I'm in the midst of potentially purchasing a used 2015 Penske V10 box truck with ~130K miles but worried about having to deal with the spark plug blowouts since it still has the 2 valve heads. I see a gazillion pre-2010 posts about spark plug blowouts but none afterwards. If I were purchasing a truck chassis with a more workable engine bay access I'd be less worried as doing the inserts would be less problematic. What doesn't help is that they introduced the 6.2 Boss engine in 2010 so if there were still re-occurring issues it's exclusive to E-Series as an option, F59 chassis, and motor homes making it a smaller demographic. Worst case scenario can the inserts be done with the engine still in place of these tightly confined engine bays?

 

Based upon my research I found on car complaints website the +2010's V10's are still blowing out spark plugs as they are the same 2V head casting, according to V10 engine builder site, which is unfortunate for my needs as I can't tolerate a random breakdown with little to no warning. I was hoping they would have used the same part number but revised the head with more spark plug threads to mitigate this silly fix for the 2V and while the 3V would fix it I'm not even going to contemplate the expense of spending 2K - 3K on top of the $15K just to have it somewhat more reliable but now plugs get stuck in the block. As 2+ days of perishable product would require me jumping from a 16 ft box truck into a 24 ft or larger depending the time of year, then downgrading to a 16 ft while waiting for my truck to get fixed, and the excessive back n forth moving empty trays from truck to truck after swapping trucks a total of 3 times.. I own multiple Ford's and praying the 7.3 gas engine due in 2020, which I'll wait till 2021 or 2022 to purchase, will be fitting for my needs and reliable as the 7.3 power stroke without the excessive emissions or quirks of a diesel.

 

These sorts of questions and concerns crop up often so let me add my own bit of info based upon reading threads here on FTE and personal ownership of vans with the Modular Motors.........

The misconception of 2 valve heads being highly subject to plug blow out is very much over stated---its NOT that common a problem. Keep in mind any question or thread about this issue comes from those who have or are experiencing this situation, others chiming in they too had this issue but yet in the overall its a very, very small percentage of all the PROPERLY installed spark plugs that are ejected. All this "piling on" complaining and bashing a statistically small incident feeds the fear its epidemic, that if its not yet happened its come soon with no way to stop it. That's just NOT true.

IF the plugs are installed PROPERLY and replaced every 50K miles the chances of this happening is significantly reduced. Proper installation includes careful removal of an existing plug especially if its last change interval isn't known, using a Ford spec'd plug and torquing the plug in the head with a torque wrench---I run my own up to 23-25 ft/lbs and have never had a single issue.

In about model year 1999 or early 2000 the 2 valve heads were modified slightly to include a bit more thread in the spark plug hole--these can be identified by a "PI" marking cast into the heads like this:



This version head does not guarantee a plug won't be ejected but it does reduce the chances as I said. Long life of these engines is pretty much 100% dependent on maintenance performed properly. No engine by any manufacturer is bullet proof and can experience a failure of some sort.

If you believe 3V heads are the final solution to spark plug problems do a bit of reading in the Modular Motors sub-forums here---you'll quickly become much less dissatisfied with that notion. Add to that the 3V and 2V motor blocks are NOT compatible with one another and you're either "stuck" with a well proven and reliable 2V engines found in the E-Series or find another brand of van or cab/chassis.

A bit of information is great---too much or just enough bad or incorrect info and you're lost in a cloud of BS that's just not factual.

Hope this gives something more to think about.

 

The original Ford spec for spark plug torque was 14-ish pounds.
Double that to 28-30ish and there will be no issues and your V10 will be an extremely reliable engine.
But if you want, you can install Time-Serts on a V10 in the vehicle. In some ways it is easier than on a truck, in other ways it is a little more difficult. Some of the heavier people feel that removing one or both of the front seats makes engine access easier.

My bottom line takeaway from your post, you are letting an irrational fear of rumored issues void your use of your great vehicle.
Change the spark plugs and coil boots on time and there will be no issues with them.

 

OK guys I have a 2003 V10 motorhome we had plugs torqued to 28 lbs and blew a freaking plug at 32,487 miles. To make matters worse for me, somehow the inner spring of the COP went into cylinder and engine is junk. It has only 30 psi compression in that cylinder. I'm having the engine re-manufactured and a PAIR of aftermarket heads with 8 threads per cylinder. The heads are brand new and in writing lifetime guarantee no plugs will ever spit out of these heads. The rest of the head has 3 year warranty.

I've done TONS of research and genuine Ford heads with casting number 1C2E are also the 8 thread heads the aftermarket heads are based after. So even torqued correctly any head with 4 threads holding spark plugs in is JUNK.. I stood and watched the plugs get replaced and torqued to 28lbs. My plug blew on an interstate at 65 mph. cost over $250 to get a mobile mechanic out to my BFE location in Arizona. I was so worried about this problem I had the Timesert kit with us, One more thing is the Timesert insert came out with the plug at the Mechanic shop doing the compression test. My experience with the Ford V10 is obviously a nightmare. Again my opinion is 4 threads equal JUNK.

 

I have fixed several trucks with this issue
Most Ford dealers will only repair the front 4 plugs
True story that it is very uncommon
The problem was solved by 04 (supposedly)
I have not seen a 2010+ head off the vehicle to check, but I am quite sure you will find more than 4 spark plug threads
I use the sNAPA repair parts and have had no rechecks
IMO the newer ones with the plugs breaking off in the head is a far worse (more stressful) situation

 

We don't know the history of your engine so all that ^^ is fairly open to being a misrepresentation of what really caused your issues. I understand the frustration but crap happens, when we don't know all the facts its difficult to know what really happened here.

If your experience is exactly as you describe then its simply a matter of horrendously bad luck. I've run two different 5.4's with the same "short" spark plug threads, one is still daily driven with over 297K miles, another sold with just over 290K miles; neither had any issues with spark plugs. I DIY my own plugs, use only Motorcraft and torque to 24-25 ft/lbs using nickel-base anti-seize.

With millions of early 5.4 engines still running even today its completely wrong saying ejected spark plugs is a very common problem. Sorry about your experience but things happen in the automotive world we'd prefer to avoid and sometimes it catches up with us

 

A counterpoint is that it spits plugs at all. I can’t think of another modern engine that spits plugs with any regularity or for which there are repair kits or which is high on the list of things to check when the engine isn’t running right. If you search for spitting plugs, you’ll get pages of Triton results. I agree there’s hysteria. If it were more than a couple percent of engines, Ford would have recalled them so the perceived incideht rate is exaggerated. The rate is 100% for anyone it happens to. There was a single Triton in my extended family for many years and it spat a plug. So far so good with our van but I think ‘07 is past the affected engines. At least I didn’t ’feel’ any inserts when I changed the plugs. I couldn’t see the plug holes.

Sixto
07 E350 5.4 190K miles