ford f150

[ray hampton]

I read a report about the Ford Motor company brand new tool, it seems that replacing your spark plugs could cost you a arm and leg because of the plugs breaking off when the mechanic are removing them and the pieces fall into the cylinder, the cost for all plugs could cost over 3 thousand dollars but the company did invent a new tool that will remove the broke pieces out of the cylinder, do the engine remains in the truck or get yank out for the plug removing ?

[glenn bradley]

Sounds like an issue that should be solved a little farther up the trough, eh?

[Anthony Whitesell]

Did Ford note which years this pertained too?

The combination of the aluminum block, or more exactly the aluminum head, and the development of the "lifetime" spark plugs cause issues. The steel of spark plugs and the aluminum of head cause a galvanic reaction (same as copper pipe and steel pipe in plumbing systems). This reaction will either cause the two to "weld" together or just "rust" together. When you try to remove the plugs they break or the threads strip. To make sure I don't encounter this issue, I just replace the plugs every 100K. For $24, it's really cheap insurance. Which of course is easier done on a 4 cyclinder front wheel drive car, than many other vehicles.

In Ford's case there must be more to the issue of things falling into the cyclinder to cause 3K to repair bill. Pulling and replacing a head to get something out of the cyclinder should be less than a days work at any reputable shop. My father pulled the head of his Chevy Cavalier to fix a burnt valve and had it apart and back together in a day in his driveway.

[Matt Meiser]

It's apparently a 2-piece plug on the 3 valve 5.4 and it was gone by 2009, maybe earlier. The tool in the aftermarket is $70 so it's not terribly expensive as far as specialty tools go.

The 100k plug thing is a government mandate. From what Ive seen and heard from our mechanic it's stupid. When I changed the plugs at 97k on my wife's car the center electrode was practically gone. And of course the car ran much better and got better mileage. I'm doing my truck (2009 F150) around 50k and doing hers again at 147k. When I mentioned to our mechanic when I had her car in for a bad motor mount a few weeks ago he said they just don't last that long despite what the government says.

[Tom Stenzel]

From my reading on Blueovalnews dot com, the original problem was the sparkplug theads extended into the combustion chamber. When the plug was removed the combustion residue on those exposed threads would strip out the aluminum threads in the head. Ford's response was to use plugs with a shorter thread that led to plugs blowing out of the head.

Not everyone has problems but they're common enough to be a concern.

-Tom S.

[Kevin W Johnson]

From my reading on Blueovalnews dot com, the original problem was the sparkplug theads extended into the combustion chamber.-Tom S.

I can't help but wonder what Einstein was responsible for that. Anyone with combustion engine experience would immediately know this is a no no.

I'd also say that the old plugs coming out did enough damage to the threads that the new shorter thread plugs just didn't have enough material to hold on to.

In any case, anti-seize is your best friend, especially when you have aluminum heads.

[Van Huskey]

It's apparently a 2-piece plug on the 3 valve 5.4 and it was gone by 2009, maybe earlier. The tool in the aftermarket is $70 so it's not terribly expensive as far as specialty tools go.

The 100k plug thing is a government mandate. From what Ive seen and heard from our mechanic it's stupid. When I changed the plugs at 97k on my wife's car the center electrode was practically gone. And of course the car ran much better and got better mileage. I'm doing my truck (2009 F150) around 50k and doing hers again at 147k. When I mentioned to our mechanic when I had her car in for a bad motor mount a few weeks ago he said they just don't last that long despite what the government says.

Funny enough I had a car that went 420,000 miles with the same sparkplugs that came in it new... I never changed the plugs because until the day it died (from getting rear ended not suicide) the mpg gallon stayed rock steady. It was a transverse 6 cylinder so the back plugs were a REAL pain to get to. Every 20K miles or so I would pull one of the easy to get to front plugs and never saw any significant wear, the gaps got a little wider certainly but it ran like a top until the end. It was a 96 vintage Chevy 3.1L. Never ran anything but dino oil at 5-6K change intervals, oil lose at change was MAYBE 1/8" in the dip stick. That particular one was a REALLY good engine that many people had lots of issues with.

