A driver for my girlfreinds' fathers' trucking company owns an 04 excursion v10 and his son owns a lightning. He said that the threads on the 04' 05' triton v8's and v10's spark plug 2nd from the driver side towards the bumper are wearing out and the spark plug is shooting out of its socket. As we all know this can cause some damage. He said ford wouldnt cover this in his warranty and wanted 2,000$ to repair this problem. They did however offer to cover 1/2 the cost and it would only be 1000$! Thanks ford.I bought a seven yaer warranty for my truck but I will be sure to mention this little factoid when I get my first oil change. He said the dealers all know about it but they wont initiate a recall. So test the truth of your dealer and see if they will give you any info on this problem. Also he said when it happened to his excursion it made a sound like a blow off valve for a turbo, just in case anyone noticed a noise like that.

 

That problem hasn’t been around for years; older Lightning problem mostly. Ford added extra threads in the heads

 

i have yet to see a new 3v 5.4 spit out a plug, i have seen older v10's and 5.4's do it. it is usually caused by people who change their own plugs and they don't know what they are doing. on our engines ford recomends that you remove and inspect the the spark plugs at 50k and replace them at 100k

what happens is people replace them at 70-90k usually on a warm engine which can cause the the threads in the alunium to be damaged, THIS IS RARE the new plug goes in but eventually it can't handle the stress and blows out. but i have also seen engine at lower kms lose a plug.

now if you service your plugs correctly at 50k put a light flim of anti seize on the threads and torque them correctly you shouldn't have a problem.

i don't know the history behind the truck you are talking about but if this was to happen under base care and or powertrain warranty then i don't see why Ford would not cover it. But Ford will look at your maintence history or ask you to provide records to prove your required maintence has been done. and if your over base care and power train warranty i can see why Ford would only help with the cost.

Mac.

 

Thank you for your information, this had me a little worried aggghhhhhhhhh. That makes sense to me. I didnt ask him if he had been changing the spark plugs or not but I will. I love my new truck.

 

What document or manual illustrates 50K maintenance on spark plugs. The warranty insert that came with my truck only indicates replacement at 100K. Nothing more.

 

I haven’t heard of anyone changing plugs on 04’s yet. I know the plugs have extra threads so spitting them isn’t going to be a problem. I don’t even think an aftermarket plug is available for the 3-valve yet