I blew #2 out last week, only 50k miles.
I am looking for a place to buy the big sert kit. do they sell directly online or through a distributor.
Did you remove the intake or is it possible to do the repair down the hole. I was planning on removing the intake, but it would sure be easyer and quicker with out removing.
Did you do all 8 plugs?
Any tips or tricks I need to know.

 

I got my Spark Plug Repair Kit from the Time-Sert Website that listed the distributors. The one I went with was the:

Thread Kits Co. (800)372-4477
Install kit #5141, $ 119.71
Insert #51459, $ 7.47 only one needed so far.
I spoke to a guy named "Jamie" Had the kit in 5 days from CA to Houston TX. They are good but I would call a few and check prices anyway.

I have a 1998 5.4L F150 XLT Supercab that decided to blow a plug at 66,150 miles. See the earlier thread posted by syncmaster from J T.

Read and look at the pictures on the Time-Sert Spark Plug Repair Kit page. I set my laptop up as a guide in the garage and referred to it often since at least $ 2,000.00 was riding on this one insert !!! Just take your time and don't rush, the reward is priceless.

I could install the Big-Sert fine second plug from the front on the passenger side, but if you go further back than that, it will be more of a challenge. If I have to go further back I will probably get a air rachette for these. At this point I'm even considering selling the truck befor it has a chance to pop another plug but it sure is nice being able to drive it again.

I only did one insert and did not remove the intake.

I can only say the best things about f150online.com and wish I would have found the site the first week of June !! My truck sat in the driveway for 3 months after just returning from a Royal Caribean Cruise. I was serching for answers to something I thought was unrepairable by me and going to cost from $2,000 - $ 3,000

Thanks f150online,
AKA, J T

 

here is a email I received on this subject:

Subject: Ford Spark Plug Blow Out
A week ago our 99 Eddie Bauer Expedition blew a spark plug. We had it towed
to our local Ford dealership where we have all of our service performed.
When our service rep called the next morning to tell us it would be $2400, I
blew a gasket! Problem is, automotive related issues are not my
forte and they really aren't my husbands either.

Our next door neighbor owns a machine shop but he doesn't work on
automobiles, however he seems to know the lingo and concepts of this steel
insert you wrote about and that I read to him. Unfortunately, he hasn't
offered to perform the labor, but he thinks we should buy this insert kit
and find someone to do the job for us. We think it will still cost us quite
a bit, but less than $2400. I'd rather give the money to someone else than
Ford, however.



My Reply email:

I suggest you get out the yellow pages and start calling repair shops. say something like this:
" I have a 1999 ford expedition with a blown spark plug, I am looking for a repair shop that is experienced in installing a steel spark plug insert called a "time big-sert" without removing the head , do you have the special tools required to install the time steel insert?
If he says he has never heard of a "steel time spark plug insert"..... hang up and try the next number.
Another thing you can do is call the big-sert company, here is the link to their 800 number.-->

link to time-sert 800#
If you tell them where you live, they might be able to give you info about what garages buy the insert from them.
Also on that 800# page is another link to major stockers of the big-sert, you might want to call some of them. Maybe they can lead you to a good repair garage in your area.
Now another thing you should know ... there is a repair that alot of garages will try to sell you.... that is a different type of spark plug insert called a "heli-coil insert". all this is , is a coil spring the size of the spark plug thread. The garage stuffs this spring in the old spark plug hole and then thread the spark plug into the spring. This is a very unreliable repair. Don't let them do this type of repair.... YOU DON"T WANT A HELI_COIL repair job !!!


The result email:

Yes, we got the Expedition repaired. It was $250. I funneled through the calls you suggested (1-800 number, distributor, supplier) and that's how I ended up with a mechanic who has previously performed this insert function on several occasions. He bought the special tool(s) he needs and does it without removing the head. We had to pay another tow fee to tow the car from the Ford dealership to the mechanic, which was clear on the other side of town, but it was still less expensive than Ford. Our Ford dealership came down to $700(from $2400), but the insert was still cheaper for us.

 

well I ordered the insert kit from a local machine shop. It will be here on friday so I can fix this truck on the weekend. it cost a little more then the other web sites but at this point in time I really dont care.
I looked at my engine a little more closely and it looks pretty easy to acess the #2 plug hole by just removing the fuel rail. I'm going to change all the plugs to be sure they are ok. I ordered extra inserts just in case.
when my plug blew I unplugged the coil and removed the plug and drove aprox 10 miles home at 30 mph. i hope this didnt damage anything.

 

what a releif it's fixed
very easy and cheap fix for a major problem.
changed all plugs and found #3 was loose. took just 3 hours.
I'll check the plugs soon and every oil change till I get rid of this truck and get a powerstroke.
I could'nt have do it without all the info on this site,
THANKS F150 ONLINE

 

Hey Guys,
Im new here and this past weekend I just brought a 2000 F150 with the Triton 5.4L. It has 47,000 miles on it and after looking around here about the blown plugs and I was wondering, should I check to see if mine are in good condition? I did get a basic warranty with the truck and would that cover if I do have a blown plug..(knocking on wood so I dont get one). Also, with the used trucks, would Ford do any like 120 point inspection before selling the truck to me?
take it easy

 

its a good truck and who knows what might happen ?? As far as your inspection goes it depends on the dealer. They dont check spark plugs I am sure. At 47,000 miles I would not be concerned yet. Have them checked at 60,000 and make sure a good Ford mechanic torques them correctly. Insist on it.

mlaugh

 

you made a very big mistake buying a used truck before researching... There is a very good chance your truck has already blown a plug and was patched up with a heli-coil and traded in quickly. That's what usually happens, people get it fixed as cheaply a possible and get rid of it.
It would be very difficult to check the spark plug holes since they are in a very deep hole in the head. Maybe you could inspect the spark plug holes with a tiny video camera and light.


