I did one on the #1 plug. Actually it did not blow but stripped in the hole. I practiced on one of my bare heads and then did the plug hole. I used the grease on the tap trick and removed and cleaned it after every 1½ - 2 turns. I used the Timesert and flipped a 3/8 inch extension over the top of the tap and reamer. I would not want to do the #4 or 8 hole but it could still be done with the head on the engine.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Hello members,

First I would like to thank all of you that have contributed to the website and thread, and my wife for finding the site. You have saved me a lot of money.

Last saturday, 8/7/04, I joined the blown plug club with my 2000 F250 V10, 119,500 miles, 4th cylinder from the front drivers side ( I don't know what # it is). Steping on the gas at a green light when I heard the pop and the hole in the exhaust sound. I didn't notice any exhaust leak noise prior to, probably due to the constant noise from my second 'Y' pipe but that's another story. After putting in a new coil (not realizing the plug was not in the head below it) I blew that one and spent the rest of the afternoon with the family at a nearby Pep Boys to find the problem.

To wrap up my story, I found the local TimeSert dealer and purchased the kit @ $300+. It took about 4 hrs of my time, but that was being very careful and taking my time. Got my truck back running by Monday evening. This is a far cry from the $2,500+ (estimate) and who knows how long that I got from the local Ford dealer. They didn't want to discuss the inserts.

To show my gratitude, I would like to 'Pay it Forward' by offering to help anyone in the Mass/RI area with assistance and use of the kit to anyone that needs to make these repairs.

Thanks,
Gary

 

Sounds like we should all be giving our plugs a quick check at every oil change. I'm not talking retorque every time, but when you start the engine to circulate the new oil, that would be a great time to stick your head under the hood and listen for the telltale sound.

Being a preventative maintenace kind of guy, I'll probably buy a kit and just do all of the holes when I have a free weekend. I only have 28K on my '01 and I plan to keep it for a long time. I'd rather do this in my garage when I can take my time, than on the side of the freeway or in the middle of the desert.

 

Up to what year did the trucks have this problem and what engines were involved? I have a 4.2 in my 2003 F-150 and was thinking maybe i should start checking my plugs?

 

it seems to be a problem in the 5.4 and the v10. ford changed the head design in 2003 adding more threads to solve this problem.

 

What about the 2000 with the 4.6 motors. Thanks.

 

just did the big sert kit on the drivers side second plug from the front. It really was not any harder than changing the plug in that spot but I would dread to have to do the back 2.

It was fairly easy and stright forward. I did not use any power tools just a 1/2 drive with a couple of extentions. took me about 90 minutes and then clean up. But I was very carfull and if I keep the truck I am sure the next one can be done in under 1 hour as long as its not the back ones

I want to really thank you all for this post and the help you gave in email and in the other posts I made. Dont think you have to have someone do it for you I have very little exp working on cars and just follow the directions to a tee and you will be fine

BIG KNOCK ON WOOD I have not drove it yet just started it and no misses or knocks

 

meslo,
How's the truck running so far with that insert?

 

Its sold but ran fine the whole 10 miles to the dealer ship.

No I put about 100 miles on it before I sold it. I cant have a vehicle that I dont trust to get me from point a to point b. The L never did leave me stranded but I was going to always have the thought of " is that the exaust leak noise" Oh I hope I make it and its just not worth it to me.

I had great fun in it and hated to see it go but life goes on. I felt the same when I traded my 99 Camaro SS in on the L. I am driving a clunker now and looking at getting a G35

 

BUMP!
Repair blown ford spark plugs with TIME-SERT!

http://www.timesert.com/Triton-repair.html



This is a great repair!!

 

It happened to me Saturday morning while on a hunting trip to North Dakota. I was about 20 miles from Bowman (nearest Ford dealer) and I was able to limp the truck into town before the mechanics went home. They pulled it in and went to work installing some sort of insert into the #3 plug hole. First they reamed the hole out with a special tool, then they hooked up a shop vac with a special attachment and sucked the shavings out of the combustion chamber while turning the motor over. I didn't watch the rest of the project because I was out on the lot looking at a used '04 Lariet with 16,000 miles on it. The whole job took about 1 1/2 hours and a little over $200. I did hear the tell-tale sounds of ticking and a slight exhaust leak the day before the plug let loose, and I will never ignore these sounds again. I will probably be shopping for a new '04, because the mechanics told me that they had very few problems with them so far.

 

I also blew a spark plug. It “was” in a 1999 Ford Mustang GT. It “was” in chamber #3 on the passenger side head. Sound familiar? I did hear noise for about a week and a half. It sounded like the release of air to the rhythm of the engine. I figured I would have it looked at on it’s next service @ 75K, since it has 73,400K now. Well on Friday night, October 8th, I was taking pictures of my new house (1 month from completion). I started up the car and heard a POP!!! I shut her down, and was puzzled of what just happened. I started her up again, and heard the popping again, and the smell of fuel. Now I’m really tripin’ out! I drove it about a ½ mi. going only about 25MPH. I finally had enough, and had it towed in. The mechanic at the Ford dealership said he knew what it was. He recommended a heli-coil, over the dealer’s suggested head replacement. He said this normally happens on the trucks and Ford Cobras.

