I know the 5.4 plug blowout issue has been covered more than enough here but I would like to get some feedback on the warning signs that occur before a plug is blown. I try to check the torque on mine when I change the oil but it is a P.I.T.A. I want to use any advice I can get to avoid a blowout before it happens. I have heard that a ticking sound is sometimes heard a few hundred miles before the plug blows, anything else anyone has noticed?

Thanks a lot,

Brian

 

I don't know from personal experiance, but I've read here that some report a "sound" before the plug launch. The sound has been described as similar to a valvetrain 'tick" or an exhaust leak type sound.

I know if I hear this "ticking" other than at start-up on a cold day, I'll have the plugs torque checked right away!

Good Luck,

Bill

 

mine had the ticking before it blew. it lasted about 50 miles before it blew.
when you change your oil check #2 and #3. these are the easy ones to get too and seem to be the common ones to blow.

if you do blow a plug, its not the end of the world. just annoying and it'll cost you a couple of hundred bucks.

 

My buddys expy just blew #7. He's a cop, so he took it to the county maintenence barn guy who fixes all the cruisers that blow. That idiot put a heli coil in and I guess went to far down so that when you put a plug in, the piston taps it and closes the gap on the plug. Moral of the story, use someone who knows what they are doing.

 

What did he do, countersink the plug?

 

I have been reading alot about these plugs that everyone is talking about, is it something that I should be concern with? When one blows do you lose any power at all or gas mileage. I have a 01 supercrew 5.4 with about 80000 mi.

 

Do you lose power?

You now have a V-7 instead of a V-8, so yeah, the power will drop some.

After you get it fixed it will be a V-8 again, and the power will be restored.

 

Will I notice the loss of power when it first happens! you got me wandering!

 

Yes.

How could you not?

Besides all the VERY LOUD popping going on, the engine would be running on 7 cylinders, instead of 8.

It should be very easy to notice one less cylinder.