THE GREAT SPARK PLUG THREAD INSERT PROJECTffice:office" /><O:p></O:p>
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This is a rather lengthy report of our experiences in the process of installing Time-Sert plug thread inserts in a 2001 Ford E450 - - Triton V10. All ten cylinders were refitted.<O:p></O:p>
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Preliminaries: This whole operation was strictly elective as a precaution against the somewhat common possibility of plug blowout. We know that many do not agree with this approach and would rather fix stuff when it breaks. <O:p></O:p>
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In preparation for this job, we purchased slightly used but like new ( used for one insert only) Time-Sert kit #5553. It came with 7 inserts so we bought 3 additional.<O:p></O:p>
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We also bought (just for this job) a ProVision 36 inch borescope. While many report successful fixes without this (or a similar) tool, we found it to be invaluable for basically two reasons:<O:p></O:p>
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• In the E450 van, not even one of the 10 plug holes was where we could really look at it. We read up on some ideas for determining piston and valve position, and didn’t feel good about trusting them OR the prospect of removing valve covers so you could see the cams. It is absolutely necessary to KNOW that you are somewhat past TDC on the compression/combustion stroke and that both valves are completely closed. Otherwise, you run the risk of hitting a valve with some of the tooling - - which means you’ll get the treat of removing the head to make additional repairs.<O:p></O:p>

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• The reaming and threading produces a LOT of shavings. While we managed to catch some of them by gooping the tools with sticky grease, there were lots of little chunks ending up in the spark plug bore and the cylinder. Absolutely no way to see them without the borescope. We concluded by the end of the job it was worth twice the 200 bucks it cost (new – online). <O:p></O:p>

