Sounds like an advertisment for thread inserts.
The early Ford OHC engines have have numerous problems, from their introdction and still present. For example... I maintain a fleet of 9 Ford trucks, ( all 0-4 models) all have the 5.4. All but 2 of them have been into the Ford garage for (what I see as) major repair. ie. A new engine, 3 new door hinge stops, 2 cam followers, 4 injectors (so far... two more are in the shop), 2 of our F-250's seem to want to shake the stering wheel loose at around 75 miles an hour.. (still no word on that)
Im here to call BS.
Try and tell me that Ford hasn't taken the place of an old 80's Dodge.... unreliable, unmaintainable, and untrustworthy.
I hereby denounce my devotion to the "Ford" brand.
Go ahead and try to sell your "helicoil" quick fix to everyone who reads this post. I, for one, know that a shop would charge more to helicoil a head than it would cost to replace one.
But for all you people wanting to "helicoil" your head, take my advice.....
Go talk to anyone who has ever tried to thread a spark plug into an aluminum head with only minimal threads, eaven if you helicoil it you still have minimum threads. DUH.Contact surface of the "teeth" of the threads are what gives the threads the "Grip" they need to hold in the plug from combusting out of the head. A "heliciol" replaces threads, it dosent add any length to them. So, replacing the threads only gives you a momentary fix? How does a helicoil fix the thread DEPTH problem. You are all fart smellers. think about it.
Throw a steel helicoil into an aliminum head, I seem to recal that steel and aluminum exchange heat differently. (that was from basic science in Jr high), not to mention the horid of problems GM had with the Duramax heads. And dont go telling everyone that its as simple as throwing a helicoil in the head..
A. Its a major experiment in flexibility to get to 4 of the 8 plugs.
B. NEVER, EVER helicoil a head "on the block" ( dont give me that- grease the tap crap)
C. If your gonna take the head off anyways... take it to a macine shop
D. If your already invested enough to go to the machine shop, think about trade-in value.
There is always that "one guy". Ya know the one .... "there is nothing worse for a smoker, than an x-smoker"
I guess I'm an x-Ford guy.

 

thomasnchy, while a dose of reality is always a good thing, I gotta say this:

Your problems sound about 5-10 times more prevelant than anyone else we've heard from. Injectors? Never heard of that.

Lots of people USED to be here that ran fleets. And I do mean fleets. And never had any problems.

Also, you might want to look up what a Timesert really is - it's not a helicoil.

And another thing, even if you just use a helicoil to repair threads in aluminum the steel helicoil is MUCH STRONGER than the aluminum.

I'll answer all your points:

A. Too bad. Lose weight - I weigh 220lbs, am 5' 8", and still got to all my V10's plugs easily.

B. WAY TOO MANY people have done the timesert, ON THE VEHICLE and do not have any problems. Suck it up and live with it. Not Helicoil. Full inserts.

C. No need to remove the head.

D. Trade-in to what? A Dudge? Forget it.

Try and tell me that Ford hasn't taken the place of an old 80's Dodge.... unreliable, unmaintainable, and untrustworthy.

My 2001 has been flawless, as well as a lot of other people's here. You want to call "BS"? Good luck on that one.

Let the games begin. Cap? I know what you're gonna do - be gentle

PS: I just re-read your entire post again to make sure I didn't miss anything. Got a few questions:

1) New engine? What caused the failure?
2) Door hinge stops - can't your drivers treat their vehicles with respect? Or do they just let the wind catch them and bend them backwards?
3) 2 cam followers - Guess 5000RPM isn't enough.
4) 4 injectors - Might want to start looking at a new source for gas. Sounds like what you're getting doesn't have any detergents in it.
5) Shake the wheel loose at 75? Who's driving when they are doing 75? You might want to get a better source for tires. The only time I've ever had a shake at such a high speed in any vehicle, and not get it at half that speed (around 38-40), the tires were coming apart internally. You might want to get the drivers to stop running over curbs.

Sounds like proper maintenance might have helped.

 

I've been reading these posts for over two years, and while unfortunately there have been a number of posts concerning the popcorn plugs, this is the first post that implied that the inserts wouldn't do the job. Plus, I do believe there's a fair amount of hyperbole at play here with the suggestion that new heads cost less than a repair.

Are you specifically stating that you know of instances in your fleet where the inserts failed? I'll grant that there's logic to a fair amount of what you are saying, but there's frustration too, which may be painting with too broad a brush......

 

So long...and take care. Good luck with the other choices out there...

Hope they can take the ABUSE your (9) drivers are dishing out.


biz