I think I posted this in another place but hear goes again. My plug blew out of my 99 f250 V-10 SD. The dealership is going to replace the head at a cost of $2800.00. They offered to pay half. I think Ford should pay the total bill since there is obviously many incidences like mine. What's up with that?

 

My 99 F250 5.4 l blew the 2nd from back on the passenger side out with 62000 km on it... approx 40000 miles.

Am fighting for warranty.

I recommend everyone keep bugging Ford until you get the satisfaction you want from them... They won't do a recall as most engines will get past the warranty period and then it is up to the owner to pay regardless.

The cost of replacing the ones under warranty and the ones to whom bitch at them the most is small compared to a recall. My shop tells me labor alone is about 20 hrs to replace the head.

 

I had a similar problem within 2000 miles of the 60000 mile service during which the dealer replaced all 10 plugs in my 99 F250 v10. Is it possible the new plug simply wasn't screwed in tight enough by the service guy? Or is it a Ford manufacturing issue?

 

I found this group while looking for information about this very problem. My 2000 F-350 is currently sitting at the Ford dealer in Medford Oregon waiting for a new head. Mine blew out the 4th plug from the front on the right(passenger) side. We were coming home from a trip down into CA, and after coasting for a couple of miles on the downhill side of the Siskiyous I stepped on the gas, only to be greeted by a nice banging sound. I figured I blew an exhaust gasket or something like that, but after lifting the hood and seeing that coil bent up like it was I knew better. The truck was right at 40k miles when it happend. I got the extended warranty with it, and that's taking care of it. It also covered the rental car to get home and storing our 5th wheel trailer for a couple of days. On another note, prior to going on this trip I had the truck in the shop several times while they tried to find a small oil leak. At first they suspected the oil pan gasket, then they thought it might be the rear main seal, finally after driving it with dye in the oil for a couple thousand miles they were just sure it was the front cover seal. They ordered the parts needed for that and a week later when I brought it in to get the repair done they found the *REAL* problem, the left head was weeping oil right through the casting. So as soon as I get the truck back from Medford it goes into the shop here in Corvallis to get a new left head put on. I sure hope this isn't an indication of how things are going to go with this truck, because I really like it.
Jim 2000 F-350 CC,LB,DRW,Lariat LE

 

briefly




I had a go at this a couple of weeks ago on the "proper forum", V10; got no response. I've changed 100 or so spark plugs, we've gotta have guys who have changed thousands.

Could there be anything to this or am I barking up the wrong tree?


"Plug blowout question"
15-Aug-02, 08:31 PM (EST)
Could the "plug blowout problem" be related to Motorcraft plugs having only about 3/8" of threads?
I compared one, (AWSF 22E), with a Champion 3401 and the Champion plug has twice the threads on the base. A properly torqued plug SHOULDN'T work it's way loose and I wonder if some of these plugs come up to the stop before they are tight enough.

I've read some pretty complex and technical ideas as to the cause of this; maybe it's simpler than that.



dontown

 

I just blew the 4th plug on the passenger side on my 1999 F350 with the 6.8L. Had 45000 easy miles on the truck. I'm pissed!

 

Here is what the dealership offered to repair my 1999 F350 V10 with two blown plugs on pessenger side (2 & 4). Truck has 45000 easy miles I pay them $495 for an ESP (extended warranty) and they'll change the head on that side under the newly extended warranty. NO rental even though it will take 2 weeks to repair. Went down to the local GMC dealer and ordered a new GMC K2500 with 8.1 L auto. F.... Ford!

 

I have to assume the other big blue peruses this sight from time to time. If they don't take action on an obvious --> quality <-- problem, they are risking a lot of future business...

Chuck

 

>I found this group while looking for information about this
>very problem. My 2000 F-350 is currently sitting at the Ford
>dealer in Medford Oregon waiting for a new head.
>Jim 2000 F-350 CC,LB,DRW,Lariat LE


So, you're in my home town:-) Which dealer is working on your truck? Crater Lake Ford or Butler Ford? You'd probably have better luck at Mock Ford in Grants Pass. Keep us posted how they treat you:*

 

I'm just curious as I had never heard of this before the V-10. Are plugs blowing out something that has happened at times to other engines, or is it just the V-10? If it was the thread length as someone thought, wouldn't it happen to other engines that use Ford plugs as well?

Anyone ever hear of it happening to an engine other than the V-10?

 

There has been the RARE report of plugs blowing out of the V8s used in the F150. Seems the V10, either becuase of the relatively few numbers produced or because of some design issue, has this problem more frequently.

 

It is becoming a problem with 5.4l v8's through out the ford line of trucks as well as v-10's.
Its not so much that its happening its Ford is doing nothing that is beginning to **** people off.
Does ford make their own heads or subcontracted to another vendor like all other large Co. do

well I should say we don't know what their doing as far as research!

Its just like my tranny is anybody at Ford looking at Zf to chk quality out of that company??????????

Who Knows ??????

I still wouldn't own anything but a Ford!!!!!!!

Rich

 

Unless I'm mistaken, putting in a higher octane fuel won't clear the tank of water or any other foreign matter. (If you've got water in the tank, it'll be heavier than the gasoline so simply draining some fuel from the lowest point in the system will remove it.)

