I have a 2002 excursion with 136,000 miles on it. I was driving it the other day towing a light trailer and the spark plug blew right out of the cylinder. My mechanic looked at it and said that the slot was stripped. He said there was a kit he could buy but he wasn't sure if he can fix it. I was on consumer affairs website and it looks like this is a big problem with the trition engines. I have a v10 well maintained and this happened. It looks like it has happen to 100s of people every month. I need advice I owed 12,000 on this truck and I don;t know what to do. Please help. Should i replace the headers? There is headers on ebay for real cheap. Will they work? Or should i take it back to ford and have them charge me $695.00 to fix it but they told me it could blow again. ANY advice would be greatly apprecaited.

 

Welcome,plenty of threads about your problem in here,just scroll around.
Did you have any symptoms?

 

Timesert is a good place to start. ++ Ford Spark Plug Repair ++,
They offer a kit to fix the blow out spark plug "problem". When were the plugs last changed?

Check out this site, too. Blownoutsparkplug.com

 

The Timesert is the best way to fix the spark plug that has blown out, it can be done without removing the head here is a link:

++ TIME-SERT Spark plug thread repair kits ++ spark plug thread repair kits spark plug problems thread stripped spark plug repair damaged threads in spark plug hole stripped out

If this would happen to me I would just purchase the kit and repair my self, you may want to call around to other shops that may have the kit already, I have heard of shops fixing this problem for $100 to $150 per plug. Most of the time the plugs that blow out is due to improper torque or changing plugs with engine hot which damages the threads. Keep us posted

 

I see Ken posted while I was typing

 

There's a real easy fix for this, I'll get this moved down to the V10 forum so they V10 guys can dig in on this.

 

He's always lurking in the shadows....

 

My mechanic just called and said he was able to get a kit and fix it.I don;t know which kit it was but he said he invested $100.00 in parts. He also said the cylinder is stornger then all the rest. He feels I will not have any more problems with the same one. What can i do to prevent this from happening to the rest of them. I actually don;t remember when the spark plugs where changed. Maybe 2 years ago. I had a full tune up a few years back I think that was part of the process. Any more help would be great. Should I do anything to the others spark plugs?

 

I would have your mechanic verify that they are all properly torqued.

 

I seem a questiona bout someone asking if there was any signs of problems. The only thing I have noticed is the last years or 2 the engine has been making some kind of tapping sound. Could that had been related to this problem?

 

Yes sometimes a tapping sound could be pressure pushing by a plug and or an exhaust leak when the exhaust manifold studs start to break so also check your exhaust manifold studs as with the mileage and age my also be an issue.

 

Tapping is a classic symptom prior to sparkplug blow out.

 

Beware that "consumer affairs" website - it's a nest of lawyers ...

136K miles - and 7-8 years old - were the plugs ever changed before?

I wouldn't do the eBay headers unless you are doing them yourself and are ready for major long-term labor

 

The only way for you to not have this happen again is do all the plug holes. I don't trust the timesert idea, because think of where those threads went? I pulled my heads and took em to the machine shop. The plug threads were in the cylinder. The machine shop hooked me up. They wanted $45 to do one, and since I had em all done, they charged me $20 per hole!! Cleaned my intake for free as well. Great bunch of guys. Anyway, the stock threads are at the most, 1/4 inch long, or about 4-5 threads. The new insert is about 3/4's of an inch, and coverss all the spark plug threads. They will not come out on thier own anymore!