I drive a 2001 stock F150 5.4L that has been very carefully maintained. The truck was purchased new with 85 miles on the odometer. Last week with 58k on the odometer, I heard a loud pop and a sound like a large exhaust leak. Tinkering with the truck, revealed that the ceramic core of the no 2 plug had blown out of the plug body! The steel shell of the plug was still in the head. The ceramic core was ejected with enough force to break the ignition coil.

I had the truck towed to the dealer for repair. They replaced all of the plugs and the no 2 ignition coil. The shell of the plug had a slight amount of rust. The mechanic noted that the no 3 plug also had a slight amount of rust. The total bill for the repair was $600. Despite the extended warrenty, Fix Or Repair Daily say it's at my cost not theirs.

Photos of the broken plug
https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=4951

Has anybody else seen this problem?

Any ideas as to cause or prevention?

 

thats a VERY common problem with the 5.4's because of the lack of threads on the heads cause the plugs to work loose after several miles.

I would check into it, i think that repair should not cost you a dime!

 

You did say that the ceramic blew out of the plug body without the body coming out of the threads. Your lucky.
That is a very rare happpening.
I think it may not be covered unless you have some other type of coverage that would.
It is a product failure that Ford would not cover only the product mfg. same as tires because it is a consumable item.
The damage done to the coil is insidental to the original failure.

 

If a plug is rusty it generally means there was water in the plug hole, usually dripping in from the air conditioning piping just above the cylinder head. It's a common occurence but generally doesn't result in spark plug failure, only misfires because the spark is shorting out through the water. Before changing plugs always use compressed air to blow out the plug holes.
$600 is a lot of money for just spark plug change and a couple new coils.
If you do it yourself it would have cost you around $200 in parts I'm guessing and 3-4hrs labour.

 

Now that is unusual! Wow! $600 isn't too bad - considering new plugs and wires could lead between 450 and 550.

 

my 1999 f150 5.4 is having similar problems.#4 plug backed out of its hole. started to hear some thing of a lifter tap at 71,000 miles didnt think any thing of it oil and gage read ok. going down the highway at 60 mph,i heard this big pow and what sounded like it threw a rod out the block. the plug from not having any place to go but up and down in its hole beat its self to pieces. had to have the hole retapped and the coil replaced cause the fireing of the plug and driving up ward broke the coil from the mount. i have a email in to ford about this and of coures they are unaware of the problem . i talked to 4 ford dealers in the area and they say they are having problems with spark plug coming out . i was also told buy the dealer that you have two ways to fix your problem use a tapered helicoil which means take the heads off and repaired ($400.00) or replace the head ($2200.00).i have some very big issues with this problem to me their a big differance between wear and tear and design flaw.oh buy the way each coil $140, each plug $8.35 and you have 8 ofeach and. if you can do that tune yourself only 8 plugs you should keep the price well below 1300.00 dollars.

 

Guys, we are talking about two different problems here. T didn't have the typical "blow the plug out of the hole" problem. He actually had the plug fail. It is rare, but it does happen. Please don't confuse his problem with the plug blow out problem.

$600 is typical stealership prices. I would not expect this failure to be covered by a warranty.

 

I had the same thing happen when I had my 1996 Grand Marquis. I had 2 NGK plugs fail, and 1 Bosche.

Although the trucks where I work have this problem left and right because of how they're installed.

On a side note, all the Fords I drive now have never had the plugs blow out of the heads, but they all have a few miles on them.

work
1998 E-250, 5.4L-- 192,xxx miles
1999 F-450 6.8L w 5spd (extra long wheelbase) 246,xxx miles
1999 F-450 6.8L w 5spd (approx 135" wheelbase) 123,xxx.

personal
2000 F-150 scab 4x4 off road 5.4l auto 60,000 miles

 

most of the time this an installation error. the plugs sometimes are awkward to put in. your ratchet goes off a little to one side when your torquing on it and cracks the insulator which you wouldn't notice until something like this happens. and sometimes it i a faulty plug right out of the box. i always check new plugs over very carefully because they do get dropped and handled several times before you get it in your hands.