hey guys,
i am brand new member of the v10 club (and this forum). i just bought a used e-350 extended conversion van for my band which travels quite a bit. it is a model yr 2000 with 111,000 miles on it. well....i drove it 1600 miles and BAM! a plug blew out. i've had it 4 days! we were just coming home from a long road trip. thank god i was only 40 miles from home rather than 800! nevertheless, it cost me $300 to tow van and trailer with gear. my question is....i have taken it to a mechanic who is an old high school buddy. he's been a mechanic for 30 yrs. his dad was a mechanic....ETC..ETC...
i have told him about the 'time-sert'...... and...... that helicoli (from what i have read) is NOT what i want in there. he said, "i don't use heli-coil, that is a spring like insert, i use something else made by heli-coil". he assures me i will not have a problem with it blowing again. do you guys know of another version of heli-coil that is more reliable? all i have read on these forums is that heli-coils won't last. also....is it overkill to just do it to all plugs? we are heading to colorado (from chicago) for a 5 day tour through mountain resorts. i don't want to blow a plug in nebraska! i will be a nervous wreck the whole trip!
thanks again!
peter

 

Not sure about different heli-coil products. As you stated the general consensus here is to use time-cert. This isn't something you would do as preventative maintenance. I would find someone willing to do the time-cert fix, buy a spare time-cert to keep in the van in case it happens again, and replace all 10 plugs with motorcraft plugs and make sure they are properly torqued.

 

I'd hold off on it until you hear from the guys here.

I just checked around, and I don't see a Helicoil "full insert" type setup, just the "thread repair" kit. They claim it will never come out, but I don't think it's for these plug-ejection issues. It's in case you over-torque the plug and strip the threads, not full plug ejection.

 

Welcome to FTE!!!

Unless you know the complete history of your V10, then I recommend doing a complete spark plug change...using Motorcraft plugs ONLY. On the plug blow out, I recommend the time-sert fix. You will never have another issue with it.

It is true, these Modular engines (5.4L and V10) must have the spark plugs torqued correctly. That is 168 in/lbs or 14 ft/lbs. Best to use an inch/lb torque wrench...as they are more accurate. Also, anti-seize is a must for the spark plug threads.

If the new installed spark plugs are done correctly, then you should not have any more issues.

Good luck...and ROCK ON!!!

biz

 

From the reports I have read, (no, im not a Ford "ASE Certified" mechanic" ) I say... Fix it and dump it off.
There have been hundreds of complaints of spark plugs blowing out of heads in the Triton engines. Never tread a pug into shallow allumium threads.
I looked at a few F-250's with the V-10's. Same problem...... Coinecidende? And, by the way, Ford will not stand by a blown threaded plug.

 

All too true... I can't possibly disagree with this post.

The other side of the coin is that this is preventable, to a large degree.

 

I re-read my last comment and could see how it would have come across abrassive. I appreciate your reply.
I am a ford guy and have loved my 84 F-150. I was looking at a 2001 F-250 with a triton V-10, and started digging into the internet for any problems. The blown spark plugs, to me, seem to be a poor engineering design.
I'm curious to hear what someone can do to avoid this problem. The only way I can see that a plug would blow out is that the "tech" over torqued the plug or cross-threaded one during a tune up maintenance. Or do the plugs need to be re-torqued?
My concern is buying a vehicle for 12-15k and having to replace a 2k head in the near future.
My 84 5.8l short bed F-150 has 230k on it and still gets me to the good camping spots, my 91 Mustang LX with 130k still is trustworthy for the long haul, and my 95 Suburban.. I know >BAD WORD, has 280k and always (no matter how much I try) lives.
Thanks for any info, i appreciate it.

 

wecome new user.
i would never be affraid to buy a used early ford with a mod motor with todays tech. that we have. and ford did in mid 2000 change the cylinder heads to the PE casting that uses full depth thread design for the spark plugs. here is a staement of why this happens
http://fulltorque.com/pdf/Modular%20...20overview.pdf

if a older on PE head is found it is simple to install the later inserts from timesert or fulltorque to repair and up grade to the full depth thread design. timesert i have used for many many years with great results and same goes for fulltorque. full torque makes their plug repair kits out of anidized hardened alum. while timesert is a stell insert.

personally i would get or do all 10 plugs at the same time and change to the later insert and full depth thread design. both kits are costly at about $400.00 but when you devide it by 10 40 bucks per cylinder hole is not that bad when you compair most dealers wanting to replace a full head.

personally i use fulltorque on alum for the plugs as it retains the factory heat transfer. but will state both are great products and have never seen any one complain about repairs useing either.
i am not sure with timesert but full torque even makes kits that are double over size for repairs that have failed in some cases and a standerd helicoil had been used "not a good thing for spark plugs" to restore the head back to factory useage.

don't think to many times about that van man it may be gone by the time you make up your mind.

http://www.timesert.com
http://fulltorque.com

 

http://www.timesert.com/html/newproductsreleased.html

just found this from timesert about the specail 3 valve plug . released oct 12 06. seems to be the old steel into alum. problem still goes on. pulled or seized up threads.

art
you are correct no full thread plug style thread repair from helicoil. i found nothing about it in their web site.

 

Hey Art...Notice how I let that one pass?

 

did i dail a wrong number and wake you up again/

 

charlie

Naw..... my post was about the anti V10 and slam of Ford post well above your posts

 

emailed you about that mistake wed morning

 

A point in your favor

Just kidding.

 

the 3 valve one is going to be fun to repair. 16mm thread size at the very top of the hole with the tappered end at the bottom like a glow plug to keep carbon away from the threads, now they seize in and strip just like the glow plugs in a alloy diesel head .