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One could make the case that the engine could probably “digest” quite a lot of the shavings - - they were actually more like crumbs and very small. We chose to take the more cautious route. <O:p></O:p>
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The process: We first set up a couple of pretty good sized work tables, and actually ended up adding a third one. We also had a neat big patio umbrella on a weighted stand that could be moved around to provide shade as necessary.<O:p></O:p>
We equipped with the usual air hoses, blow guns etc., and made up a small plastic hose (about 5/16 ID) attached to a shop vac for sucking out shavings etc. Then proceeded to remove the passenger seat - - Getting the whole mechanism looked like too much work so we just removed the seat itself, and left the pedestal in place - - used it for a tool bench in fact. It seemed necessary to remove a dash panel (where you would normally expect the glove box to be) in order to get the doghouse cover off. If there is another way to do this, we missed it.<O:p></O:p>
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The negative terminal at the battery was disconnected.<O:p></O:p>
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Up front, we removed the air filter and attendant intake plastic stuff. As many others have reported, it is then necessary to remove two bolts on each side of the engine, which hold the wire loom carrier “troughs.” This in turn, allows the wire looms to be moved outwards from the engine in order to reach the plugs themselves. We found it helpful to tie back the wire bundles to keep them out of the way. The COPS can then be pretty easily removed after pulling the connectors off them (release lever is on the bottom side of the connector and is simply squeezed to release). <O:p></O:p>
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Thru lack of good communication between workers, we did manage to bust one of the COPS. However, the little mounting arm that we broke is webbed in such a fashion that it made an ideal situation for repair with JB Weld. The pockets formed by the webs allow one to fill them with the epoxy - - I’m sure it came out MUCH stronger than the original product. No need to buy an expensive COP when the repair is so easy and effective. The rubber boots ARE tight - - the best technique seems to be to rotate the COP and boot assembly (after unbolting the COP of course), until the boot is clearly rotating on the plug. This may take quite a bit of twisting before the boot breaks free. Once it has, a hefty tug straight up will usually pull it off the plug. On a couple of the holes, the boot came off of the COP first, so pulling the boot became a second operation. One of my “assistant” sons had a neat Snap-On plastic plier tool that worked great for grabbing the boot and removing it. <O:p></O:p>
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We elected to do all the operations on each plug before going to the next one. So all the reaming, threading etc. was done, and a new plug inserted and torqued, but we did save the installation of the COPS until all ten plugs were finished and in place.<O:p></O:p>
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Steps:<O:p></O:p>
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1. Blow out plug recess. Lots of junk, dust, whatever flying around.<O:p></O:p>
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2. Remove old plug. Tighter than expected - - all of them in excess of 30 lb. ft. All plugs looked good, but showed what looked like rust on the last couple of threads (cylinder end). Chattered and squawked as they were turned - - not a good sound or feeling. <O:p></O:p>
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3. Determine piston and valve position. This process evolved as we went along and as we developed our “system.” To determine the position of the piston, we used a piece of 5/16 wooden dowel about 15 inches long - - dropping it down until it reached the piston. Then a second worker would turn the engine over with a ratchet - - we used the nut on the alternator to do this because it was easier to reach than the harmonic balancer, but it would only work turning the engine backwards. This is because the serpentine belt pulled tight in that direction (counter clockwise) and the engine would turn - - but in the clockwise direction the belt just slipped. (This does add a dimension of confusion to the process. When you are trying to think about being on the intake or compression stroke, turning the engine backwards tends to goof up the thought process). Fortunately, the nut on the alternator shaft was very tight and showed no indication of loosening, even under a fair amount of torque. Our method consisted of watching the dowel as it dropped with the piston, and at about half way down the stroke, we would look at the valves with the borescope. Doing it this way, we would have a 50/50 chance of being on the compression stroke with both valves closed. If both valves WERE closed, we would proceed. If they were NOT closed, we turned the engine over another complete revolution and took a second look at the valves. We should note that seeing the valves, and knowing just what you were looking at, took some practice. To do this you need to put the right-angle mirror attachment on the borescope, and it is quite difficult to decide what you are seeing. However, with the borescope in “just the perfect position,” you can see both valves at the same time, and also tell if they are closed. We ended up purposely rotating the engine a few times while watching the valves - - until we were sure of our criteria. On the first cylinder we did (#5), we probably spent well over an hour just making sure we knew what we were seeing. Sounds simple enough, but not so easy in practice. A note: It is necessary to keep “twiddling” the dowel stick on the upstroke of the piston - - otherwise it will get hung up and bust - - we came close but it never happened so cannot comment on retrieving the broken piece from the cylinder.<O:p></O:p>
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4. Once we were sure of the valves being closed and the piston being down about half the stroke, we started the first machining operation. The particular tool for this first operation looks sort of like a counterbore, with the smaller diameter designed to cut out most of the old plug threads, and then the larger diameter (in only some cases with only certain cylinder heads) cuts a new square shoulder at the bottom of the large plug access bore. Only certain heads require the larger cutter to remove any material. In our case, with the version of cylinder head we have, there was no material removed by the larger diameter cutter, so only the smaller diameter portion of the tool removed any material. As suggested in the directions from Time-Sert, we used a 3/8 air ratchet to assist in this cutting. Doing it by hand would be MUCH harder, and take forever. We also packed the cutter flutes with sticky grease to catch the shavings. This first step requires a lot of downward pressure on the cutter - - it seems like it isn’t going anywhere, then suddenly drops as the cutter breaks thru into the cylinder. A shoulder on the cutter determines depth of cut, and once you’re there, the cutter just spins freely. It is also worth noting that for all the reaming/threading etc. operations, the tool holder device keeps things lined up nicely - - no worries about getting something crooked.<O:p></O:p>
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5. This next step uses a reamer which is “stepped” into 3 different diameters. At the very top of the reamer, there are angled cutting flutes that cut a slight bevel for the insert to seat within. This reamer also takes a ffice:smarttags" /><ST1:place>LOT</ST1:place> of pressure and revolutions - - considerably more than the first operation. We again used the air ratchet, and devised various methods so that two workers could apply downward pressure, with one of them using a long 2X2 stick as a lever. I think that King Kong would find this operation difficult by himself - - it took LOTS OF PRESSURE. Again, when you finally hit bottom, it is limited by a collar. Opinion inserted: If I were the machinist making this reamer, I would have given the cutting edges more rake and clearance so they would cut faster - - It is ground with almost zero rake so is essentially a scraping edge instead of a shearing edge. The people who make it probably know a lot more than I do about this - - just my reflection. The tool kit IS very nicely made - - professional quality stuff.<O:p></O:p>
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6. Following the second operation (above), we did a pretty thorough cleanup with the vacuum tool - - not perfect, but probably 95 percent of the chips and crud. We then packed the tapping tool with grease, as we had done with the reamers. Another note: We tried using WD 40 (one of the suggestions in the paperwork) to catch chips - - It not only didn’t do a good job of holding the chips, but seemed to inhibit the cutting action of the tools as well. In an earlier life as a machinist, we had some rather hard waxes that were used for machining and sawing aluminum. They were very effective - - whereas normal cutting oils tend to frustrate the process rather than help it. That’s about 60 year old information though, and may not apply to what is available today. Suffice it to say, we quit using the WD 40 and went with the grease - - actually marine grade grease for boat trailer bearings. It did OK. To continue, we did the tapping with a regular 3/8 hand ratchet. I was just not comfortable with the idea of using the air ratchet for this part of the job. It is noteworthy however, that the cast aluminum head produces sort of crumbly chips rather than shavings - - so it was not necessary to keep reversing the tap rotation to clear the chips. You could just start cranking on the ratchet until it turned freely - - about 16 turns or so as I recall.<O:p></O:p>
