it back and forth. That's good. Going to install this hose that goes to the PCV valve. Just use the hose clamp pliers, squeeze that, and push it all the way on. That's good. We can install this hose. Just line this up, push it all the way down, and then push this lock on. Lock it in place.

Connect this connector right here. Lock it in place. Connect this throttle body connector right there. Lock that in place. Take the bolts for the EGR valve, slide those through. If you have a new gasket, slide the gasket in there. Get that bolt started when we get the other one started. You might have to wiggle the EGR valve to get it to line up. Pull it up a little bit.

Now, we'll take a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet. We'll just snug these down before I torque them. I'm going to torque these bolts to 18 foot-pounds.

We'll take this wire, reposition this in there, and then connect the connector to the EGR valve. Lock it in place. Take this plate, you want to line this up. Take this eight millimeter bolt, get this one back in position, and I'll get this one started as well. This one's kind of hard to see. It's further back. I'll take my ratchet with a eight millimeter socket, snug this down, and snug the other one down.

I'll just use an extension on this bottom one, to help, and tighten this one down snug, and that's good.

Take this air duct, and just slide this in here. Underneath, there's a hose right here. I'll put that hose in first. Lock it in place, slide that onto the throttle body. Take the air box, slide this on right here. Then, line the little tabs up underneath. Lock it in place. Take a straight blade screwdriver, tighten up these worm clamps.

Snug that one up. Then we'll do the same for this one. We'll push this wire retainer right there, connect the connector, lock it in place, and then push down on the lock. Slide this intake tube on. That in position, and these little retainers, push these down. Take the air filter, the open end right here, slide this in position. Then we'll take the cover, line it up like that, and then push down on the locks.

Thanks for watching. If you want the parts to do it yourself, check out 1aauto.com, the place for DIY auto repair.