2001 Excursion 5.4 L The Time-Sert company is closed until Jan 3rd and I would like to repair my cylinder head before then. I borrowed a BIG-SERT Part No. 5551 TRITON SPARK PLUG REPAIR KIT to make the repair. Then I got on the Time-Sert web site www.timesert.com and found the following warning:

"Part Number 5551 "Obsolete" Ford Sparkplug kit will not fix 1L2E PI heads.

New P/n 5553

If you are repairing a 1L2E head, this is a Romeo 2001 and up PI head Kit # 5551 WILL NOT WORK. You will need a special add-on tool P/N 55518 to give the hole clearance for the 5551 repair kit to work. Now available! This will upgrade your kit to a p/n 5553 which is the current fix.
The most important part in the above casting number is the second set of digits 1L2E."

I checked the casting no. on my head and it is RF-2L1E-6090-C20B. Note the reversal of the numbers 1L2E vs 2L1E on my head. (The web site had a photograph of the Casting number and the numbers were not reversed due to a typo.) The question I have is this: Will the 5551 kit work on my cylinder head or do I have a later version of the 1L2E casting?

THANKS!

 

i just read the site and it seem like you will be ok to use the 5551 kit. you could shoot the company and e-mail. maybe you'll get a response. Do you have the correct insert. they have 2 types.
I used the 5551 kit but it is a 99.
What plug did you blow?

here is a site. It has some info. http://www.forddefects.com/index.php

 

I blew the #3 plug. So far I haven't been able to get the plug out of the well. Due to it's location, I can't see in the well to evaluate the condition or position of the plug. I am going to get an inspection mirror and try to look into the well. I'm not too confident that will work though. Do the plugs break when they blow out? The COP on mine was shreaded. Silly me, I was thinking the plug would come out when I pulled the coil.

THANKS.

 

my plug was laying on the intake. they don't break they pull out the aluminum threads. #3 is one of the easier one to fix.

 

Thanks again. I found the plug. It was in a dark obscure location back near the #4 intake. Since the COP boot was still in the well I assumed the plug was also still in the well. WRONG! It must have blown past the boot or blew the boot out and maybe the fuel rail pushed the boot back into the well. Also, thanks for the information about the Ford defects web site. I went to the site and registered my "blowout."

 

I waited until Jan. 3rd and called Timesert and asked about using the 5551 kit on my cylinder head. They weren't sure, they said Ford won't give them any information about the heads. I ordered the 5553 kit just to be safe. Turns out I really could have used the 5551 kit on my head. I received the kit late on the 5th and repaired the head on the 6th. It took about 5 hours. The engine runs like new again. With only 89K miles on it, it should run like new.