first post a bad one....spark plug blown from head.

[rjones383]

As you can tell from the title. I have a serious problem.

It starts out the other day, im experiencing a jerking/studdering only when going over say 40 mph and upshifting into higher gears. So I pop the hood and check spark plugs. everything seems to be ok. So now im thinking transmission. I read the forums and see others have experienced the same thing and it was trans. So I figure it would prolly be ok to drive it one more day, my appointment at the shop is monday. Well this morning, the check engine light comes on on the way to work. I make it ok. On the way back home, shuddering problem is getting worse then I hear boom. Pull over and look under the hood to see front driver coil broken and spark plug seating neatly on intake manifold.

I like Fords, but I have to admit. This is by far the worse car I've ever owned.

Any info would be a big help.

 

[rjones383]

4.6 v8, 130,000 miles.

 

[corkey]

did it swing up on the wire and break the coil ?
were you able to put the plug back in ?
check engine light ?
plug fouled ?

 

[Blee1099]

Sadly the 4.6 have a frequency to blowing plugs out of their holes.. Get a hela coil kit and install it and you'll be good to go, or you can contact your local garage and get it done.. Usually you don't need to pull the heads to do it but some prefer to do it on a bench vs in the engine.

 

[rrgone]

I don't think this is very common on the Explorer V8 but do remember reading that it was an issue with the F-150 V8s. I think some used helicoil and some used tserts to repair.

http://www.timesert.com/

Good luck.

 

[rrgone]

Found this too:

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/389536-blown-plug-on-4-6l-02-explorer.html

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/608350-2nd-blown-spark-plug.html

 

[rjones383]

Plug looks ok. haven't had a chance to try and put it in yet. but the plastic ear that bolts down sheared off. the rubber boot shot off too. I hooked my SCT X3 tuner from my mustang and got code P0306. I think its a misfire code.

Do these motors have PCV valves?

 

[rrgone]

Plug looks ok. haven't had a chance to try and put it in yet. but the plastic ear that bolts down sheared off. the rubber boot shot off too. I hooked my SCT X3 tuner from my mustang and got code P0306. I think its a misfire code.

Do these motors have PCV valves?

Oh, the plug didn't strip out the threads - just loosened up and finally popped out?

PCV is in the middle of the RH valve cover.

 

[rjones383]

I couldn't really tell. but I think its stripped. the threads on the plug look slightly ate, but I didn't see any material from the head on it. I'll have more info tommorow afternoon. Its too dark and cold here right now. Guess my stang will have to see a few days of winter duty afterall.

thanks for all your help. I used your search last year to find info on replacing hub bearings. saved me a lot of money.

 

[JoeCool6972]

Sadly I can't even offer any help and I am a Ford technician. Ford started using anti-seize on the plugs in 2008, but there is no real help for ones already broken off in the head. We just use an expensive Snap-On extractor tool. It is easier to remove the head to extract it. Plus without removing the head you risk having pieces fall into the piston hole. I have seen a tune-up on an F-150 take over 8 hours to extract all 8 broken plugs when a tune up should take only 1 hour. This was a truly idiotic design flaw.

 

[rrgone]

I couldn't really tell. but I think its stripped. the threads on the plug look slightly ate, but I didn't see any material from the head on it. I'll have more info tommorow afternoon. Its too dark and cold here right now. Guess my stang will have to see a few days of winter duty afterall.

thanks for all your help. I used your search last year to find info on replacing hub bearings. saved me a lot of money.

Well stick around and let us know how this saga plays out!

 

[dogfriend]

4.6 v8, 130,000 miles.

I knew it was a V8 before even reading this. The modular engines are known for doing this. My GF has a motorhome with a V10 and they are famous for blowing plugs too.

 

[gsmaclean]

This is such a common problem with the 4.6 V8 that Timesert manufactures a custom kit just to fix it.

Taken directly from the main Timesert web page:

Ford spark plug blow-out? Repair kit part number 5553 Ford Triton spark plug kit will repair blown out spark plug's in Ford heads.

 

[rjones383]

OK. Mechanic is going to use the Timesert. He said this was also causing the studdering problem I was having. He said the plug gradually broke loose, and he claims it is due to me not properly torquing the plugs when I installed them. He has done this repair before and said removing the head is not needed.

So this one is on me, not the car.

 

[dogfriend]

He said the plug gradually broke loose, and he claims it is due to me not properly torquing the plugs when I installed them. He has done this repair before and said removing the head is not needed.

So this one is on me, not the car.

From my research on this regarding the V10 engines: the original sparkplugs in the early modular engines sometimes would blow out all on their own. It was due to having only a few threads of engagement between the head and plug. Another issue was that sometimes the plugs would seize in the head and pull out when you attempted to change them the first time.

After reading about this, I changed the original plugs at 19k (even though they are supposed to be good for 60 or 100k, I don't recall exactly) and used anti-seize compound on the threads. Due to using the anti-seize, I set the torque near the lower end of the spec because the original torque specs assume no lubricant on the threads. I will also probably recheck every 10k or so to make sure they aren't loosening up. Access isn't too bad since there is engine access from directly above in the Class A motorhome. I would be hating it if it were a Class C (van based) motorhome with that engine.

 

[rjones383]

^yeah. I would say check them every now and then just to be sure. This problem didn't come to head on me until 30,000 miles after I changed the plugs.

 

[JTX]

Just curious, how much does rethreading the hole run?

 

[rjones383]

170 for repair kit 85 for labor.