MadMedic
New Member
- Joined
- September 7, 2015
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Gray Court, SC
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2003 Ford Explorer XLT
First off I wanted to say Hello to everyone as a new forum member a big thank you. I have lurked for some time and used many of the walkthroughs to fix various things on my '03 Explorer XLT. This site has been great.
Now for the reason I had to register......
I have a 4.6L V8 '03 Explorer that while driving home decided to start stumbling, spike a temp gauge (Despite water pump being fine, coolant in the system, and thermostat opening correctly) and threw a CEL while going into cylinder head temp protect mode and limiting me to 2000 RPM.
I managed to limp it to Autozone where they pulled the CEL (Sorry the P codes are at home and i'm at work stranded for the last week) which threw a major misfire on #7 Cylinder and multiple misfires in the first 1000 RPM. It also threw a transmission high pressure CEL as well. Long story short, The #7 cylinder spark plug was so rusted that the hex head (I believe that's the correct term) where the socket would grip it is gone but the porcelain remains. The spark plug well closest to the windshield on the passenger side was completely full of oil and the wire's rubber boot disintegrated in my hand. What I'm wondering is:
A) Is my engine toast? Every spark plug had oil on it (Managed to change #8 , 6, 5).
B) How can I remove that #7 spark plug without a socket (I noticed after searching some threads the common break is the porcelain but not so much the hex) since I have no way to grip the base of the plug.
and C) Have I lost a head gasket as evidenced by the oil in the well? Only the one spark plug well had oil in it above the spark plug.
This is my only vehicle and I was waiting until payday to either have it towed somewhere but after speaking to some shops they all say the engine is probably shot. I apologize if this isn't descriptive enough but I have very limited knowledge of Ford Engines and am trying to find out how best to deal with this before actually handing it over to a shop for a diagnosis.
Now for the reason I had to register......
I have a 4.6L V8 '03 Explorer that while driving home decided to start stumbling, spike a temp gauge (Despite water pump being fine, coolant in the system, and thermostat opening correctly) and threw a CEL while going into cylinder head temp protect mode and limiting me to 2000 RPM.
I managed to limp it to Autozone where they pulled the CEL (Sorry the P codes are at home and i'm at work stranded for the last week) which threw a major misfire on #7 Cylinder and multiple misfires in the first 1000 RPM. It also threw a transmission high pressure CEL as well. Long story short, The #7 cylinder spark plug was so rusted that the hex head (I believe that's the correct term) where the socket would grip it is gone but the porcelain remains. The spark plug well closest to the windshield on the passenger side was completely full of oil and the wire's rubber boot disintegrated in my hand. What I'm wondering is:
A) Is my engine toast? Every spark plug had oil on it (Managed to change #8 , 6, 5).
B) How can I remove that #7 spark plug without a socket (I noticed after searching some threads the common break is the porcelain but not so much the hex) since I have no way to grip the base of the plug.
and C) Have I lost a head gasket as evidenced by the oil in the well? Only the one spark plug well had oil in it above the spark plug.
This is my only vehicle and I was waiting until payday to either have it towed somewhere but after speaking to some shops they all say the engine is probably shot. I apologize if this isn't descriptive enough but I have very limited knowledge of Ford Engines and am trying to find out how best to deal with this before actually handing it over to a shop for a diagnosis.