Higher octane means the fuel burns slower and will help prevent pre-ignition. It does NOT offer more power in and of itself. Yes, high performance engines use higher octane fuel to control pre-ignition, but that's due to higher compression ratios, more aggressive cam and ignition timing, fuel mixture etc.

The V10 spitting out spark plugs problem is a known issue, much as the failing head gasket problem was a known issue with Toyota's 3.0l V6 engines. Toyota eventually admitted it was a problem and reimbursed folks for the repair bills due to their design problems. Let's hope Ford does something similar or has redesigned the heads/tooling for the 2002 models. (That's the one I drive.. heheh)

Skiddz
'02 F-350 CC, 4WD LB ^' lift, 35" ProComp Xterrain tires on Weld Mountain Crusher wheels, 6 Fox racing Shox with external resevoirs and a Stull Billet Grill

Leaving his mark everywhere he goes....

 

>>I found this group while looking for information about this
>>very problem. My 2000 F-350 is currently sitting at the Ford
>>dealer in Medford Oregon waiting for a new head.
>>Jim 2000 F-350 CC,LB,DRW,Lariat LE
>
>
>So, you're in my home town:-) Which dealer is working on
>your truck? Crater Lake Ford or Butler Ford? You'd
>probably have better luck at Mock Ford in Grants Pass.
>Keep us posted how they treat you:*

I got the truck back from Crater Lake Ford last Saturday. Couldn't tell you how much it cost because there were no prices on the invoice since it was warranty work. It took a few extra days because they were trying to get a new valve cover for it, but they are on a "national backorder" and won't be available until the end of this month. Seems they don't like to reuse the reuseable plastic valve covers because they have a tendency to leak oil when you do. They did make a note of that in the paperwork and I can have the local dealer replace it when they become available at N/C.

As far as the dealer goes, they weren't too bad. I've dealt with better, but I've also dealt with much worse. At first they gave me the old "I've never heard of that before" line, which kind of bothers me. Then they said the valve cover broke when they took it off, and I'd have to wait until they got one later this month to get my truck back. I called a couple of other dealers and asked about the valve cover issue and they both said they had never broke one, and they thought the dealer was just trying to cover up a mistake. When I got a little irate with the Medford guys and reminded them that I was paying $25.00 a day to store my trailer, they came clean with the "we don't like to reuse them", but we will this time. That was last Friday and my truck was ready later that day. So far the valve cover is holding up just fine, hopefully the head will also.

One of the service guys I talked to at a different dealer said that his understanding of the problem is that some of the holes for the plugs were drilled out a bit too big before being tapped, so the threads are weaker. He also said that as far as he knows there has been no design change to date, no redesigned head or anything like that. This guy has always been pretty up front about things when I've talked to him in the past(I've also got a Windstar...), but keep in mind that he did say "as far as I know"

Good luck to anyone that has to deal with this.
Jim

 

I took my 1998 ford E350 van into ford dealer for repair $1700. One of the spark plugs poped out of the cylinder head (drivers side 3rd back) taking all the threads with it. The service manager said that this happens once in a while. They pulled the head off and sent it to a machine shop where they will install a insert. When I asked him what about the other 7 plugs, will they hold ? He just shrugged his sholders.The van e350 5.4L has 122,000 miles on it, the plugs were changed by a ford dealer at 90,000 . I have been searching for info on how many times this happens and it dosen't seem to be a common problem. I am starting to suspect that if the plugs are not properly tightened you will have a problem.
I want to explain why I suspect plugs not being tightened properly. After the new plugs were installed by the dealer the van ran fine ( it ran fine before the plugs were changed . ) 1 year and 25k miles later when the engine is idling I hear one loud tap head sound , It was pretty loud and kinda what you would expect to hear from a old chevy motor. The van was still running great so I looked at the milage (115,000) and figured this motor deserves to have a loud tap head - I'm not going to mess with it. 5k miles later the plug blew out when I started it one morning. by the way, when the plug blew I didn't have a clue what was wrong, I thought a emission sensor on the exaust manifold broke off. I drove the van to a ford dealer and the van ran fine ( except for the loud exaust sound) , I still had no clue the van was only running on 7 cylinders. After the van was repaired I noticed there was no loud tap head sound anymore. So I think one of the plugs was not tightened properly and it worked looser over time.( the loud tap head sound was the plug banging up and down in the threads ) with the plug loose it's very easy to understand how it could blow out taking the threads with it, as the pistion sucks and exausts the loose plug would be like a jack hammer against the threads and it wouldn't be long before that plug would distroy the threads.
As far as starting a movment against ford, I would like that... but I haven't found that many people that have had this problem. When you consider how many ford vehicals this engine is in. The web should be loaded with people screaming.
The only thing I could blame Ford for , is designing a van that is just about impossible for a average Ford trained mechanic to change the spark plugs correctly and the spark plug they use only has 6 threads on it so it has to be installed perfectly.
The more I read on the net, the clearer it is that the plugs are coming loose on their own due to engine vibration and the fact that ford is using a plug with 6 threads and no lock washer!!
Anyone want to email me direct--> donswr(No Email Addresses In Posts!)
The moral of this story...
IF YOU HEAR A LOUD TAP HEAD SOUND COMING FROM YOUR ENGINE WHEN IT'S IDLING... DON'T IGNORE IT !!