7. The next operation was a VERY thorough cleaning. Maybe two or three minutes with the vacuum, and then a swabbing process. For the swab, we used one of the flexible pickup tools - - the springy kind that are maybe 16 inches long or so. We quickly learned that you cannot trust the grabbing mechanism of the tool to hang on to the swabbing cloth - - The same tool, with the aid of the borescope, worked quite nicely to locate the swab and retrieve it from the cylinder! From then on, we taped the swab to the end of the tool. We would spray it to saturation with WD 40 (worked great for THIS job), and then daub and swirl it around in the plug bore as well as the cylinder. Retract it after 30 seconds or so, and inspect it for “shiners.” Then blow it clean with compressed air. Resoak it and go back for more. Usually, two or three tries with this method would get us to where we were retrieving few, if any shiners. We accepted that condition as good enough for us country boys.<O:p></O:p>
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8. The next step is to put the new steel insert in place. There is another special tool for this procedure, and it is specially designed to release the insert even though it has been driven into the new threads with considerable torque. The inserts have a small “relieved cavity” that helps to hold a reservoir of Loktite - - the instructions show how to use this cavity and put a stripe of Loktite around the insert. The instructions also say to torque the insert to “about” 20 ft.lbs. I didn’t like the “feel” at this torque and chose to use considerably more. My reasoning as follows: Examination of the insert and the new threaded portion of the head, shows that you are putting a square shoulder on the insert, against a tapered area at the beginning of the new threads in the head. I don’t why they did it that way, but they did. So 20 lb.ft. just didn’t feel very tight, and in fact the insert seemed to just keep turning easily up until 30 lb.ft. or so. I simply went on gut feel and instinct, and pulled them all down until they felt tight and would not easily turn further. My theory is certainly open to criticism, but that was my “on the ground” judgment.<O:p></O:p>
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9. After the insert is in place with the Loktite, a separate threaded tool is run thru it. This tool is designed to “bell out,” or expand the last few threads on the outside of the insert, so it can never back out. As you run this tool in, you can feel it get tight as it reaches the bottom end of the insert. You keep on cranking (we chose to do this by hand and ratchet rather than the air tool) until you can feel it freeing up. A special oil is provided in the kit for this expander tool.<O:p></O:p>
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10. A final cleaning - - just in case - - and we were ready for the new <O:p></O:p>
Motorcraft plugs. These were gapped to 52 thousandths, with a <O:p></O:p>
very light coat of anti-seize applied to the threads. We chose to torque them to about 25 lb.ft. Time-Sert makes no suggestions regarding this, so <O:p></O:p>
we went with our guts again. Online searches for a specific torque value will yield any answer you like - - from 8 to 35 lb.ft.<O:p></O:p>
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The rest of the job involved re-installing the COPS, and putting things back where they belonged. We did use a light coat of dielectric grease inside the rubber boots. All the boots looked good - - but a warning: At a glance they all look the same, but there are actually two different part numbers involved. The difference is only in the angle built into the boot as far as we could tell. Just the same, we marked everything, and put them back where they came from - - Same for the COPS. <O:p></O:p>
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Before we forget to mention it - - On the van, we thought that cylinders 3 and 4 were probably the worst for access. I think we did 3 from the radiator side and 4 from the inside. The left bank (driver side) was considerably more open from both the front and rear - - much easier and we purposely chose to do the worst bank first. Starting with #5, we did that bank from rear to front. The first plug probably took us 4 hours - - But by the time we were to the sixth plug, we were down to about 40 minutes per plug. Total job time was about two long days. I’m sure we could do it in a <ST1:place>LOT</ST1:place> less now, but that’s usually the way it is - - at least with MY projects. Of course, doing this job on anything BUT a van chassis, would just have to be a lot easier. The access thing is about 2/3rds of the battle. <O:p></O:p>
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Aftermath: (including screwups). Engine started instantly, ran slightly rough for maybe 10 seconds and settled down to perfectly smooth idle.<O:p></O:p>
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BUT - - Driving down the freeway a few days later, (hot as hell and equally windy) on I-5 in the middle of nowhere, instruments started jumping and engine quit. Pulled over on the narrow shoulder (Emergency Parking Only – Thank you). Wind damned near tore my door off when I got out. By this time I’ve determined that - - A. I have a nearly dead battery, and B. The alternator is NOT charging, and C. We have called Coach.Net for road service.<O:p></O:p>
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So with the 18 wheelers rocketing by about 3 inches away (well, it seemed like 3 inches), we pulled the air cleaner stuff out of the way for a look-see. Sure enough, SOMEONE forgot to reconnect the plug for the control circuit to the alternator. Boo Hiss! Plugged it in, and by some miracle there was just enough battery recovery to start the engine. And it charged for just a bit but then quit along with the engine. Out in the traffic again - - This time with a hammer and a little stick to smack home the connector - - it just wasn’t seated. I had tried to do it with my fingers initially, but it was just too hot back in there - - (almost 100 degree weather). Jump back in the cab with the prospect of success at hand - - but now the battery was TOTALLY flat. Tried the bypass/booster switch on the dash, but it doesn’t work - - future project noted. I get out my booster cables, but they are two feet too short to go from chassis battery to house batteries. But they ARE the usual “zip cord” type of wire. So I split them in two, and hook the two pieces together - - relying on the coach frame for the ground circuit. Woo Hah! Engine starts and charges like crazy. Placed a quick call to the Road Service guys, who were about to dispatch a rig that would tow me to beautiful downtown <ST1:place><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comFirebaugh</st1:City>, <st1:State>Calif.</st1:State></ST1:place>, for whatever passes for service there. Thankfully, we will never know. (It may be the best Ford dealership in the world - - except for the location - - my apologies for bad attitude). So we completed another 400 miles or so, without incident - - while casting a frequent beady eye on the voltmeter.<O:p></O:p>
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However, on the return trip we did indeed encounter another gremlin. The speedometer became very erratic and would frequently drop to zero or near zero. Engine was running fine though, so we kept going. I did notice that the needle jumped only when holding a steady speed, and would read accurately while either accelerating or slowing down. This suggested that perhaps it was a torque related thing - - engine either tugging or pushing on a connector maybe. So when we stopped for the night (<st1:City><ST1:place>Redding</ST1:place></st1:City>, Calif. Elks Club - - NICE RV PARK), we did an inspection. Nothing absolutely definitive, but I did find one large bundle of wires that appeared to have been re-routed somewhat (yeah, we did it) from its original position. Did some tugging and rearranging until it removed all the stress from a LARGE multi-terminal connector. I don’t know if that was the culprit, but the problem went away and we completed the last 300 miles with no problem.<O:p></O:p>
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Oh yes - - We have a Scan Gauge II on order - - would have been nice to see the error codes, and have a backup replacement for the speedometer (which might or might not have worked). Also, we could have had an actual voltage reading for the alternator - - assuming the idiot driver had been paying attention. <O:p></O:p>
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Thus ends (we hope) the Great Spark Plug Thread Saga. I’m sure I’ve left out a lot of details, but will do my best to answer questions for the curious. <O:p></O:p>
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Is your E450 an RV up-fit?