[Kevin W Johnson]

Funny enough I had a car that went 420,000 miles with the same sparkplugs that came in it new... I never changed the plugs because until the day it died (from getting rear ended not suicide) the mpg gallon stayed rock steady. It was a transverse 6 cylinder so the back plugs were a REAL pain to get to. Every 20K miles or so I would pull one of the easy to get to front plugs and never saw any significant wear, the gaps got a little wider certainly but it ran like a top until the end. It was a 96 vintage Chevy 3.1L. Never ran anything but dino oil at 5-6K change intervals, oil lose at change was MAYBE 1/8" in the dip stick. That particular one was a REALLY good engine that many people had lots of issues with.

AFAIK the engines were mechanically sound, it and it's 2.8L older sibling were hard on ignition modules. I personally replaced a few that dropped a just a couple cylinders, but the other 4 would still fire. That, and the cars they were in that I'm aware of with these motors, the alternators had shorter than average lives. It was mounted on the firewall side of the motor, and I suspect they lacked sufficient air flow to keep them as cool as they needed to be.

[Van Huskey]

the alternators had shorter than average lives. It was mounted on the firewall side of the motor, and I suspect they lacked sufficient air flow to keep them as cool as they needed to be.

Yep, replaced one at 90k, another at 175k and then at around 230k when that one failed I found one I think called Iceberg or something like that and it lasted the remaining 190k. It needed a soft parts tranny overhaul around 250k, there was a radiator in there somewhere. Other than normal wear items I never had any other issues. The repairs were always cheap and quick.

[Dave Lehnert]

Here is the story.

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_n...-calls-routine

[Jeff Monson]

The problem with the design of the plug is it extends down into the cylinder too far and becomes covered in carbon. When you try to remove the plug, it snaps off the bottom portion that is built up with carbon. Once that happens you must break out the porcelian, tap interioir threads into the broken portion so you can attach a slide hammer to extract the culprit.

We do alot of tune ups on these models and warn the customer of the possible outcome. I'd say 1 out of 15 plugs will break. Not as bad as they make it out to be. I have never had to remove a cylinder head yet. If care is taken to make sure the engine is completely cold, and be care is taken when loosening the plug, you will have better success.

Its not the best design in the world, but its a 100k plug also. To me the reliability of the F150 and lack of common failures outweighs the spark plug issue. I'm sure there are owners that have spent the "several thousands" on a tune up that will disagree.

[ray hampton]

Here is the story.

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/local_n...-calls-routine

Dave, many thanks for the link

[ray hampton]

The problem with the design of the plug is it extends down into the cylinder too far and becomes covered in carbon. When you try to remove the plug, it snaps off the bottom portion that is built up with carbon. Once that happens you must break out the porcelian, tap interioir threads into the broken portion so you can attach a slide hammer to extract the culprit.

We do alot of tune ups on these models and warn the customer of the possible outcome. I'd say 1 out of 15 plugs will break. Not as bad as they make it out to be. I have never had to remove a cylinder head yet. If care is taken to make sure the engine is completely cold, and be care is taken when loosening the plug, you will have better success.

Its not the best design in the world, but its a 100k plug also. To me the reliability of the F150 and lack of common failures outweighs the spark plug issue. I'm sure there are owners that have spent the "several thousands" on a tune up that will disagree.

this may not amount to be as bad as the news thought
spark plugs had always been a problem if the ratchet and socket applied too much side pressure

[Bryan Morgan]

There aren't enough threads on my 4.6 so I'm told its quite easy to strip out the heads or not seat the plug properly causing more damage. This is on a Mustang though not an F150 (is the the same part? every other part seems to be the same...). Only reason I've been hesitant to replace them. I need to get in there and check them out though because I've got a weird missing idle problem and everything else seems to be working fine.

[Dave Lehnert]

The problem with the design of the plug is it extends down into the cylinder too far and becomes covered in carbon. When you try to remove the plug, it snaps off the bottom portion that is built up with carbon. Once that happens you must break out the porcelian, tap interioir threads into the broken portion so you can attach a slide hammer to extract the culprit.

We do alot of tune ups on these models and warn the customer of the possible outcome. I'd say 1 out of 15 plugs will break. Not as bad as they make it out to be. I have never had to remove a cylinder head yet. If care is taken to make sure the engine is completely cold, and be care is taken when loosening the plug, you will have better success.

Its not the best design in the world, but its a 100k plug also. To me the reliability of the F150 and lack of common failures outweighs the spark plug issue. I'm sure there are owners that have spent the "several thousands" on a tune up that will disagree.

Ever have to replace an engine in a 97 F150 V6? I got caught with that bad engine.