I had the spark plugs on my 2011 FX4 5.0 replaced at a ford dealer last Sept.
In Jan and approx 13,000 miles later the #4 plug blew out. I had the truck towed to a Ford Dealer ( different dealer). They discovered a piece of porcelain embedded in the carbon in the head. The faulty spark plug was intact except for the electrode at the bottom, which was missing. They think that during the tune up the tech probably broke the spark plug during removal and did not notice the porcelain had fallen into the chamber. At some point the porcelain hit and broke off the electrode which caused the damage.

The original dealer is denying any culpability and insists that the porcelain was Not the cause of the failure and refuse to replace the engine.

The New dealer contacted the Ford Tech hotline who stated the following
" The porcelain itself could take the temperature but unclear if it could remain stuck in the carbon for so many miles. Since you did verify it was imbedded would have to agree with you that it was from the tune-up. It would be unclear when it entered the cylinder. It may have been in the plug well when the plug blew out and was sucked in on an intake stroke."

I am not a mechanic and not 100% sure what that means, but the original dealer is still denying culpability.

My question is... What do I do now ???

 

Help me understand what's going on...did the dealer pull the head? Are they blaming debris in the cylinder for the spark plug ejection? Were the threads in the head stripped, or did the plug back out? How do they explain that porcelain became dislodged to cause the damage and then became stuck in the carbon again?

I don't think I've ever heard of that happening before, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Do you have any pictures?

 

Yeah it is a bit confusing. So they say that the spark plug blew out but then they say the spark plug was still intact? I don't understand what's going on. I will say that when you install new plugs and you torque to 12 foot pounds like the specs require it is very unnerving. It doesn't feel very tight at all and I can't believe that these plugs don't blow out more often than they do. Plugs blowing out was a very common issue on the previous generation of these mod motors but Ford changed the design and now they almost never blow out unless installed improperly.

As far as what you can do about it now you're probably out of luck because if you're changing the plugs that probably means you have a hundred thousand miles on the truck like I do and you are way out of warranty. So it is unlikely that Ford is going to do anything to help you. You're probably going to end up having to pay to have the heads removed and check to see how bad the damage is. It sucks, I know.

 

original tech who replaced the plugs in september probably broke a plug- and didn't notice a piece fall inside. Put new plugs in. Thats what I read in the first post.

 

I had them remove the head and these are the pictures I have. They believe the porcelain broke off the electrode (which was not found) which in turn caused the damage. My point is that it is unclear how the porcelain stayed intact for 13,000 miles before the failure, but no matter how it happened, it did happen.

 

Exactly ! That is what happened, now they are denying that that would cause the damage ! My point is how could it not cause the damage !

 

The spark plug was not intact, the electrode was missing.

 

Interesting.

I think the broken porcelain and plug ejection are two separate issues. Plugs get ejected because they aren't torqued right, and plugs can break when installed if the wrench isn't held straight. Both signs point to technician error when they installed the plugs.

Ford doesn't typically get involved with an error made during service, so I think you're gonna have a rough time with this. Legal discussion isn't permitted here on FTE, but I suspect your situation may lead to that.

 

Thanks Tom, I had phoned Ford and you are right, they had no interest in getting involved ! The General Manager at the dealer( the one doing the work) is suggesting I go the legal route too. From what I understand, this is probably a very rare and unusual situation and I am not 100% sure what the outcome would be. Just as an interesting side note, a new 5.0 engine is $9300 but there are none available to buy (not that I can afford one anyway), they are all being used for new trucks and mustangs !!

 

This is a pretty bad situation, which I'm sure you full well know.

Even if you litigate, that can take weeks, months, or even years. In the meantime, you can't just sit around with a completely inoperable vehicle that requires significant repairs.

But if for some reason the litigation process results in a favorable judgement in miraculous record time, who knows what the shop will do, how eager they will be to do the repair (drag the process on forever), and to what lengths will they go to accommodate you.

You have no choice but to pay out-of-pocket now, hoping litigation will be able to recoup your costs plus legal fees later on.

Rock and a hard place comes to mind...

 

Since a new replacement engine is out of the question, how much is a reman engine with core exchange?

I'd be inclined to have the engine rebuilt if possible and have the builder take notes in an effort to support your case if you choose to litigate.

On a side note, i'm a bit surprised by the amount of carbon build up on the head and valves. I'm not a mechanic so I have to ask, is this normal looking?

 

I saw that and thought the same. But notice how good the other three cylinders look on the same head? Thinking the porcelain caused cylinder bore damage that let oil past the rings and caused the mess you see now.

 

The offending dealer ( their service manager) noticed that too and used that to blame it on some thing or another which exonerated them !! Here are the pictures of the cylinder.

 

I found a used engine with 79,000 mikes for $4500 plus installation. I will keep the old engine as evidence if it goes that way.

 

Not cheap but better than $9300. May I ask how many miles are on yours?