View Single Post
Old 01-24-2011, 08:39 PM   #10
Tod Lane
Member
 
Tod Lane's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
Default Re: Hey Ford Techs! 2005 5.4L Ford striped spark plug

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Lee View Post
Somebody was just asking about this problem. I just had the plugs replaced about 15,000 - 20,000 miles ago.
I could tell yesterday something was wrong as it developed a mis.
Today the check engine came on. Went to the same shop and it coded bad #7 coil. Then they noticed the spark plug was loose. Since it would not tighten, it's stripped. That's all I know so far, have to wait until Monday now.
I know the "help" section at Checker & AutoZone sells an "on head heli-coil" insert for this. I guess the theory is any particles will be blown out the exhaust. Being that it is #7 on this Expedition, I can't imagine it's easy to vacuum it out.
And of course I can't imagine the labor in pulling the head off and doing it the right way.
Any ideas?
And I've had the famous tappet noise for quite awhile also. Is that most likely in the head assembly or cam adjuster. No fault codes and TSM's seem to indicate this is normal.
Truck is too nice to get rid of (and I just spent $1500 on all new air-ride parts) and a new vehicle is just not in the budget.
I even looked at the 2011 GT 5.0L at $6999 retail and boy, that sure would be cool and cost effective but I can't imagine it's an easy swap. Or is it?
Thanks for the input!

May not have been stripped when the plugs were changed, Ford has/had a problem with those motors.Research it...
This is the reason I won't buy new Ford, or ANY Ford. I had an Eddie Bauer model Expedition that did the exact same thing in 2006 . Since I traveled a lot for business I bought the extended warranty from Ford because my wife is handicaped and if I was out of town I wanted her to be able to call someone to come and get her and get it fixed.

Loved the truck other than its propensity to suck gas, but one day, right in front of a Ford dealer a plug blew out on the ground. She literaly turned off the street and went to the service department.

The Service manager showed her a repair order for one the just finished that morning, 4100.00 to fix it, but it should be covered under warranty.... he said. There was no Helicoil kit available for it then, you had to replace the heads

Long story short, or at least shorter, in the end it took four months and a law suit to get them to pay half. Their rational, "it was not a lubricated recipocating part and therefore not covered"
THEY BLAMED THE SPARK PLUG! The fact is the machine that cut the threads had the occasional off day, it didn't always cut them deep enough. Its like a lottery, get a bad one you're screwed

First call to Ford Customer service got "We don't have a problem"

Several rungs up Ford's Customer Service Ladder all answered the same way,...

Really, the local delaership had done three, and that was a small town dealer. Another nearby dealer had done several... Whats more there was a class action law suit involving some 30,000 cases... But Ford had never heard of the problem... BS !!!

Original plugs never changed, under the mileage for the warranty... Took it all the way to a V.P of Customer relations who told me in these exact word "Sorry you feel that way, maybe you SHOULD buy a Toyota"

They finally settled and paid about half...

This was after I had a crap load of trouble with a 7.3 and its POS trans in an F350 and I let a car salesman talk me into trying another Ford.

And by the way, the V10 does it too.

F... Ford
__________________
Tod Lane
Swartz & Lane 66 Nova
Swartz & Lane 79 H/CM Trans Am

Last edited by Tod Lane; 01-24-2011 at 08:57 PM.
Tod Lane is offline   Reply With Quote