Here is what I need, everybody's experienced advice with this problem. Have a 2000 Excursion with V10 and 83000 miles, blew one plug couple of months ago had it fixed at the dealership with an insert and within a 100 miles later blew the next one to the one I had fixed. Took to dealership and had an insert put in like the last one. They also pulled all the other plugs checked for aluminum pieces and retorqued, they said they looked good and they torqued down good. Here's my delimia, I leave for Florida in May and think it would be a good idea to have the other 8 fixed with inserts to avoid another breakdown. The service guys say they would not do them until they blow. What do you think? Any help will be greatly appreicated. I drive this thing real sinceable and do not pull anything with it. It is simply a vacation traveler.

 

Wow, I'm no expert but that sucks.. I hope i don't have this problem!

 

That's a tough call.

Can you do the insert yourself? If so, get a kit, put it in the glove box, and wait until the next one goes.

It won't hurt anything to drive it with the plug blown out, just noisy, so you can easily drive to your next stop and do it where you are more comfortable.

On the other hand, maybe find a machinist or very good mechanic and see if they'll do all the inserts.

 

Some people feel while as a design matter there are too few threads in the early plug holes, if the plugs are properly torqued and maintained they'll generally do okay. According to this line of reasoning the biggest problem is someone overtorquing the plugs and weakening the threads, which will then eventually fail.

Unfortunately, having two fail so close together raises the possibility that they have all been overtorqued. Rather than putting inserts everywhere, maybe put on some PI heads? Then you could have confidence in the problem being solved.....

 

For the record, not all PI heads have more threads. From November 2002 (manufacture date of the engine I'm assuming) they have more threads. That leaves the first 3 years of PI heads with 3-4 threads.

 

Which kits do you all recommend? I have used timesert in the past but now they are priced outrageous.

 

Thanks for the replys, I can some stuff my self but this is something I dont feel comfortable doing especially along side of the road. My thinking is it would be cheaper to do all the inserts than replace the heads. Has anybody just went ahead and installed inserts in all the holes and has there been any problem doing this. The guy I bought this from told me that he had the plugs replaced and I wonder if who ever did it did not overtoque them? But if that was the case I would of thought that when the dealer pulled the other 8 back out that they would of found some threads or the plugs would not have torqued back down with out stripping?

 

I would check with local places. I have a local guy who told me for $350 he could do all the remaining plugs (I had one go) and clean the lower intake manifold (aparently can build up with gunk). It's cheap insurance, especially before a big trip!

 

I'm as skeptical as BareBones.... One could be coincidence.... two is much less likely so. I'd suspect the plugs were overtorqued.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to visibly inspect if the threads have been compromised. You can tell it they have been fully sheared (threads left in plug), but not if they've been severely strained and weakened but not fully sheared.

Are you towing and need full power? And have the $$ to put your mind at ease? If so, I would lean towards having all 8 done. If you are mechanically inclined, you can pull the heads and take them to a machinist. This will make the job far easier for them and reduce chances of chips left behind.

If not towing, and are tight on $$$, I would throw one of these in the glove compartment and go:
Emergency Plug Kit
If one does blow, simply disconnect the connectors from the fuel injector and COP and stick this guy in the hole to keep it quiet and prevent grit from getting sucked in. Fix it when you get home.
The V10 has more than enough grunt to get you home on 9 cylinders! It will idle a little rough and may come close to stalling, but she will get you home. I drove 900 miles that way.

 

I put Timesert inserts in all ten cylinders of my 2001 E450 - - a 23 foot motorhome.

There's lots of opinion on the sanity of doing this - - including some pretty strong flak from the "don't fix it if it aint broke" side of the aisle. My thinking was as follows: I paid a fair amount of money for something I use for vacations and enjoyment. I'm far more tolerant of a breakdown on something I use to tool around town or even for going back and forth to work. When I take off for three weeks of relaxation, I get pretty cranky about having equipment failure.

You sound like you too are in favor of fixing the problem on YOUR terms instead of Murphy's. I say "Go for it."

I chose the Timesert system because it seems to be one of the best engineered products. If you do enough research, I think you'll find little or no record of Timesert failures. Conversely, there seems to be quite a bit of evidence that the Brand X systems which are FAR less expensive than Timesert, can fail to stay in the head - - leaving an even bigger problem that blowing the original plug. Timesert (and maybe SOME of the other kit makers) goes thru some extra steps to make SURE the insert will not back out once it is installed. The systems that can supposedly do the job in twenty minutes, are the ones I would avoid. If you want something to "carry in the glovebox," might as well make it an extended warranty. (I don't like them either).

As to spending the extra bucks: I bought a pristine, used once Timesert kit on Craigs List. Also bought (new) a borescope to make the job easier. Got my job done, and sold both the Timesert and borescope to someone else. Got probably 80 percent of my money back.

As to the job itself: Another point where many will argue to the contrary, but I do not consider ANY of the insert fixes something you should do on the side of the road. Too many things you can screw up. If you don't have both valves in the closed position, you can hit them with the tooling. Now you get to pull the head etc. Probably a two grand or so price tag attached. Also problem with keeping chips and crud out of the cylinder - - as well as other considerations. This isn't like changing a flat.

I spent a couple of days doing my engine. Of course, I'm old, grumpy, and fussy. Also, mine was a van chassis which makes it a LOT tougher from the access point of view.

o.u.b.

 

Thanks for the great replys, I will not be pulling anything but will have a X full of adults and kids and gear and will be on a limited time frame. So a day or two to fix a breakdown would not be good. I am along the lines of used old bears thinking I got this thing for taking trips so the last thing I want to worry about is breaking down. The insert kit that the dealer used I thought he said came from MAC tools and was the only one that ford approved. I only problem I have is they charge $290.00 to do the repair if you have the plug blow or not. I just seems that they could do it cheaper if the plug had not blowed and the ones up front are easier to get to. They say no matter which one they do they are all the same price. My regular mechinic is cheaper but has not done any and does not want to try it. I am going back and talk to the dealer again about the price to see if he can get it down or I may buy the kit my self and try to talk my other guy into doing it. Just a bit of information for you we have another dealership in my town that works on fords so I called them and they said they only use helilcoils. So every dealership is not fixing them the same. I think I am going to have them all fixed for my piece of mind, besides the last plug that blowed my wife was driving with all her frinds on a scrapbooking trip and when it happend she blowed worse than the plug. Does anybody know of the kit that my dealer has nad where to get one if I have to.

 

I definitely will not argue with that logic! Peace of mind, and peace of wife are priceless!

I think the only Ford approved is the Full-Torque.
Full-Torque Spark Plug Inserts
Are they charging $290 per hole? So $2900 to do all 10? That is, umm, steep. I'd be talking to blownoutsparkplug guys before paying that. They have extensive experience.
Blownoutsparkplug.com

 

Thats what I thought to about the cost all full high I am going in to the dealership to see if I can talk some since into them. I will checkout the blown out people, has anybody out there used these guys and what is there reputation?

 

Well the stealership finally got back to me and they said that since it is such a pain in the PITA they would not cut me any deal. They are going to charge $180.00 per cylinder plus $55.00 per insert. Thats around $1400.00 to have the other 8 done. Looks like Timesert is the way to go.