Well, I had Columbus Day off, and told Ford to do the heli-coil. They called back Tuesday to tell me it did not hold, and I owe them $360.00 for the work. They gave me the pricing for the following:

New Head: $3,700.00
Second Head: add $1,200.00
Reman (Remanufactured) engine: $5,600.00

I went out to Google, and typed: “Blown Spark Plug on Mustang”, and I got the F150online site. This guy named “Don” @ donswr@hotmail.com mentioned this Time Fastener’s product called Time Sert (www.timesert.com). They have this kit specifically for Ford called BIG SERT Triton. Don has photos of how he did his van. You can check them out at: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/gobingo/index.htm
(Thanks Don!) I contacted Time Fasteners, and ordered the kit. Bill, the technician even sent me out a practice block of aluminum with two holes as I requested!!! My co-worker thought it would be a good idea to do a test first! Bill did tell me that the block is much harder than the head; so I kept this in mind during my testing. I work for the County, so I went over to our “Fleet Services” garage where the mechanics lent me some gear grease, and a vice to test on the block. They even let me use their shop vac to suck out shavings. To my surprise, the mechanic had his own insert kit!!! He said that three of their Sheriff’s Deputy cruisers blew their spark plugs…and guess where? You got it…passenger side, third chamber. These vehicles also had between 60 & 70K mi. on them. The kit did not have a company name on it, but it didn’t look like Time Fastener’s product. It was bigger, and came with a Shop Vac attachment nozzle. I completed the test successfully, and felt confidant I could do the work myself.

I reluctantly paid the $360.00, and had the car towed to my house. ("I'll show them" I thought to myself). I have to be honest...I feel pretty empowered after doing all this!

Last weekend, I got everything together, including a baby bottle cleaner, and brake fluid to clean out the hole! As I put the reamer down in the hole, it almost bottomed out!!! I had about ¾ of the reamer to work with. This is because I was coming behind the dealership’s work. They had already re-threaded the hole! I was nervous that I might not be able to make this work! I was also worried that they may have dropped a bunch of shavings down in the cylinder! I proceeded to finish what I could with the reamer. I caught a little bit at the end, and created the 45 degree counter sink. I vacuumed out, and prepared for taping. This is where I felt very anxious…I still saw the threading in there!!! When I tested this process at work, I had a nice smooth, clean hole to work with after reaming. I greased up the tap, and attached a 6” 5/8 extension on the ratchet. The angle is nice on the Mustang, but it’s still a bit deep. I was feeling better when the tap actually grabbed hold! I knew if it did that, I had a good chance of creating the new threading. I would only turn about 1 to 1 ½ times before I reversed the tap, and cleaned it off, then re-greased. Of course, I vacuumed between greasing. Once I was satisfied that I re-threaded all the way down, I prepared the insert. I applied the lock tight, and installed the insert using the setting tool. I tightened down on that baby too! Once again, I got a bit nervous when I could not release the setting tool! I had to use pliers on the end of the long Allen wrench to finally release it's grip on the insert. I wiped out the lock tight that had squeeze out to the top of the insert. I then put a little olive oil on the Driver tool (it’s all I had). I drove it down, and I could feel the tension on the driver building up. I continued through with more force (just like the “easy read” instructions say) and finally it loosened up on it’s tension. I then reversed the driver out of there, and I was done! I put the new “gaped” spark plug in, and proceeded to change out the other seven plugs (just the plugs). I started her up, and she just purred!!! I let the engine come to normal temperature, and then took it for a spin. I went around the neighborhood, and then got on the highway. Right away I noticed enhanced acceleration! It was like when I first bought it! I’m sure it’s from changing out those 73Kmi. old plugs. I also washed & re-oiled the K&N Air charger filter.
So, there you have it! Job well done by me using the Internet, by Don posting the information, and ultimately by the Time Fasteners group of machinists for selling such a great, well manufactured product. Good luck to all out there with this problem.

P.S. I submitted a complaint to Consumer Affairs.com, and also to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. I’m down with fighting this with Ford…anyone with me? Please let me know if there’s anything further I could do as a disgruntled consumer. I thought of contacting the local news, that maybe they can start an investigation???

Happy Halloween!!!

 

you can contact:
D O N A L D W. R I C K E T T S
Attorney at Law
28855 Kenroy Ave.
Santa Clarita, California 91387-1721
Phone & Fax: (661) 250-3091
E-mail: scfarms@socal.rr.com

he had posted on this thread but it wes removed. he is getting info together for a class action law suit.

 

Hi everyone. I have read a few of these posts and have heard that the 2003's dont have this problem. Well i have a 2003 model but the build date is 10/02. So my question is am I screwed???

my truck is a 2003 FX4 with the 5.4 liter. I love the truck so far but this problem worries me.

 

I need some advice.

I called FoMoCo Customer Service about my spark plug blowing out, and they proceded to blow smoke up my a$$ and referred my to the service manager at my local dealer. When I first mentioned this problem to him a few weeks ago he just shrugged his shoulders, but when I called him about it today, he went to bat for me. He called me this afternoon and asked me what I thought about paying $500 to have the dealer replace both heads. I now have 69,000 miles on a pick-up that I have been extremely happy with until the spark plug incident.

What I really need to know is:

Will the insert that is already in the head last as long as the rest of the motor?

Are the remanufactured heads better than the original ones?

Have they changed the spark plugs so that more threads are in the head?

Do you think they will put the old plugs in the new heads, or will new plugs be an add-on cost?