My brother just got a 2006 F250 5.4L. It has 70000 miles on it and he called me today to say it was gonna have to go in the shop. He is not mechanically inclined at all so I came and looked at it.

First when he started it it smoked some with a definite oil smell to the smoke. Then listening to the motor there was a rapid clicking or tapping sound coming from the top of the motor. The check engine light was on but I don't have a code reader. The smoke did stop when he turned it off then started it again (against my advice I said leave the thing off untill you know whats wrong with it)

Any ideas on what this could be? do the 2006s have any common problems?

 

Not a common 5.4L problem at all.

Your best bet is to get the error codes. This problem could be any of 50 different things. The codes will at least give you a starting point.

 

ok I will try to see if he can get them.

 

how far to auto zone

 

ok I got him to get me the code. It is p0300. He took it to a dealer and they just replaced all the spark plugs but they didnt tell him (or he just didnt ask) what happened.

Any ideas?

On a side note they did break off 2 spark plugs when they were changing them. I thought ford had fixed this problem!!!!

 

That code is for random misfires.

Could be the new plugs will take care of it, but the problem may be further upstream. Sounds like the dealer did the easiest thing, but that may not actually be the cause.

 

yeah that's what I figured.

What about the plugs breaking off? I thought this was a problem with the earlier gassers? How do they still have this problem?

 

I thought I read somewhere that the 04 - 08 model 5.4's were the worst for the plugs breaking. I just changed mine in my 01 and none of mine broke.

 

3-valve 5.4L have the spark plug issue; I've put mine on the 50k miles plug removal schedule because with 93k miles, 2 of them broke. Of course, 50k is only an arbitrary number but one I'll try.

Champion offers what appears to be a plug that won't pull apart; the shroud screws into the ring. But, as others have said, "Use Motorcraft or Autolite." I can't disagree with that; my '79 T-bird with 351M ate a set of Champions (carbon fouled) in less than 100 miles.

Regards,
Curt

 

I have a 78 diamond jubilee edition for sale if you are interested.

 

Broken spark plugs only affect the 3v engines with the new narrow 9/16'' deep well plugs the earlier years were just known to shoot the plug out because of the threads stripping.

 

The newer Motorcraft plugs were redesigned to eliminate the broken plug syndrome.

 

ok thanks that is what I got in confused with

 

Was'nt there a thread saying to put some Marvel Mystery oil in the Gas every tankful for a month before changing the plugs,,,,,helps to dissolve the Carbon which collects on the Plugs,,,making the Break off,,,??

 

I was told by the dealer to remove them when the engine is still warm, they tend to come out easier that way.