I appreciate the advice - with the NHTSA I actually took all of the log complaints (from this site and consumer affairs site) and sent to them as well (previously). Dealer essentially said the same thing you did - although I commute 80 miles to work every day, and the average owner would only have about 60 - 70k miles right now (meaning that my vehicle has been shifted between park and drive as many times as someone with half the miles). Anyhow, thank you for the suggestion.

 

For all you folks that have had a spark plug blown out on you Ford Expedition, F150, F250 or any other model....
The first thing you have to do is file a complaint with Ford Motors District Manager. I have one phone number but I don't know if this is the same number for everyone. If it is not, you may call your Ford Dealer and ask them for the phone number.

They need for everyone of us that have had a sparkplug blowout to make a complaint. If they get enough complaints they may do a RECALL and you would get all your money back that you may have spend on repairs.

I lost sparkplug #6 6/29/03, sparkplug #4 8/9/03 and spark plug # 3 11/9/03. I paid over $4000 to repair #6 and had a new head put in. The #4 I had a helicoil put in and I don't know what I'm going to do with #3, since it is the same side as #4.

Please file complaints and see if we can get a recall going.

 

What do you do? You torch the truck and send it back to Ford. That's what I would consider doing if I had three different plugs blow out and Ford wouldn't do anything.

 

I went to the Ford Dealership with a stack of complaints that I printed from the internet. I asked the Service Advisor if he wanted to read all the complaints that I had found in the internet. He told me "No". He told me he would try to help. I eventually did have Ford fix it. This time they replaced the passenger head for $874. He said that it would be $1798, but that Ford would pay half. So I did have it fixed.

I was prepared for a big fight and won. (kind of)

 

I am glad you at least received something. I'm still going at it with FMC national. I have swayed 2 family members from Ford products (windstar became a caravan and an F350 went to GMC). I spoke with some one in the executive office, whom told me on the phone that they believed that it was caused by cross threading at the dealership (who won't give an inch). I asked if she would provide me a letter stating just that, and she said she would. When I got the letter, all it said was that "we are really sorry about your poor service experience...". I know the vehicle has a lot of miles...but we ALL KNOW that this was not caused by engine wear.

 

I agree for the short term it will work but it will just blow out again. I just blew my 2nd plug out the same hole (2nd from the back on passangers side) and Im looking to see if anyone knows if Ford ever plans to own up to this design flaw.

 

So what did you do to fix the problem and is it fixed???

I had same problem on my 1999 F150 4x4 5.4 Liter (2nd from the back on passanger's side head).

I had a shop use the Screw Thread Inserts from "Timesert" only to have the same plug (and timesert) blow out last night. I may add another timesert and a tube of JB Weld and trade it in on a Dodge.

PS: Has anyone head if Ford ever fessed up to this obvious flaw or is tere a class action suite happening I need to know about so I can get paid - This breakdown happend sever100 miles from home with my family and the truck is still in NC and has to be hauled home - Im out $1000 and havent even got the hole fixed

 

1stcoast - As I mentioned earlier in this string - Ford won't stand behind the timesert - you're adding steel to an aluminum base...bad chemistry. I'm 5k into my new head - knock on wood. The dealership is beginning to sound like they're sick of me and might cooperate. As earlier replies have stated: Complain on NHTSA, complain here, complain to consumer reports. Print them all and take them to your dealer. If you have purchased a vehicle or two in the past ten years, they're GOING to do something. The company doesn't care - but you CAN hurt the dealer.

Best wishes - Happy Holidays to all -

 

Expxlt98, Heres a ? for you. What are spark plug bases made of??? I have 8 timeserts in the heads of my 98 5.4 and as I did them my self I am positive it is a permanant fix. Fords only flaw that I see from an engineering stand point is lack of communication on the issue. With a little for thought and maintenance know how the blown plug issue can be controlled to never happen. It is at the owner level, and I beleive this is how Ford is looking at it. However, If and when the day of a recall happens, I have all my receipts!!

 

I don't intend to be argumentative re-engineered. I don't believe that this is at the owner level at all (if you mean vehicle owner). I did not change my own plugs - the dealership did. Please don't take this personally, but your reply sounds like an advertisement.

Merry Christmas -

 

Your right I should not have said " owners level" I should have said Its not at Fords level. As far as dealerships are concerned the service departments should back up the work they do. But like I said earlier it is the lack of communication from the manufacturer to the dealership that gives the rest of us the misconception that it is a direct product problem. Mechanical things are just that, Mechanical. There are variables and in this case it is the fact that plugs are blowing out. Why?? It is my personal feeling that it is a manintenance issue, or installation issue, not a bad design issue. Merry Christmas to all!

 

I believe that the propensity for these engines and engine compartment designs greatly lend the opportunity for failure here. I believe that a competant mechanic can avoid the mechanical break-downs in the system. I believe you to be a competant mechanic...but this is not the case at all dealerships, and the manufacturer has to answer for a design that creates this negative opportunity to occur. Question: If this IS a mechanical issue in your opinion, how do the timeserts negate future issues for you? I honestly don't know much about them...

appreciate your time -

 

I ran across this posting on the Super Duty forum and can not vouch for accuracy. The discussion was regarding the SD getting the new 3 valve engine design. I hope this is true since I have an 03 SD.

 

I'm a little pissed at Ford at the moment - Ive owned over 40 vehicled (mostly Fords) and this is the 1st time sparkplugs ever flew out of anything Ive evered owned (and it's happened twice on the same head) - it is my opinon it is a design flaw and nobody's going to tell me different. The costs costs to replair or replace a head are great and very time consuming. If you had a head bolw a sparkplus I encurage all to leave a note to that affect here and specify whic cylinder (my was passanger side 2nd from the back).

I filed a complaint with teh NHTSA as I see many others have also for the same issue with Ford Heads on modular motors. Please do the same and maybe big blue will do the right thing and recall this part.

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

 

They redesigned the heads mid-2002 w/ extra threads if I'm not mistaken. That's owning up to it IMO.



For those of you interested in saving a few $ on the tools to fix your head, I have the Timesert kit for sale w/ one insert. Classifieds ad # 11974 ( or search for Timesert )

Thanks
Matthew