Part of the problem is the design of the head/plug combination, and part of the problem is the design of the plug itself. The plug's sealing surface is a part of the 'spinner', and it's crimped onto the body of the spark plug which has the threads. When the tip jams due to the carbon accumulation in the bore, the crimp is not holding. They've been looking at possibly redesigning the manufacturing process for the plug, but that's not going to be cheap. Some more positive way of locking those two halves of the plug is in order (e.g. laser welds, or some other type of tack) and I suspect that, in the future, a revised spark plug will be the long-term fix. (It's at least one of the ideas that I've heard mentioned)

-Joe

 

GIJoeCam,

At least I feel a little bit better knowing we've got folks like you working on the problem. Keep up the good work!

 

Yea... I have always stood by Ford Trucks and I have a fleet of them for my work vehicles. This is the only gas truck I have and I don't know about switching to a chevy I just think that my new truck will be a diesel just like my other trucks. I am a die hard ford truck fan but I love my Chevy Muscle cars. My race car is a camaro go figure. People laugh at me cause I have Ford Trucks but a chevy race car. I have switched over to jananese cars though when it comes to my everyday drivers. I have a 01 toyota camry.

 

The best thing to do is drive the truck until you get 100k on it. Trade it in for a new one and let the dealer or new owner deal with getting the plugs out of your old truck.

 

alls you do is get the right plugs from a 2003 cobra it is designed for the 4 thread holes youll be ok peace

 

I think im gonna take it to the dealer and let them change the plugs so that way if something happens i can be like look what you did.. I want a new motor now..lol

 

Keep in mind that not all of the older 5.4s will blow their plugs out.

It's not as simple as "if you wait long enough it will happen" although, indeed, many folks have experienced this problem.

/Crosses fingers

 

any problems like this in the 4.6l? mines a 97 with 139,000miles and i never changed the plugs. i got it with 66,000 on it so im not sure if they were changed before i bought it.

 

My spit-out was right around 100k. I'm at 176k right now and knock-on-wood, no more plugs have come out unexpectedly.

There have been several class-action lawsuits over it, but I don't know if anything has come out of them.