On my way home from the drag strip, with my son's Jr. Dragter in tow, not any great weight there, The spark plug on the passenger side blew out, man what a racket it makes! After pulling to the side and assessing the damage, the plug was in tact and no thread damage seems to be visible in the head. The plug had the first few threads bent just a bit and I had to gap it again and was able to get it back in a couple of turns and get us home, I have been putting off tradeing this truck because it only has 47K on it and I split my time between the explorer and the SD, now I may just see a new one in my future! Going to look it over in the daylight and see if a new plug will do the trick but I have my suspision that it didn't work it's way out by it's self! My son went to the last round tonight and lost on a red light, his first Final Round of the year and after we got back under way, we past a 3/4 ton Chevy on the highway, and he remarked, "you see that Chevy there, I bet it has never spit a spark plug out!" I chose that moment to point out to him the advantege of rideing over walking, more so, when your 45 miles from home! I spent the rest of the ride wondering if indead, that Chevy had ever spit out a spark plug? Dam I hate kids sometimes!! LOL

 

Sorry to hear about your plug.

My advice is to get a PSD and forget about spark plugs entirely .

Tom

 

I probably will go with the V-10 in my next one, we have 4 of them and they do a good kob, we also have 5 Diesels, power is very good and 2 have the Banks kits on them bt I just don't drive the miles anymore to justify the cost of the 6.0 and the related maintenance costs so mine will be gas unless something happens that our dealer has a 6.0 that he just needs to give away bad! I that case, the bottom line will have some effect on it!

 

With this Ford family plan pricing and the additional rebates out there, the PSD's aren't that much more than theV10s. I've seen a few 2005s that are maybe $1,600-$2,000 more than a similarly equipped 2006 V10. It's still too much of a difference for me, but for others maybe it's okay.

 

Having a breakdown sucks, and you better than anyone knows which engine is best for you, I just wanted to say Congrat's to your son for making it into the final round (and I suppose you deserve a little of the credit.) Now that he's shown he has what it takes to make it, I'm sure you'll be posting his wins pretty soon.

 

Were looking forward to next week, thats for sure! I am going to take the truck in to the service department tomorrow and see what they say, I have passed on the chance to get a new one several times and let my foreman have the new truck. I guess it serves me right for hanging on to it but I do like it so. If the bill is not to steep to repair then I will probably get it fixed and run it to 60K or so, I would like to hold out for a 07 but you are correct, the price is right now and that may play a factor, it's kind of early in the year to spend major money but,,,,, you got to do what you got to do!!!

 

Well, got part of the bad news today, Tech said it needs a new head! But he also ask who did the tune-up on the truck, when I told him no one had touched it since new he seemed to not believe me, that pissed me off a bit and it went down hill from there, new head is $1023.00 bucks, and I am guessing about that much at dealer rate for labor, at 47K miles I am not too happy right now And I really do love this truck but I am going out tomorrow to look at an Avalanch, I always liked them and I think it would be sad to see all the Fords we have following a Chevy, but it just might happen!

 

Give it a go at another dealer. Maybe the tech there won't be such an idiot.

 

There's a fix for those heads, its an insert that can be installed called timesert.
Get one and have it put in and don't buy a new head,,,,please. Smack the guy at ford cause he knows not what he's doing..Don't really smack him.LOL.
http://www.timesert.com/html/triton_repair.html

Dick

 

Dealers are trained to replace parts not fix anything. Use the insert.

 

That is extremely true. I'm a Honda certified technician and we R&R everything that we know will have a high probable return rate. In his case, with spark plug thread ruined on head the return rate for future job(s) & problems are very high. Better R&R now and get it over with

I'm not saying a spark plug insert is bad...I'm just saying if it goes bad dealer has to cover damages/labor, something a lot of dealers would rather not risk.

 

the new head will be the latter one with more threads for the plug .i'm shocked they did not try to sell you a pair. as said above we use new to prevent costly come backs.
also the plugs on the older ones should be checked with a torqe wrench every now and then to be sure they are just right .to loose they blow out, to tight they strip the head.. there is only something like 5 threads on the early ones. and they are prone to blowing out.

 

What years are the bad heads?

 

I would insert every hole B4 I replaced a head. Its easy once you have done it and these inserts don't come out. A little difficult with the rear plugs but not impossible.


Dick

 

I agree with you, Dick.

SuperDuty King,
More than likely the plug worked loose due to improper torque settings at the factory. It happens also when we don't prepare for plug replacement - like blowing out debris from cavities and lubing the threads, etc.

The insert is a good, reliable fix.