Good luck,

 

From my experience there is no time to wait.
I blew a plug out right at 70000km's and wish I would have checked the plugs.
I know the 2001 F150 I traded the old one in on will get more attention in that department.

 

I think you are overeacting a bit! "There is a very good chance...". So what is that 75%, 90%?? I would bet that less than 1% of these trucks have experienced this problem.

I feel for you guys and I think even .00001% is too much. Ford should step up and fix this problem without hesitation. I haven't experienced this problem and I would be very upset (just like you all) if it happened to me. Telling a guy/gal that they made a big mistake by not researching a rare plug problem is just a bit to paranoid for me.

The right step is for everyone who has this problem is to hound Ford until something's done. If they don't fix it, then let them know by spending your money elsewhere.

Good luck!

 

....and I just bought a 2000 f150 with the 5.4 and 70K. I honestly don't know if it has ever had this problem, I'm going to check the plugs, but to say that 'most' used 5.4's and up were traded or dumped because of this problem seems a bit pessimistic....that's a lot of preowned trucks sold within the past few years to have been traded in due to this issue.

I would think that if most people, especially the average automobile consumer, would pay for a larger repair like that, they would not necessarily know the complete details of what the dealer/mechanic did to fix it (or even consider that the fix was more harm than good) and probably keep the car longer, having sunk a large sum of $$ in vehicle repairs. That's been my practice with previous cars, at least

I suppose there's no easy way to tell if mine has the heli's installed, but it's something that I'll keep a look out for. Any Ford mechanics care to comment on this? Any ideas on percentages of people who have had this problem and mileage it occurs/occured?

Thanks for the great info!
--Adam

 

I think you people are being awfully hard on the dealers. If you don't like the answer that you get from the Ford dealer, call the number in your owners manual and talk to someone at Ford.
I worked as a tech at a few dealers for about 8 years. I left in 2000. I didn't see a single engine with a blown out spark plug. I also checked with a guy I went to school with, he works at a large truck dealer in the Minneapolis area. THey average 40 trucks sold per month. They have only had one truck come in with this problem, and he said that truck just had new plugs put in it when the problem happened.

After I left the dealer I started working my current job, I work for a diagnostic hotline, we have over 40,000 customers, all independent shops. I get a average of 30 calls a day, I only do Fords. In 3 years I have had 2 calls on this problem.

I would say that this is happening in a very small percentage of engine, I know that doesn't make it any better when one of them is yours. I can tell you that Ford does a outstanding job of helping out with major repairs after the warenty has expired, you just have to talk to the right people. Dealer personel is no different than any other buiseness. Some employees are good, most are not.

Just as a example, I have a 1997 F-150, that after I left the dealer and moved to a different city, the t-case went out, I pulled the plug to find that there was no fluid in it. aperently, the transmission was replaced before I bought the truck, and the tech that did the job didn't refill the t-case. There were no leaks.
I drove that truck for almost 20,000 miles that way (I never use the 4x4) Ford could have very easily said, "the fluids should be checked at every oil change" and there right, but my theory is if it's not leaking, it's still full. Anyway, the t-case was beyond repair and the estimate was close $2000, but Ford stepped up and sold me a extended service contract for $450 that would cover the t-case after the fact! and it extended my warenty to 7 years 100,000 miles. All I had to do was ask I also saw this happen many times with the 3.8L head gasket problem.

Sorry this got so long. But I though someone should share a good experience. BTW, I don't want people to think that I'm sticking up for FOMOCO, after working for them for a long time, they gave me far more reasons to hate them than to love them, but thats a much longer story.

 

OK, here we go again with
"yes it blows plugs but not alot of plugs"

If you read the first post of this thread you'll see info on the "Big-sert" steel insert. since this Big-sert is just used on the ford triton engine I thought it might help get a feel for how many ford engines blow their plugs if I could find out how many of these inserts this big-sert company sold. This company was very friendly and helpful. They sold 1400 inserts so far this year and 2100 last year. thats just for the ford triton engine.
Now you have to think about what percentage of the blowouts put in this insert verses a heli coil verses a new head. The fact that this Big-sert company designed this insert just for the ford triton engine tells me that there is a good call for it.
The fact that ford "quietly" added more thread to the spark plug hole to the 2003 models tells me that they know that they had a design flaw in the engine but it would be to costly to admit it. I am not angry with ford because they made a mistake in the design .... Anyone can make a mistake..... I AM angry they aren't big enough to admit it .
In my case I had a ford dealer install new plugs on my e350 van when it had 90,000mi and 30,000 miles later it blew a plug.
It cost me $1700.00 for that repair and when I called fomoco they took all the info and said thanks for the info but their is nothing we can do for you.

I guess I should just be a good sport and say "YOUR WELCOME"

 

I agree with sync. There is a problem after performing a big-sert install myself I would'nt trust ford or most mechanics to perform this proceedure. I took way longer than any other mechanic to fix it but then again it's my head that was on the line not their's and the funny thing is it now runs great. They would rather that I pay them $2k-$3k than figure it out myself with sweat and $130 with Big-Sert!

Big-Sert way to go !!!

 

Syncmaster,
Thanks for all the information. I just learned today that I have blown out a plug and the threading on #3 on the passenger side of my 1997 Ford Expedition. I was quoted a rate of around $1700 to fix the problem. After reading your post, I've come to the conclusion that I will use the BigSert and try to fix the problem this way. Would you recommend trying it myself or another approach. I was also wondering if you had any information or links to diagrams on how to get to the #3 on the passenger side. I want to fix this thing, but am concerned that I'll do more damage than having a professional do it. Thanks for all your help and great tips.