" They sold 1400 inserts so far this year and 2100 last year"

syncmaster,

I am a loyal Ford customer who thinks they need to "face-up" to this problem. This is not normal and Ford should "do the right thing" for its customers.

But the problem is RARE. (all the more reason Ford should fix it. It won't "break" them)

If Timesert sold 2,000 a year and Helicoil sold another 2,000 a year for the last 3 years that is 12,000 units representing 12,000 spark plug "pop-outs". Say, at most, twice that many were resolved in other ways(replaced heads, junked or otherwise fixed) that is a total of 36,000 spark plug "incidents".

How many Triton engines have been sold since their introduction? Very conservativly, I'd say 10 million.

36 thousand divided by 10 million = less than 4 in one thousand have had this problem.

I've had some bad luck in my life. But i'm not going to lose sleep over a problem as unlikly as that!

Nobody should be afraid to buy a Ford product new or used!

Bill

 

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to get to the 3rd cylinder on the passenger side. I'd like to repair my blown plug with a BigSert but I'm not sure if I can get to it or not without removing the head. Any suggestions would be great.

 

I'm both happy and sad you put this up on the board . Now I know why I have been hearding a ticking and a exhaust type leaking soubd in my truck . Now I have to take out my plugs for a third time this year.If this doesn't work ,well Iguess i'll just put the old reliable 302 in it.

 

Blexpy,
If you are not sure about your abilitys, I suggest you read my post on page 3 "syncmaster " (3 down from top), It is a post of a email conversation with someone that didn't feel comfortable doing it themselfs. I think it cost them 250 dollars. Just buying the tools will cost you 150 dollars, so I suggest you make the phone calls.
I keep all helpful info on this problem in this thread for all to see. I don't have any other information.




wmnnally,
It's great that you can calculate the odds and say they are acceptable to you. I didn't start this thread to bash ford, there are plenty of other threads for that. The fact is that ford quietly changed the head design for 2003 triton engine never admiting there ever was a problem.
I also used to be a loyal Ford customer but because of them not standing up and doing the right thing I have lost all faith and trust in ford . I now regard ford as no better or worst that any other car manufacturer and their slogan "built ford tough" are only words with no meaning.


Using your own calculations:
that is a total of 36,000 spark plug "incidents".

This thread is for those 36,000 people looking for help on the internet.

 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ord_spark.html


This is making me rethink buying an F150

 

i repaired #2 with a time sert about 5k miles ago. no problems with it yet. it was easy to do with the the kit and the snap-on deep socket using a stubby ratchet took an hour to repair. just make sure the piston is at the bottom of the stroke so the reamer does not hit it.
if anyone is in the harrisburg pa area and needs help, i have a kit and would help them out for a small donation

 

Sure seems a shame that Ford does not help their owners out in this situation. I too have a 1999 F-150 with 5.4 and although statistics indicate that I will not have this problem, can't help but worry about it. This is what seems to be more and more obvious -an engineering mis-step in terms of not deep enough plug threads. Then add in the inevitable production plusses and minuses - it's kind of like the engineers thought the production people could be 100% all of the time in terms of tolerance. Not likely. Feels like a roll of the dice Ford - do we get a good one or a bad one. The only thing for sure is Ford will not support the customer should this happen. Not good.

 

This is the same spark plug that blew out on mine.. Is there anyone from San Diego or Southern California that knows how to do this or has done this before?


blEXPY,

If you're there.. Did you manage to figure out how to get your spark plug prob fixed? Did they have to remove the head?


Why is private messaging disabled! I need to talk to him!

 

Just posting for the sake of statistics. I own a 01 Lightning with 37Kmiles on it. Yes, just a few hundred out of warranty. Original plugs, never touched. One on the right bank blew this morning on the way to work. Merry Christmas to me!!!

I didn't know of this problem until today. Checked the web and see it happens plenty.

 

Would like to know if you try to make Ford at least help with this problem. Especially since you have a Lightening. I am one of many that think this is a major issue in terms of customer relations. Toyota relented and helped their customers with engine sludge problems. I want to see Ford do the same. Keep us posted as this is an obvious engineering and/or manufacturing defect.

 

I joined the ejected spark plug club about three weeks ago. #3 on the passenger side. Just finished fixing it today using the Big-Sert. #3 IS possible.

Pointers for Expys: Disconnect the heater hose closest to the drivers side from the heater core. You can free up quite a bit of room that way. The other heater hose you can tie out of the way. I also undid quite a bit of the electrical fuse box thingy. It helped free up some room. If you have access to one, use an air wrench for the reaming process. That alone would have save me tons of time.

Now I need help: How do you make the heater hose stay on. I think I need to purchase a new clip, but does any one know?

I fired up the vehicle and it seemed fine, but I can't drive it until I can get the heater hose to stay on. It'll blow off if I let it build up pressure (temp).

By the way, it's an '97 Expedition with rear air/heat, so the heater hoses were right in the way. Without the rear air/heat (f150), this probably wouldn't be an issue.

 

Just buy a new screw-on type clamp for it. They are only a couple dollars (at most) at any hardware or automotive store. Don't screw around with those stock clamps that you use a set of pliers to open.

In fact, I would go ahead and replace all of the squeze (sp?) open kind with the screw on kind while you're doing the work.

 

How about a few more details on that 97 Exp plug blow out? 5.4? Miles? Original plugs? Miles after plug replacement?
Glad to hear the fix went well. Inserts are the way to go.
Thanks.

 

Does anyone know if there a pattern (more or less frequent) to the blow out using 3rd party plugs ? Also, is it always the more rear (firewall side) plugs that fail?

I had a similar issue (plug failed due to blow by) and replaced them with bosch units (about 10k miles ago). I used anti-sz on them. When I pulled them I noticed that BOTH back plugs were in bad shape around the barrel / shank ( metal breaking down)? One plug fell apart (had to come out with an easy-out).

I've since learned that people are experiencing this on the 5.4L.

I had planned on pulling the plugs in 10k miles ( now at 40k) to check them and re-torque...

Sounds like ,reading the thread, that may not do any good.

thanks
Dan

 

I may have missed something, but this seems like an excellent candidate for a class action lawsuit. It is an obvious design flaw that causes major engine damage at great expense. Ford is aware of the problem but refuses to help those customers who purchased these vehicles. Is anyone aware of something in the works relating to this problem?