bye bye motor!

[stangbanger01gt]

I was on the way to work as usual this morning, check the oil before I fired her up...looked great. started her up, sounded great. left the house drove to get to the highway about 4 miles away. put it in first, turned right onto the hwy. and got on it . before i was even nearing 5k i hear a loud "POP" I let off right away and it was followed by a continous bang bang bang! luckily i was right around the corner from my buddies auto repair shop so I pulled her in there. No word yet but I wanna see what you guys think. I'm guessing because of all i've heard that it is a connecting rod. What do you think? man this sux a#$!!!!

 

[stangbanger01gt]

well i'll be darned, turns out a spark plug blew out and took out the cop w/ it! thank you most gracious god of mustangs!!!

 

[joeymustang]

wow...that was lucky!!

 

[2000fordstanggt]

and how did i know that you threw a plug before even reading your second post. this is an epidemic. torque and then recheck every few thousand. thats good it wasnt something more serious though.

 

[stangbanger01gt]

and how did i know that you threw a plug before even reading your second post. this is an epidemic. torque and then recheck every few thousand. thats good it wasnt something more serious though.

yeah.....phew!:Word:

 

[chrisconsin]

ya my buddies '96 mystic did the same thing to him, only after owning it for 3 days! He doesn't have COP but it made the same sound your describing. I couldnt help but laugh in the passenger seat thinking it was toast!... I know im evil, but it was only the third day.

 

[BlackenedSVT]

well i'll be darned, turns out a spark plug blew out and took out the cop w/ it! thank you most gracious god of mustangs!!!

A HIGHLY common problem with the modular 4.6s did you recently replace the sparkplugs? This problem pretty much happens like 80% of the time AFTER you do a sparkplug swap. The threads to your head gone too now?

 

[Serper3]

yea it happened to me about 6 months ago. i too at first thought my engine gave out... then i popped the hood and started the car... u could feel the air being pushed out from the third cylinder...

 

[stangbanger01gt]

A HIGHLY common problem with the modular 4.6s did you recently replace the sparkplugs? This problem pretty much happens like 80% of the time AFTER you do a sparkplug swap. The threads to your head gone too now?

Yes I recently had replaced the plugs myself, I would say about 10k miles ago. the one thread is history but my buddy is gonna helicoil it, check the other threads, and I told him just to replace all the plugs, I figure they should all be the same brand in the same condition . I am relieved that the motor is O.K. but I hope that never happens again!!!!!!

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

WTF?? How many people has this happened too?

StangBanger01GT---That is a lot of miles before having that happen!! Did you torque them down with a TQ wrench or just use a 3/8" rachet?

I want to replace the plugs in my 01 2V before I start it up in my 81 notch that I am converting, but I am afraid this will happen to me!

 

[stangbanger01gt]

WTF?? How many people has this happened too?

StangBanger01GT---That is a lot of miles before having that happen!! Did you torque them down with a TQ wrench or just use a 3/8" rachet?

I want to replace the plugs in my 01 2V before I start it up in my 81 notch that I am converting, but I am afraid this will happen to me!

I just used a 3/8" ratchet.....yeah I wasn't expecting any trouble, i've done plenty of plug changes w/ no problem, although this was my first on a stang.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

I just used a 3/8" ratchet.....yeah I wasn't expecting any trouble, i've done plenty of plug changes w/ no problem, although this was my first on a stang.

Man, that sucks!! The 2V I have for my 81 has 72K on it. It ran good when I pulled it from the 01, but I never drove it. Car was smashed hard. I put all new gaskets on it besides head gaskets.

Did you blow out the holes with compressed air before you pulled the plugs out? I am thinking maybe something got into the threads??


How about anybody else....Do you know the TQ specs?

 

[stangbanger01gt]

Man, that sucks!! The 2V I have for my 81 has 72K on it. It ran good when I pulled it from the 01, but I never drove it. Car was smashed hard. I put all new gaskets on it besides head gaskets.

Did you blow out the holes with compressed air before you pulled the plugs out? I am thinking maybe something got into the threads??


How about anybody else....Do you know the TQ specs?

I don't know the tq specs offhand....i took it into my buddies shop, he did the work on it, he said every freakin' plug was loose he's run into that problem w/ 5.4 motors as well! he torqued them to spec though as far as I know and he installed them when the motor was completely cold.

 

[tiptone]

Torque specs call for 13lbs. The Bullitt Archive has a nice write up with pics covering a spark plug change.

I've used the 1/16th turn method and checked it against my torque wrench and it's always within 1lb of 13. I really doubt my wrench is that accurate at that low of a setting but it's close enough.

I'm at 127K miles and always use the 1/16th turn method when changing the plugs, but just because I said that I'll be re-checking them when I get in from work this evening.

 

[the98stang]

Torque the plugs to 13lbs on a dead cold engine. If you use anti-seize, use VERY little. This will prevent the situation from happening again.

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

OK thanks guys...I just brought back an OLD thread above. www.blownoutsparkplug.com That guy who fixes them says him and 10 other "Ford Master Mechanics" came up with 28-32ft lbs worls best over the factory specs. He even said they tested a head at 100ft lbs with no problems...check out the FAQ's and scroll to the bottom.

 

[hotmustang331]

What years does this effect anyways? I heard that at some point the thread were longer in the heads and they wont do it.
I always do it by hand...mine are always tight when I pull the plugs. I used to use quite abit of antiseize as well, with no ill effect...this last plug change I didnt though. Curious to see how hard they are to remove in another 15K or so.