 

rth - - It is a 2001 Coach House Platinum. Class C or B depending on who you ask. 23 feet long, about 14000 lb. GVWR.

 

OOPS - - It's rlh, not rth. Least I can do is get your name right! Sorry about that.

 

I thought it might be an RV. I guess I can't blame you, as you probably put tons of miles on the rig. Now at least you know you wont have any problems with the plugs.

 

Something I should have added: I keep reading about "glovebox repairs," or someone just carrying a repair kit for a "rest stop - side of the road fix."

I won't say that's impossible, but at least with the TimeSert system, I think it would be VERY difficult and maybe somewhat risky. Of course, ANYTHING but a van chassis will be much easier - - especially if we are talking about #3 or #4. But I don't see how you'd ever do a decent cleanup job without the vacuum setup to suck the chips and shavings out of the cylinder. Maybe the engine can digest more of that stuff than we think - - That's a risk the user needs to assess for himself. It probably goes without saying that your first aid kit should include an extra COP, a boot, some dielectric grease, some sticky grease, and an extra plug.

Also as mentioned in the writeup, I think we'd still be reaming if we were doing it by hand. The reamers take a LOT of pressure, and a LOT of revolutions. Without the use of the air ratchet, the job is a helluva lot harder.

I'd guess from past experience, that the helicoil type of repair might be easier to do on an emergency basis, but there may be more questions about the permenance of that particular approach.

In any event, I'm impressed with the TimeSert setup and am sufficiently confident in the fix that I'm going to put the repair kit and borescope up for grabs. Someone else's turn now.

 

Bear, have you still got that timsert kit? ive had to put a helicoil in my 00 sd v-10 already. bout time for a plug change... if your interested in getting rid of it let me know....thanks Britt (Brittshari@aol.com)

 

Still have both the Timesert kit and the borescope. Planning to part with both of them and have just not gotten around to it.

We've emailed Britt.

 

Bear...just shot you a e-mail....how to pay? pay pal or what? thanks

 

Keep it to PM or emails when it comes to swapping/buying stuff...

Thanks!