I have to disagree with that statement. I think that you will find that the the V10s that have been bought new and always properly serviced don't have plug problems (after 99). If seems to be more common in the used units where the history of the truck and who did the work is unknown. Ford has one major difference in there plugs,they use a angle seat and not a crush ring like most others so proper tightening is very important. You can't snug them down and then turn them another 30 deg like you do with a plug with a crush ring. If you do you will pull threads and then you will have the problem you have now.

Denny

 

I take that back then... So at what point should I have changed them, i'm at 47,000 now. The owner before me sold the truck to me in 05 at 35,000 and it had only seen a Ford dealer. How often should they be swapped? I should be getting truck back from Ford today and I know for sure all the service I'm getting for 500.00 is the one plug/coil fixed and the ser. adv. told me he would have the tech torque the others down. So this thing could potentially spit another driving out of the lot? I'm surprised the dealer did not inform me of what you have said here, It makes more sense to me to change them all now while were at it because this is the 2nd one after all, I would have probably just told them to do a complete tune up.

Well they just called to say come and get it . I'm disapointed in the service I've been dealt up to now. Forewarned this is a rant
They did not re-torque the other plugs down like they said ,now tells me that is to much labor, after the fact. No fluid check, I wonder if they even tested it with scan data for mistune. I wont feel safe taking off on Memorial day now without doing all the plugs before hand, Watch me come back here saying I spit another in the lot before I can get it home.

Thanks to all of you for your replys and time, your lucky your not my neighbors I'd troll you on all your projects.

 

I have had 2 2000 V10s both where bought new(I still have one), my work truck had 99640 miles on it when I sold it and I never changed or checked the plugs. My DRW has 89K on it now but I changed the plugs at 65K and it was a waste of time they still had many miles left on them. I checked the torque last spring after 10K miles before heading to Alaska for the summer and they where fine so I don't plan on looking at them until 165k.

Just because a Ford dealer worked on the truck does not mean it was done right. I took me 2 hours and 2 beers to change my plugs including #5 that's also about the same amount of time it takes to check the torque. It's not just Ford dealers, one of the couples we workkamped with have a Dodge and they took it to a Dodge dealer for the brakes (1 rotor was cracked). They got a call back that it was going to be $1950.00 to fix the truck, I went to the dealership with him and looked at the trucks brakes. It needed on rotor and front pads (the other rotor had already been replaced), he had them put it back together and I showed him how to change the rotor, pack the front bearings and install new pads all for under $200.00. They wanted to change everything including the rear brakes and drums that had nothing wrong with them.

Denny

 

You definately need to find better mechanic. My independant mechanic is very good and had done quite a few plug changes on these types of vehicles. If you look around you should find a reputable person at a reasonable price. I agree with RVPULLER that not all V10's have this issue.I bought my '01 with 140,000 miles and it still had the original plugs. I had them changed just to be cautious. If you already have had an issue, I would get the rest replaced. Good Luck...

 

I went to the auto shop to buy a decent torque wrench and in the process met a guy with the same year truck as mine and he had 150,000 miles on his ,never did a change to date and it's never popped one,go figure....
I tightened 7 of the plugs this evening(25lbs)none were loose. I need to wait till A.M. to get the one on passenger side all the way back, looks to be a little tricky. I figure leave the one they fixed today and the one that was fixed 1400 miles ago alone. I was told by Ford not to anti-sieze them.

 

Sorry 97Expguy I missed your questions. I will go to that poll when im done with this for sure, The 1st time was with trailer in tow(Toyhauler)just went through the grape vine in socal going north from LA to about Gorman,CA , about 1 & half hr drive 90plus degrees. 2nd time drove to the Portland Zoo from house aprox. 2 hrs no hills consis speed of 75mph.
I thought I heard a small exhaust leak but was not sure if I was just being paranoid. Made it home, parked in the driveway(steep driveway) next time I started it pop,pop,pop,pop and that was it. Oh yeah 1st one was pass. side 2nd from the back, 2nd was drive side 2nd from the front..

 

Well mine blew about a month ago and it's a long story - but in the end Ford did the repair to the plug hole and while at it replaced all other 9 plugs (I paid for that) -- luckily it still has the extended warranty. Nonetheless - the tow to bring it back to the only dealer I would have work on it still cost me just over $300 !!!

I then decided last week that if this happens again , I'm going to at least try plugging the hole, disconnecting the injector and driving wherever I have to go on 9 cylinders. It shouldn't cause any damage ( barring no fragments fell into the engine - but i'd pretty much know that within a few minutes of the pop pop pop. ) So I went and ordered this. I got it within 3 days and now keep it in the glove compartment as a just in case all else fails

 

That is a must have for me also! Where did you buy that and what would it be called?
I went through all my plugs and they were tight, 25lbs atleast. I'm just going to keep checking every 6 months or so. I know what to listen for atleast now, like a small exhaust leak... Get back to me will ya, Thanks.

 

I was checking out blownoutsparkplug . com and they had this under their plugkit. Ended up $54 delivered ... hopefully I'll never need it ... but better safe than sorry. I feel that if you got the v10's that are prone to this then it's almost as important as a spare tire. You know these things always happen at the most inconvenient times.

 

THIS is a fantastic thread, with great comments and advice.

I hate to say it, but it sounds like your truck may have been violated by a clueless plug installer.... I am with everyone else in hoping they only fubared two holes, but it is always possible they were very consistently clueless.

If I were in your shoes, I would get one of those plugs from blownoutsparkplug.com and keep it in the glove compartment. If another pops, shove that guy in and disconnect the fuel injector for the affected cylinder and you can drive it home safely.

And if another pops, I would conclude the truck was fully victimized, and go ahead and pay someone to insert all 8 remaining cylinders. Doing them all at once will minimize cost and finally give you peace of mind. If you can't find a local, it may be cost effective to have the blownoutsparkplug.com guy fly out and do them for you.