Just got my timesert kit and 10 inserts. I'll be starting on this shortly. Doing them because I just don't want to have to fret about blowing a plug. We've retired and will be traveling farther from home more and this way I can not have to worry about a breakdown on the road. I'll be selling the kit when I'm done, make someone a good buy and recover some of the costs. The guy I bought this from used it to replace a blown out Dorman repair, looked like it had been leaking gases out for a while before it blew. The Dorman was all sooted up on the outside.
2001, 85000 miles.

 

the mechanics fabled savathread dorman that can't even fix a lawn mower properly. timesert kit is one of the 2 best but the easiest to use, you did your self good in finding a used one

 

Just a caution , get your process absolutely fool-proof about how to determine the "valves are closed position" . That could make it or break it .

Wish you all the best,

 

Wish it was easier to post a picture, the Dorman plug is a piece of crap. The soot was caked on the outside from the threads to the top.
Wolfboro, I hope my OCD doesn't let me down. I've done them 50 times in my head. :-)
Just put it in my gallery....

 

Just finished the first insert. A lot of worry, but everything is almost foolproof. I made a plug up like the CalVan kit uses, valves close pops the plug and used a chopstick to find out where the piston was. After this first one I got a right angle air ratchet. Reaming by hand was to long and the rear ones would be very tiring. Nine to go!

 

3/8 Milwaukee Cordless Ratchet is awesome for this kit! Though I usually have it easy as most of my timeserts are in 5.4 Fed Ex trucks. Remove the dog house and life is easy

 

Job completed! All the plugs were very tight, none loose. I didn't have to remove much, air filter pipe, and a bracket on the passenger side firewall. Some were very easy to get at ,but #10 on passenger side was a real deal. Lost a little hide from it. You have to have a right angle ratchet and a camera/scope
to inspect everything with. I had trouble trusting the tools as far as reaming ect, but they work perfectly, never failed to work properly. I was worried about taking out too much metal but the tooling stops cutting at the right place. Made a plug for checking for closed valves like the CalVan tooling uses, worked great. Used high tech for determining where the piston was, a chopstick. The only problem was finding a tapered rubber plug in this little town. Was it worth doing them all preemptive, I don't know. Could have never blown one out or could have happened the next time I drove it. That's a worry I won't have now.
I'm selling the timesert 5553 kit now if anyone is interested. All the tooling plus 4 inserts.

 

Wow, what a job!! Hope all goes well on your travels and all the work you put in gives you piece of mind. (I'm sure that might take a little while.) By the way, the number 10 cyl is the back one on the drivers side, not the passenger side. Keep us posted on the results!!

 

HOLY CRAP!! I just looked up the tool to see what the fuss was.. WOW!!! Now I understand why people are buying it used and selling it after they have done their plug inserts!! I guess for a daily pro mechanic it isn't a bad deal. I know I paid a ton more for computer reading devices over the years. Hell, my first reader was a PRO-LINK and it was $1800.00 back 20 plus years ago!!

My question is how often are these heads blowing out plugs and was it certain years? Has this been fixed?

 

Not positive but I think it's from the earliest to 2002. As to how often , it happens. That's why I inserted all of mine, I didn't want to have a blown plug on the road. Ford did modify the heads and created another problem with breaking plugs when removing them. This was corrected later with modifying the spark plug. I'm sure someone here can give a more defined answer if you need it. As far as cost I think it is very cheap, go find out what costs to fix just one at the dealership. I resold the kit -$75 and the inserts were $11 each and 3 afternoons laying under the hood. Way cheaper than a repair shop. And I won't have to ever do it again.

 

Thank you for the information. My plugs have never been changed and though I was a mechanic for many years, I am unable to do the work myself anymore as my back is fused for many levels. I would LOVE to find a pro in my area to have this done and I feel it is worth it to have someone well experienced do this for me. I have a lot of trouble trusting others with my vehicles. Especially since moving to Floriduh and finding that most reputable mechanics here are far from anyone I would recommend. I'm sure it's not all, but I have been here 20 years now and still cannot find anyone worth their weight in salt. I did work with a few I would trust, but they have since retired or moved away.

My biggest worry with doing this job is the material that is cut away getting down into the cylinders. Since the heads are aluminum I can't just stick a magnet into it to grab up the chips. So I have been rather biding my time thinking new truck or pull the heads and do it cleanly. Of course a 5 angle valve job would be in store with pulling the heads.. lol...