As some of you may know, I bought some NGK's and decided to change my spark plugs. I called the Ford dealer and they wanted $240 to change them. However after talking with some of you I decided I could do it myself. Well I bang out the first two on the passenger side no problem, get to the third one and a hellicoil comes out wrapped around the plug I AM PISSED!!!!! I just bought this truck from the dealer two months ago. I called them and spoke with the guy that runs the place and told him that I was NOT happy. He tells me to bring the truck to them in the morning and they would talk with Ford and see what they could do.

Basically guys what are my options if they tell me they are not going to fix it?

Also Can I drive it to the Dealer with it pumping air past the plug and everything be OK if I go really easy??? I figured I would disconnect the Coil so it wouldn't get any fire and it would have a dead miss and I would be able to get it to them?

 

If you unplugged that coil and injector it would be drivable. The only slight risk would be that dirt or debris would get sucked in through the spark plug hole. It would be best to have it towed. But if worse comes to worse yes it will drive.

Jon

 

If Ford doesn't cover it you will need to pull the head and have a machine shop fix the plug hole. Ford will say new head.

 

Find a shop that does Time Serts. If the whole is to big then your still in luck. Tell the shop to get the over sized kit for this very repair. Heli coils suck for just that very reason they come out easy. Lyle inserts suck dont use them they dont expand at the ends and seat like the Time Serts.
Good luck.

 

I had a plug blow on mine. Third one back passenger side. Torkum is right, Ford will want to replace the head. Ford first offered to pay half. I took it to the next level at Ford and long story short they ended up replacing the head with a $100 deductable. You need to be firm with them, the dealer is your go between, but you'll need to talk with the customer care division. It took a while, but they were really good and took care of it in the end. I know your steamed, it really sucks but don't go off on the dealer. They need to let customer care know your a good customer. Good luck

 

Was it a helicoil or an insert? You could probably just apply some high strength thread locker and be good.

 

Well I chugged it to ford this morning and they told me that Ford used to replace the heads but now they have a kit that fixes them. He didn't know what it was, but said that it wasn't a helicoil or a timesert so I have no idea what they are going to do. He also told me that they were going to take all the plugs out and check them to make sure they were ok. I asked them if they would replace the old plugs with the NGK's I purchased and he said they would. Got me a rental truck (2007 Chevy Silverado ) and everything and told me that after it's fixed if I had anymore problems to bring it back so I hope this works.

 

SWThomas

It was a helicoil

 

Sounds like they are taking care of you, which is nice. Hope you're back on the road soon!

 

What came of this?

Roach

 

Still waiting on the "kit" so they can fix my truck. Still driving a Chevy! I'll let you guys know when I get it back and what they did.

 

They still have my truck, and all they can tell me is that they are waiting on parts

 

I'm really curious as to what parts they are waiting on. You mentioned it was a kit? Both dealers I talked to said that Ford only authorizes a head replacement for a blown plug. Is this something new? For what its worth they had my truck for a month before they replaced the head. That sucked, but half the time was spent going round and round with Ford to fix it. If they hadn't replaced the head I would have done the timesert. Good Luck, and keep us updated.

 

Here's a link to what you are waiting on.

http://www.locknstitch.com/sparkpluginserts.htm

This is a much better fix than the "time cert" kit that most L owners have done over the years.

 

First Off its Time Sert and if you might could you explain in detail how its a better fix?