Have you ever heard of this happening?

[ironmanlu377]

My buddy was on his way to Clear Lake in his 99 expedition and it blew a spark plug right out of the head broke the coilpack and the plug was floppin around in the hole and mangled the plug got a new plug and coil pack but could not get the plug to thread in. Ford said they would have to pull the engine and replace the aluminum head. what a start to a long weekend. since he had to take the truck to holder in lakeport i took his partner back to fairfield to get his truck to tow the boat then we couldnt get the trailer to let us back up after all was said and done we got everything good so we could all fish and had a good couple of days on the water. just wondering if anyone else has heard of this and what if anything ford is doing about this problem.

[buzzfish]

I blew a plug out of the aluminum engine block on my Toyota pick up several years ago. They were able to drill out the hole and put new threads in without replacing the head. I am not sure the same thing is available for a Ford though. It may have been that my damage was minimal.

I caused my own problem as I did not properly tighten down the plug when I had done the previous tune up.

[clayton meyer]

happens often enough on any kind of vehicle. Most of the time you can run a tap through the hole, with grease on it to catch the particles, and reinstall a plug. Other times you can tap the hole and install an insert. Pulling the head is a last resort.

The repair can be done for a couple of hours labor.

[Smile_n_Jax]

Over the years I repaired many blown/stripped plug threads. Many of them because someone didn't use anti-seize compound when replacing the plugs. I don't know what the plug location is on your engine, but I would check with an independent shop to see if it can be done.

[Ken C.]

It's a well known and well documented issue with the new generation of Triton V8's. That is, the ones with the coil packs on top of the plugs. And of course Ford is not doing anything for engines out of warranty.

Two modes of failure: your friends was that the plug loosened up over time and started "hammering" up and down which in turn sheared off the threads in the head. There is a fix available that does not involve replacing the heads, but your not likely to get it done by any dealer, especially if the truck is out of warranty! It involves a special threaded insert (NOT your typical "Heli-coil"). The other failure has something to do with the core of the plug sticking in the head when the plug is removed.

I'll bet he has a 5.4L Triton V-8. He probably heard and ignored a "hissing" noise for a bit which would have been the compression leak around the loose plug.

Go to www.f150online.com or www.pickuptruck.com and search their forums using "blown plug". Get ready for some serious reading! You will read about the alternative fixes if it's not too late. I have also heard that you can buy an entire new motor with 5-year warranty for about $700 more than the dealers "replace the heads" fix!

I would recommend that everyone with one with a 5.4L motor go out and tighten their plugs . . . HOWEVER, unless you have the absolute correct tool for the job, that is how you crack the porcelin that leads to the second mode of failure

As a last note: if you do replace your plugs or better yet have them replaced at a shop (that way when it breaks it becomes their problem! ), insist on original MOTORCRAFT brand spark plugs as they have the correct threads for those heads.

[tap]

YES,IT'S REALLY COMMON AND FORD SAYS THE DONT HAVE A PROBLEM.THEY DO ADMIT IT LOCALLY HERE ON THE CENTRAL COAST AND SAY THEY HAVE A NEW SPARK PLUG WITH MORE THREADS ON IT AND THAT SHOULD SOLVE THE PROBLEM.WE WILL SEE.GO ON LINE TO FORD TRUCKS .COM AND SEE ALL THE CONSUMER COMPLAINTS THERE ARE THOUSANDS COUNTRY WIDE. PAT

[Hughsonbassin]

This is a very common problem on the fords espicially on #4 cyl which is on the passenger rear side and water hoses run over the hole that are prone to seepage and the coolant seeps into the hole and corrodes away at the aluminum. But it is likely to happen on any cylinder. There is just not enough threads to hold the plug in the head. My reccomendation would be to throw the junk ford in the lake and go by a chevrolet but if that is out of the question there is no reason to pull the head or replace the engine unless something more catostrophic than the plug blowing out happened. There is a tool that resizes the hole and the inserts a steel insert called a time-sert. Our machine shop that we use installs these on every hole in a head when it comes in for any kind of work. So if you call around you should be able to find someone to repair it for you.

[R watts]

This also happend to me with my 97 motor. The #4 plug. Ford would not admit to a design flaw and also recommended a head replacement for about $3000. I had a mechanic put the insert in for about $400.00 and I have had no problem with it yet and its been over 20,000 miles since the repair. I beleive it only calls for about 14 lbs of torque for the plugs so if you tighten them down too much you will damage the aluminum threads on the head. also if they are too loose, like someone else said, they will work themselves loose and bang up and down until the threads fail and the plug blows. Good luck!!

[bryanmc]

Happened to me on my '99 f250 5.4l triton motor with 82k miles about 3 weeks ago. After researching the problem online, I found a shop here in Redding with the tools and equipment to do the repair insert. I supplied the new plugs and coil (since I as going to do it myself before I realized how much it entailed). $530 out the door to install the insert and change all the plugs.