Gang,

I am posting this mostly out of my disappointment in Ford, their quality and customer care for customers who make large investments in their products. This is most likely the last straw for me and the last Ford product I will ever own. Don’t get me wrong, I love my truck and did not mind the common problems I have come to expect over the years but this one takes the prize.

I was not aware of this issue until it was too late and happened to me. The problem, a design flaw in all Triton engines resulting in the spark plugs working themselves loose. The result, spark plug ejection, requiring head replacements at $3000+. Ford has known about this for 7 years and it occurs more frequently in 5.4 and the v10's and more prevalent on cylinder #3. This does not discriminate and there are 1000's of documented cases on F-series, E-series, Lightning’s and Expys. This also does not discriminate on mileage as it has been documented occurring from 10-100k miles. Mine occurred at 51k.

There is a lot of speculation on the true cause of this including dissimilar materials (aluminum head +steel plugs), harmonic vibration, COP design (always takes out the Coil) and plug seat design. Add to this Ford only has 4 threads cast in the aluminum head to receive the plugs. Ford has also quietly redesigned the head to include 80% more thread on castings dated newer than 11/12/2002 but there is no guarantee you have these or will get them as a replacement since they have kept the same pn and will use up old stock first. There is no TSB, no advisory, no recall, no admission of any kind.

For more information on this please see this thread .

The warning....make sure you torque your plugs regularly, despite what Ford or the maintenance manual says.

As far as me, well I purchased a third party warranty from my dealer when I purchased my truck new. Today it has been sitting there for a week waiting for the adjuster to look at it to approve a repair or even a rental car.

 

holy @#$? man!! sorry to hear that bro. i just got a F150, has only 1000 miles on it. what precautions do you think i or we should take, i see that you said try to torque the plugs every so often, but how often is 'every so..'? and at what ft.lbs. of torque? real sorry to hear about your situation and all who it happened too. best of luck

 

Hey Willie, if you click on the link "this thread" that xole has above you will see the answers to most, if not all, of your questions.

 

xole - I know exactly how you feel. I have never been one to have brand loyalty, even though growing up we always picked on a good friend of mine that drove Fords. Once the Supercrew came out, I decided to sell my 1995 S10 with 175K miles on it and buy a new FORD (my first). And I will have to say this will more than likely be my last. I have had more problems with this vehicle than I ever had with the S10, and I still have 75K+ miles to go (to reach 175K). And the recent problem I had with my lumbar support where Ford removed a part from their extended warranty coverage, which has to be illegal, just really pissed me off. I get the truck back and two days later the transmission had to be replaced. Thank God I bought the extended warranty on this vehicle - I even remember when I purchased it thinking I better get the ext. warranty, because after all, it is a Ford!!!

I have to admit that the SCrew at the time was the best value for the money, but buying this truck really has shown me that you get what you pay for.

And before anyone gives me hell about this post, I do love my truck despite the problems and will drive it until it won't go no more, I just don't know if that will be years down the road or tomorrow!!!

Oh, and one more thing, and I am not saying this is unique to Ford, but their customer care line is a joke!!!! I called to talk to someone about the lumbar support and she proceeds to sit there and tell me what a great choice I had made in purchasing my truck and that it is really nice and powerful. After waiting 10 minutes for her to bring up all of my information, she tells me, "Yes sir, that part is not covered by the extended warranty". As I get irritated from all of her smoke blowing, telling me she understood why I was upset and that I had spent a lot of money on this vehicle, she tells me my next step is to talk to the customer service rep at the dealer. SHE DID NOTHING FOR ME BUT WASTE MY TIME!!! "Thanks for verifying what the dealer told me, you have been a great help!!! Now, can I talk to someone that will solve the problem??"

I have never gotten a straight answer why Ford covered a part under the ext. warranty at 60K miles, but wouldn't at 95K - sounds like they were having a problem with this part and said, "Hey, we just won't cover it any longer." That just is not right!!!

 

While your situation sucks, I have no idea what it has to do with the Supercrew forum. Buyer be aware. Protect yourself and your investment.

 

Well, considering we are having problems with our SUPERCREWS, I guess it kind of made sense to make other SUPERCREW owners aware of some problems and issues.

 

Oh brother. Last i checked, my Supercrew uses the same engine as many other F-150's. Thus, why I read the engine forums and other vehicle specific forums. I assumed the Supercrew forum was for Supercew specific topics, like the rear windows not going all the way down, or bed length discussions. A pet pieve of mine when people reharsh the same things in 4 different places.

 

Rogone, will do. i'm still new at all this fancy computer stuff, sort of got forced into it being in the military and it no longer being a "paper Navy", but thank you, will take some time a take a peek. but i tell, now i'm a little scared with all this stuff going on about plugs and lumbars!! i think i just need some security!!

 

APT:

I simply posted here to make others aware BEFORE it happens to them.

Buyer beware, yes, this is why my dealer sold me on the aftermarket extended warranty. Well, my warranty claim was just denied because I have an aftermarket part on my vehicle referencing my Magnaflow catback and Airforce-1 intake. This is what one gets for making an investment and taking pride in ones vehicle.

 

So, the dealer and Ford Warranty claims your intake and exhaust caused the plug to blow out? Have you contacted Magnaflow and AF1 since they have their own warranties?

 

No, the dealer sold me an aftermarket extended warranty when I purchased the truck new called Mastercare(sp) owned by American Financial. American Financial, after 7 days waiting for the adjuster, denied the claim stating "if any aftermarket part is installed on the vehicle" they will not cover any claim and specifically mention the two aftermarket parts.

I am awaiting a call back from the owner of the dealership who so far has denied knowledge of Magnusom-Moss or acknowledgement that this is a common failure. The dealer no longer offers this particular extended warranty.

This is not a Ford extended warranty.

 

I have the Ford extended factory warrenty so I hope it would cover something like this if I needed it. According to Mike Troyer they cannot deny a warrently claim just because you don't have a Ford part in the truck unless they can demonstrate that it caused the failure. Here's hoping I never have to find out if this is the case.

 

What dealer are we talking about here???? I would demand to talk to a higher up or see that "aftermarket" statement in writing prior to the time you bought your contract. I am a service advisor and wouldn't give a customer an aftermarket extended warranty just becuase of the BS hassles you have to go thru to get an approval. Just in the past year even Ford ESP has began cracking their whip and tightening the way they approve work.

 

Ouch! Another case that backs up my OEM extended warranty only philosophy.

Well, I too would look at your contract to see if it says anything about aftermarket parts. Are they suggesting that if you had an aftermarket step bars, or bug guard (and not the intake/exhaust)that warranty would be denied as well? That is a very poor warranty if your quote is the truth.

Good luck getting it resolved.

 

When I called Ford ESP about the lumbar, they said that they did not have a previous claim at 60K miles for the lumbar - in fact, they did not have any claims for me in their computer. My delaer counted them up and I have had at least 8-10 claims since my factory warranty ran out.

I am calling them tomorrow to get some other things resolved.