Ford weirdness....saw something strange yesterday!..

[diesel4me]

Yeah,I know,this is a GM site...but I thought some of you may be interested to hear this one...................................................................................Anyone familiar with the later Ford 5.4 and Triton V10 engines know all about their tendency to spit spark plugs out after 80K or so--the heads had only 3 or 4 threads in the spark plug holes,and they often loosened up and blew right out of the heads...leaving only the ignition coil to hold them in ,if they had no separate coils,the plugs would blow out like bullets......................................Ford is aware of this problem,but has yet to issue a recall,even a "silent" one,and trucks that do this either need new heads--or have special pinned inserts installed in the heads,to the tune of 500 dollars per cylinder!--a local company comes to the Ford dealer ner me often ,that has a service van with a special machine that can supposedly install the inserts without engine removal or head removal....................................................................Yesterday a friend was doing a tune up on a later Ford Expadition,and the rear most plug on the passenger side refused to come out--he couldn't seem to get the plug socket to fit down deep enough in the "well" after removing the coil,and he thought perhaps the plugs may have had 9/16" hex,as some newer Fords did,but the other 7 came right out with the 5/8" socket--he even resorted to grinding down a socket hoping it'd fit deeper into the well,but that failed also...finally he was able to grip the plug with another deep 5/8" socket and remove it......................what we saw next baffled us both!!..............................................................................................There was an Autolite "HT-1" "Revolution" spark plug with a 1/2" hex,threaded into what looked like a anti-fouler,that had a 5/8" hex,and the plug had a ground eletctrode that was welded on both sides of the plugs threaded shell,like a "U",and it had weird coarse threads!..and there was some kind of self tapping heli-coil type of thread insert threaded over the "non-fouler" looking adapter dewhickey....if my friend knew the plug was 1/2",he may have been able to get it out without having the non-fouler and heli-coil thing come out too,but it may have unscrewed like it did anyway.............................................................................................Now he had to figure out his next move--a quick call to the Autozone down the street shocked us--they not only HAD 12 of those HT-1 plugs in stock,they knew about them being used somehow as a "fix" for the stripped plug holes....!!!..........................................................................................Weirdest looking spark plug I've seen in anything in my 35 years of auto parts dealings......you cant "gap" them,I guess they are "lifteime" once installed??...all I know is I'd never buy a Ford with those engines--nothing but garbage!!.....................................................

 

[RollinKaos]

HAHAHHHAAA I have 2001 Expedition with 150 on the clock. At about 95k or so a plug on the left bank blew out of the cylinder head. Broke the coil and mount. Luckily I have a friend who owns a shop and he has done literally HUNDREDS of the inserts. He gave the good guy deal to fix the hole. All the plugs were replaced at 90K so I am coming up on replacement again. I just know at least 1 or 2 more will need inserts.

 

[SilverduneJimmy]

Ford has done some really f**ked up s*** the last 10 yrs. They dont believe in recalls, only in sticking it to there customers. How do you think they avoided a govt bailout. The only things they seem to recall are those that involve safety. Of course I may be a little biased as I have thrown $6500 in the last 2 yrs at my 6.0 diesel. The problems started a month after the warrenty expired and of course Ford would cover none of it. That being said, I love my truck when it runs right, and so far after all the repairs, it has run better than when I bought it. All the problems I've had are common problems that should have been recalled, IMO. But.................. it would have cost Ford a ton of money. If my truck hadnt been paid for I would have seriously considered a Duramax. Thanks for the opportunity to rant!!! I feel better now!

 

[RollinKaos]

I have heard that Ford offers no love to their customer after warranty is expired. I used to work in GM dealerships and we did a lot of "Goodwill" repairs for customers on known problems. Of course this probably led to the bailout a few years back too.

 

[diesel4me]

I'm not sure if this Ford had this spark plug replaced by a dealer or what--the thing that spark plug threads into looks custom made,it resembles a "non-fouler" but it has 12MM threads for the Autolite HT-1 plug ,and the plug is LONG,it looks more like one you'd see in an old torpedo heater,than a car engine!--bet it has a 1-1/2" "reach"!...............................................................................................I see Lisle now sells a kit to repair stripped plug holes in these Ford engines ,I'm not sure if this thing was one they included in their kit,or was something a dealer has available,or was made by some clever machinist....I hear the usual Heli-Coils dont always last if installed in these engines,as the heads have very little "meat" around the plug hole and had few threads to begin with..my friend has installed quite a few in Expaditions and so far they have "held" though...............................................................................I agree Ford has pulled some dirty tricks lately....like after having the IHC 7.3 diesel,one of the best engines ever,that owners raved about and loved---they go and put their own 6.0 "power-smoke" clunkers that eat turbos and injectors ,head gaskets and sometimes just blow up in their trucks...an entire generation of "nothing but Ford" owners around here are ready to lynch the local dealer after having bought newer Super-Duty's and having the engines give nothing but greif.....the fact they must pull the cab off to fix a lot of the engine troubles adds to the disgust,as that alone costs over a grand.................................................................................................I know a lot of guys who were die hard Ford fanatics, that will never buy another one again after their experiences with their newer Ford trucks...and getting "blown off" by the dealer after the sale was made pretty much...