You my friend got screwed. Did they pull the head?? Watch a you tube video of extraction with the lisle tool. It doesn't take that long. If they didn't pull the head you got some major reason to gripe. You still got reason to gripe if the did pull the head because a dealer shouldn't have too. They should know how to extract broken ones.

 

I don't know why you would boast about that,..$2300 for each plug seems like a lot of money,...$18,400 to change 8 plugs? I would have complained.

 

Sounds like a dealer that doesn't do them right. Most dealers know how to get them out now. A tech who has does these probably knows all the little tricks to these. And if one breaks they should have the tools to remove it.

 

No, I pulled the other 7 successfully. Boast! Hardly! It was a fact! They charged me $2300 to remove the head and tap it out after attempting to do exactly the same thing I did. This was all 'pre-Lisle removal tool' and pre TSB 08-7-6, and those of us who were bold enough, were unknowlingly working 'in the blind' sort of speaking. My 150 was purchased in Oct. 2003, and I was one of the first to experience this in 2004. Ford announced shortly after that a removal tool made by Rotunda for the purpose of removing broken plugs. I now own the Lisle tool you mentioned - same tool, different name. Many other F150 owners were considering a class-action lawsuit for this, but it never materialized. Complained? To whom??? Other posters here on Ford
Truck Enthusiasts Online and F-150 Online were the only ones listening. Remember, I said I took the vehicle to Phil Long Ford in Colorado Springs, the dealership that I bought it from and where the work was done.

I did complain A LOT, there!

The 'only one' I mentioned in my previous post was in regards to the 'only one' of the eight that broke off.

My only question to you is, where in the hell were you?

 

Yeah, NOW, after the fact. You obviously weren't there back then when we were totally in the dark about this 'new technology'...

RH

 

Got screwed??? ...at my own local Ford dealer???? WHERE I BOUGHT THE DAMNED TRUCK!?!?!? Yeah, tell me something I DON'T KNOW, and hundreds of others who bought into this new Triton 24-valve 5.4-liter engine. Did I mention, that a class-action lawsuit was once being brought before the crowd here at Ford Truck Enthusiasts??? I could have made that video on YouTube myself years before. I've been down this road, Sir.

Don't insult my intelligence after the fact, my friend.

...and yes, they DID pull the head to get to the plug, thus the huge labor bill...

Who's going to listen if your own Ford Dealership and FoMoCo absolves itself of all responsibility?!?!?

I have an idea...why don't YOU start a thread that a class-action lawsuit is
being brought before Ford to help those of us who WERE SCREWED on this
whole episode... Let me know when you have it...

Sorry to vent my frustration here, but this has been one BIG NIGHTMARE...

RH

 

...sorry, resolves should read absolves...

 

Are you saying your truck was out of warranty in one year?
If I understand correctly ,you bought the truck in '03 , and changed your plugs in '04 ?

 

Yep. Standard warranty back then, 12,000, or 1 year. Pretty pathetic, eh? At the time I bought it, getting an 'extended'
36-month, 3-year warranty cost extra. In the past, I never needed it and therefore I didn't ask for it, at least at my dealership.

My truck then had 36,000 miles on it already. Lots of driving from Colo. Spgs to Denver and Kansas City as part of my job...

Sad, but true... Lots of posters here had taken their 150 to Ford who REFUSED to do the work under warranty, saying,
that the warranty was void because of 'shade tree mechanic' work. I do, and have done, all the work on my fleet of
vehicles in my household but I NEVER came across a problem like the one Ford presented to us with this engine...

Most guys were changing them at 30,000 miles as they have always done...just to keep what happened to me and others from
happening. Search around this site, you'll find the posts...

I'm on my second set of Champion 7989s and haven't had a problem since doing so. The first set I pulled, I checked the gap,
and they were exactly the same after 70,000 miles as they were when put in.

 

...and, for the record, for those of you who weren't around, there were NO
manuals, other than the Ford Shop Manual available for four, read that FOUR
years after the 2004 was released, so, unless some of us who were fortunate
(literally) enough to afford a shop manual, we truly were totally in the dark
working on this engine... No Haynes, no Chilton's, nothing...

Also, when looking at the Champion vs Motorcraft/Autolite, the problem lies in
the crimp, where the ground sleeve is attached to the rest of the body, not
the weld. Champion has eliminated this by making it a one-piece body instead
of a crimp. Check out this YouTube video that pretty much explains a lot...


RH

 

Rick, nobody was insulting you. On the contrary, we sympathize with you.It's a sad fact that often the first to experience new technology or designs often are the ones who experience the troubles. Could Ford have handled the issue differently? No question they should have. But thanks to folks like you who do your own work we can learn the tips to do it ourselves.

 

Thanks '46, just venting my frustrations over this whole ordeal. Some of these guys posting should realize that they can be really insulting when they
don't put a lot of thought into what they write here.

Yes, Ford could have, in fact, dealt with this mess a whole lot differently by simply recalling each vehicle with an improved spark plug, but they did NOTHING but turn the other way. I made a vow to myself never to EVER buy another Ford product, and anyone who asks me will get the same answer, unless, of course, Ford changes its tune about their 'service after the sale' procedures. I'm a total 'buy American' type of guy, but no Ford no more. I felt the same way in the 80s with GM after buying an '85 Olds Cutlass Sierra that developed a fuel pump problem within a week after purchase, but to their credit, they stood by their warranty. Now, I own an '04 Chevy Tahoe that I love to drive.

We had a whole thread about this several years ago on this site and F-150 Online, exchanging ideas with each other, and to my surprise, most
were Ford Techs who were just as much in the dark as we were about the Ford Triton Spark Plug Problem. I see that Ford has released a new plug that
someone mentioned in the thread earlier, but does anyone have 'first hand' experience with it?

And, for those of you who really like a challenge, just wait when your 'cam
phasers' start tickin', but that's for another thread...


RH

 

Wait a minute Rick, not trying to be a jerk or anything, but your first post.....

....never mentioned you were talking about this occurring back in '04. How were they to know it didn't happen to you recently?

The way I read your post, your $2,300 hundred dollar nightmare had occurred recently. That's why the guys posted the way they did. It wasn't clear until your subsequent post that this happened back in '04.

Please take that into consideration before you get too upset with the guys.

Stewart

 

Yeah, Stew, you're right...sorry all. Just so frustrating when someone tells me "you got screwed..."
Thanks for listening to my vents, tho...
RH

 

Exactly right. If YOU would have given the dates all this happened and circumstances I wouldn't have posted the way I did. Your post made it sound as though this just recently happened, in that case everything I said would have been true. So sorry for telling you you got screwed but if you would have said that happened in 04 and they had to pull the head because no one knew how to get the broken plugs out I never would have said it.