Hello everyone, what do yall think about using loctite on the plugs when swaping them out, maybe this will help with the blowout problem

 

Loctite? Not a great idea...

Better yet, properly torque the plugs down to specifications, check them about 200 miles later to make sure they're still at torque. You do it right, no blowouts!

Welcome to FTE!

 

no loctite, bad idea.

 

The only way I would use loctite is if I was having plug blowouts even with the plug torqued properly, and I wanted the truck to get me 20k more miles before I sold it and it becomes someone elses headache. But then it does not feel good when you buy someone elses headache does it?

 

Actually, you want to do the opposite. Use anti-sieze compond. What can happen is that the plug will get stuck. So when you ham-fist it out, it buggers up the threads. Not much thread depth to begin with so you no longer have enough to keep the plug in. If you can make sure the plug comes out cleanly, you'll keep what threads you have.

Also, over torque-ing the plugs can cause problems. "It won't stay in? I'll get that dam thing to stay in!" Yeah, that doesn't work. Use the right torque.

 

Just an FYI. Some time back I read an article on the net about ford having issues with the heads on vehicles I believe 98 to 2001 I believe. The plugs were blowing out on one side of the engine. People tried to do something about it but ford shut them out. I read about stories where people were taking their vehicles to the dealers and they knew exactly what the problem was and did the helicoil trick but that did not work for long so customers would end up buying a new head. Did the plug blow out after maintenance or is it all original?

I read this on the net so don't know how true this is but my brother-in -law did have the same incident on his 98 expedition and ended up buying a new head as well.

 

I've seen the helicoil work very well in almost every case, but ford strongly frowns down upon this. Biggest reason is that if it isn't done properly, it's just going to blow out the plug again. Then it's ford's butt on the line.

They do not authorize helicoil repairs under warranty, and strongly try to deter that practice in the dealerships for customer-pay repair jobs.

Unfortunately for most people, paying upwards of $3,000 for a new head isn't usually an option. Personally, while the correct repair is to replace the head, if you can't afford that than I strongly recommend finding an experienced technician to perform the helicoil repair... especially one who has done several of these before.

Good luck

NOTE: I've seen several cases of the ORIGINAL plugs blowing out, having never been removed, but most of the cases are after replacement. If you look at the head, you'll see that they only install two or three threads in the plug holes from the factory. I have a feeling they probably had a bad calibration on one of their robots, and it didn't have the plugs lined up perfectly when it installed them, buggering up the threads a tad. Replacing the plug in that hole weakened the few threads even further.. hence blowouts. Good luck getting Ford to admit to something like that though!

 

I got a plug wet while workin under the hood and the truck missed for about a mile while there was water between it and the boot, then cleared up, the next day the plug shot out and there was 0 damage to the head im thinkin my plug shattered cuz it was hot and wet... but check the threads in the head and make sure they aren't good before you have the helicoil done.

 

I just had a blowout in my 02 super duty. A tad bit irrate to say the least. I was looking at getting a super duty next year in a diesel. Does anyone have any heads up I should know about before I buy another nightmare? I was looking to buy new. Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

The good thing is that the diesel doesn't have spark plugs

 

As far as using never-seize: The spark plug dissipates heat through the threads, so you'll be decreasing the plugs ability to do so.

 

Actually the ability to transfer the heat from one surface to another is greatly dependant on surface finish, pressure and area. The anti-seize will greatly increase the ability to transfer heat from plug to the head. I dunno about the effect on plug blow out but thermal transfer I know would be better w/ anti-seize.

 

Welcome to the forum majen

For LOTS of gas vs. diesel debate take a look through the Super Duty forum which is just a bit further down on the main forum page.
Spark plug blowout isn't a good thing but compared to some other problems trucks have it's not all that bad.
Did you have to replace the head to fix it or was it able to be repaired?

 

I'll tell you after this weekend whether I had to replace the head or if it could be replaced. Waiting for the weekend to start such a big project.

 

OTC sales a kit to repair head without removing. The kit installs a steel sleeve.
Takes 30 Minutes to fix.The part number is 65900. Cost around 700.00
comes with 10 sleeves