99 EB blown spark plug
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99 EB blown spark plug
I just paid $500 to have the number 3 spark plug and coil replaced after it blew out of the head at 64,000 miles. It was repaired with a heli-coil. Does anyone have any experience with the effectiveness of this repair? Should I expect this fix to be permanent or recurring?
99 Exedition EB, 5.4L
99 Exedition EB, 5.4L
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Installed correctly, Heli-coils should be permanent. They are a common cost effective practice in the automotive world. Hopefully, the person installing the new sparkplug in the Heli-coil didn't cross thread it. That's probably why the original plug blew out.
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Thanks for the vote of confidence. I had the dealer perform the repair, so I am hoping that they knew what they were doing. I hate driving around with the thought of a potential re-occurrence of the problem looming in the back of my mind.99 Expedition EB 4x4 5.4L
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replace popped plug 97 expy
I just replaced my #4 plug and coil myself after the dealer quoted me $3700 for new head or $6000 for new engine. Thanks to this site I found the solution. After extensive research here (there is a bunch of info on the subject as it is a common problem) and talking to mechs, they recommended against helicoil. They suggested a steel insert. Said the helicoil was not goining to hold long in the aluminum head. I used a steel insert from TimeSert. They call it the Triton Bigsert kit. It was a bitch to do, but it has been running fine since.
In your case if the Helicoil goes you can still use the insert.
good luck
97 Expy 2wd 5.4L
In your case if the Helicoil goes you can still use the insert.
good luck
97 Expy 2wd 5.4L
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From: Blue Hill Township
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I regret having used a trade name, "Heli-coil" (there are many others); I should have used it's generic equivalent "threaded insert."
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From: Blue Hill Township
I wish there was a way to prevent it from happening, but there isn't. When I replaced my plugs, I did it by the book. The plugs can also blow out of the head even if they are original plugs, so that leaves me to believe that the threads are weak in the modular motor heads.
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From: In a house, mostly
My #3 popped out a few days back, these are the original plugs at 104K, weighing out my options, this seems like it's at least worth a try. Can this be done without removing the head, and by a do it yourselfer, with decent mechanical skills but by no means a prefessional mechanic ?
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From: Kansas
You don't have to be a master mechanic... Take your time and follow the instructions, as long as you can get sufficient access to the plug bore you have nothing to loose ... and serious money to save!
Good Luck.
Good Luck.
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From: In a house, mostly
#3 Is Burried
I had a (2) techs look at it only to tell me that with the amount of labor involved just to get access to the whole, I might as well invest in the full head replacement. On the passenger side, the two back cylinders are buried.
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That's what I thought at first - that it would take days to fix the #3 plug, but the dealer did it in less than 2 hours (although they charged me for four quoting "standard book rates"), without removing the head. I'm not sure they could do it as quickly on the #4 plug, which is, as you said, buried in the back. The heater hoses have a quick disconnect feature that allows them to be removed pretty quickly. The rest of the tubing and wiring can be moved to the side giving access to the plug bore, but you still need to work in a pretty tight space to get the bore tapped.
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From: Kansas
Originally Posted by lospinoj
I had a (2) techs look at it only to tell me that with the amount of labor involved just to get access to the whole, I might as well invest in the full head replacement. On the passenger side, the two back cylinders are buried.
Again, I suggested spending the $40 for the insert kit and trying it... only $40 and a couple of hours to loose... and hundreds (or thousands) to gain.