Easiest way to tell is to check the 8th character of the Vin number

Vin L = 5.4L all 5.4L's have windsor heads
Vin 6 = 4.6L with windsor heads
Vin W - 4.6L with romeo heads

and yes i know it makes no sense that the W stands for the Romeo plant but that's Ford for you

 

this my VIN: 1FTRW14W65KB54380

which 6 or which W?

 

that was the first line of my post

you have a romeo plant engine

 

Well I am new here a friend from another site sent me over. Looks like there is some good info here and thanks for having me.
Now my ordeal I have a 2002 f150 with a 4.6 in it 61000 miles and like the others I am reading about Poom out comes the sparkplug I was headed out of town and had it towed to a local garage This was 3 weeks ago today

Yep just like the others here a plug blew out of the head ?? I figured it was just loose The mechanic replaced the old Plugs and sent me on my way.

Last night I started the truck in the driveway and yep same sh t pa woom out comes the plugs. I had a little time this morning so I stopped at the local ford dealership and they said happens pretty often, Ford wont help you, but for 1500 they will pull the head off have a machine shop install a helicoil and have me on my way again Nice !! What ever happened to Ford Tough ?

Now I am hoping that maybe you guys can help explain what my options are I think I want to put it back together and find some Ford dealer to dump this sucker on in a trade ?
What is a Time Cert Sounds like the cheapest way ? I might add its the 3rd one from the front on the right side I also was told by the Ford people that this is the most common one to do this

Thanks again tt

 

Anyone have any experience with this ??
https://www.dormanproducts.com/cgi-b...tegory_list=:0

Thanks tt

 

Never used that kit. Carquest carries the kit on the shelf.

 

Is this situation known on the 6cyl heads as well ?

 

I don't believe it is a 6 cylinder problem

 

Okay, maybe this is a dumb question but can't you still drive a vehicle with a blown plug? Everyone here talks about having to tow their truck after one blows but one time I forgot to attach one of my spark plug wires to the spark plug in my car and it ran really bad but I was still able to drive it. Isn't this similar?

Not that you would want to drive it far but at least you could get it to a shop somewhere rather than have it towed?

Why can't you drive it a short distance with one blown plug? Problems? The truck won't even start?

 

There is a big difference between a plug in t he hole with no wire, and no plug in the hole. And most of the time, the plug doesn't actually shoot out, it just bounces up and down based on the stroke. So, unless the gap is completely closed, it can actually fire in the open. The compression without fire is alone enough to make it sound like there is a helicopter underneath your hood.

So, no, you can't drive it

 

You need to unplug the injector then you can drive it. Without fuel there will be no washing down of the cylinder. You should remove the plug so it doesn't crack and drop debris down the plug hole. Don't plug the coil back it either

JMC

 

GrnXnham, you can drive it a short distance, it just sounds awful. They charged me $100 to tow my '99 Expd just 2 miles. Get it home, look at my profile or contact Time Sert directly.

 

Drove mine about 15 miles with no plug and an unplugged injector. Sounded and ran like ****, but it made it to the garage.

 

my sis recently blew her 3rd one on her 00' expy. its in the shop getting fixed with a helicoil...but once its out its going byebye.

with two kids she and her husband dont have the time or money to keep doing this.

ive heard of the old festiva's blowing out spark plugs in the past, but not the older v8's. how many threads does my 94 5.8 have on it? hope its more than 3. i also dont have aluminum heads do i?

 

Pre-'97 heads are cast iron, and you'd need a good tough drill to strip their threads.

I drove my '99 CV (the dark blue one below) about 500 miles on the interstate above 90mph with the coil & injector unplugged and the spark plug glued into the head. I TimeSerted it Friday with the BigSert 5553 kit, so I'm running on 8 again now.