actually wouldnt it be cool if someone came out with a plug that at a certain pressure it blew out like this rather than blowing out and taking the threads from the head with it?
i would much rather rmove the damage plug , than having to deal with a stripped out head.

 

[HIJACK]

You fool. Anything made in China can be, and in most cases is, made with the same quality as anything in the U.S. The reason companies go to China, Mexico, etc. is beacuse they work for less comparable to Americans, not because their quality is shotty.
I worked as an ESL teacher in China for a year and made 10x more money than Chinese teachers made and still only made about $800/month. Does that mean teachers are bad at teaching? No, it sure doesn't. In fact, Chinese students kick our @sses in school, sciences especially (on average, of course).
The only difference if your vehicle was made entirely in the US is you'd have to pay $250,000 for it.
Now if American companies choose to buy cheapy made crap, its not because of the country they buy it from, its because that American company wants to buy cheap crap.

[/HIJACK]

 

Your point was not about ordering stuff from outside manufacturers, it was about American's inability to makea good plug.

 

My point exactly, The stuff they send us is junk, ordered per spec by US companies to save a penny. Why is it that Japanese manufactured stuff is still very high quality, versus Chinese products that we receive. Some of the stuff is great, because the specs and mean failure rate is very low, but a spark plug blowing out no matter how many miles is rediculous. Common, its not rocket science. Give me a break.

 

Here is a break for ya.
Did you inspect the plug that failed? I didn't but what's you position on a possibility of the proclean cracking from heat cycling over that many miles of use.
You still going to place that on a mfger 100,000 miles later?
If yes then your out to lunch somewhere a little to long.

 

my crazy step dad didnt chage his plugs until 180k on his 98 scab 4x4 f-150 there was no diode left the gap was beyond mesure and after putting in new plugs it still ran the same??? he said there was no diff???

 

Yep change them sooner. I just can´t believe that a plug close to 100k will give good performance anyway. Least not good as newer ones.

 

I pulled over to see if I could help someone on the side of the road that had an '01 like mine with the same 5.4 engine. Well, the fella said his truck was running rough and that he could feel air coming out of the engine. Well, he found a loose coil where air was coming up from engine. The coil was loose because the ear was broken off. He said he bought a new coil and plug and that he pushed the plug back into engine,but he said he couldn't get the coil screw tight. I told him that the coil doesn't need to be real tight. Well, he thought the coil needed to be really tight because he thought it held the plug in the engine, hummm!

I asked him to show me the old coil so he grabbed it out of the cab and handed it to me. The plug was still attached with electrode smashed in and three or more threads at the end of plug were also smashed. So I told him that threads in head were most likely damaged. He said that he was able to push plug into hole in head of engine but it was still blowing air after he started it. I did ask if he had ever worked on a car, lawnmower, bike, etc, and he mentioned that he had worked on chevys but he wasn't familiar with the ford engines, lol!

Anyway, he had just bought the truck from a used car lot a week earlier and he said they would repair the truck if he had any problems. So I suggested that he call the dealer and request a wrecker.

 

LOL, Well I guess it's not that funny when you think about it. The problems are fixed now , but this was a problem .. If you don't know it can bite you in the a$$. If you treat your truck like sh^t it most definitly will..

I ordered my NGK's - only plugs that use a compression washer. My Motorcrafts came loose on me for the first time in 200,000 miles last time I checked..

 

Yup. Most people never change them until it starts missing. Oh well. At least they save some bucks on spark plugs. I put 100,000 on my set before I changed them, and another 100,000 before I changed them again. I couldn't tell a bit of difference in how the engine ran. I just thought it was time to get some new ones.

 

I saw in another thread that the plugs are around $14.00 each. I plan to pull mine at 20K and lube with anti-seize, then replace around 60K. Where is the best place to purchase plugs and which brand??

 

ford ...motorcraft

Never had a problem..... yet.

 

Don't forget to purchase the socket - I did this past fall ,suprisingly it's awesome!! Not like your normal SP socket..

 

Why you pulling you plugs @ 20k ? You a *******?? Or a dumda$$?? Sounds like both...Afraid of your plugs getting to tight and breakin off ? Well that's not the solution..

Use the tool I posted , it works , that's what it is made for..Lenny has 04 and Pete an 05 and those guys even tho I harassed them they let it go until 80,000 (Lenny's) When we changed them out they were tight alright - with that tool and an cordless impact on it's lowest setting centalizes torque in rewind, they came out fine...Theres allot people on this site that knows a hell of allot more than you do..

That's pretty frickin stupid pullin your plugs at 20K .. I know , I know , your the type that likes to dictate .. Well , if you ask instead - you'll learn allot more here...

 

Easy, killer... He has a completely different head design with a completely different plug design that's prone to failure in a completely different manner than has been discussed in this thread. Changing them every 20k, while it may seem excessive, is not a bad idea on his engine. Do a bit of searching on the problems those with the 3V heads have and you'll understand why.

In this case, it appears that the crimp around the top of the metal that holds the ceramic in place corroded and failed. It's not a common failure mode for the spark plugs... Given the sheer volume of spark plugs any plug manufacturer makes, one that corrodes excessively is not exactly a shock. Luckily, in that case, it was an easy fix.

Also, for the record, if you ever need to limp it home because of a blown/broken/damaged spark plug, once you discover the offending cylinder, unplug the fuel injector to stop the fuel from washing down the cylinder wall and getting into the crankcase.

-Joe