Spark Plug Blew Out - Need Advice

mrvax · May 3, 2007

Ever since I bought the car, I used every caution possible with the plugs knowing how succeptable the 4.6L is to blowing out spark plugs.

On the way home from work today, the driver side closest to firewall plug blew out. I tried to thread it back in. Won't take. No sign of old chewed up threads on the plug.

Anyhow, I'm screwed. I just started a new job & I'm on 90 day probation. I have no choice but to take it in for repairs and rent a car while it's out of commission.

I called a local shop and they really don't want to try a helicoil b/c they are afraid shavings will remain in the chamber and ruin the engine.

They recommend replacing the head. OR, having the head R&R and brought to a machine shop for repair! This will be well over $1000 they said.

I don't want to sink a lot of $ into this and must get it fixed ASAP.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated now 'cause I'm really worried about work.

-Thanks!

mrvax · May 3, 2007

Oh no. Just got a "rough estimate" from another shop that was recommended as good. They will ONLY R&R the head and bring it to a machine shop. Estimate? $2200 or so.

Dragstr05 · May 3, 2007

Sounds like you're the new lucky winner to get caught in a situation everyone dreads...

As per ford, the head is supposed to be replaced NOT repaired.

El Diablo · May 3, 2007

http://www.timesert.com/html/sparkplug.htmlThis is $500 for the kit...

Otherwise, heilicoil it or buy some aftermarket heads...

Gearbanger 101 · May 3, 2007

Good time for a head swap by the sounds of it. Summit sells brand new PI heads, complete with valve train and cams for about $380 each. Add another couple hundred for the PI intake and you're not only out of the woods, but you'll pick up another 50hp.
LT http://store.summitracing.com/partd...908331+4294925232+4294840044+115&autoview=sku
RT http://store.summitracing.com/partd...908331+4294925232+4294840044+115&autoview=sku

For what they want to R/R your old NPI units, it almost doesn't make sense not to buy new ones while you've got the top end apart anyway.

or better yet....see what you can pick up a complete used PI engine for. I bet even installed it would be less than the $2,200 that one place wants to repair your NPI castings.

007 · May 3, 2007

Helicoil or new heads. Do a search - a few folks on here (including a few ford employees) had great luck with an insert/tap deal thingy. A nice set of ported heads would be WAY cheaper than the quotes you have.

LI98GTStang · May 3, 2007

Damn, mrvax this happens to too many of us. Since you have money Port and polishing the heads, I think it's well worth trying to save it. Time Sert is the way to go. If you offer to pay for the tool they shop might be willing to try it for you. To keep the filings out, they can use grease to capture before any falls in. Followed up by an oil change, just to make sure. Check out the instructions (link below). It's no coincidence that there is a special "ford" link at time sert's web siite. Good luck with the repair!

http://www.timesert.com/html/triton_repair.html

n0v8or · May 3, 2007

Another vote for Timesert. A local mechanic charged me $300 to install one in my 03 GT after a factory plug popped out. This was in June of 2004. No problems so far.

svtpower · May 3, 2007

timesert

+1 on the timesert.

I have read lots of posts online between this site and svtperformance about this. Helicoil is not the way to go.

Timesert or replace the heads, timesert is a HELL of a lot cheaper and has worked for many people.

Very sorry to hear about your situation though that sucks.

san~man · May 3, 2007

Helicoil is NOT recommended by Ford when this happens. Of course, they recommend a new head, but the Timesert will work fine Vax.

mrvax · May 3, 2007

Thanks everyone. I was lucky enough to get a # for a local mechanic/machinist. I'll call Time Sert tomorrow and see how long they will take to ship the tool.<p>

BTW: I already have 2001 heads, P&P. I'd like to keep them if possible.

Kilgore Trout · May 4, 2007

Really sorry to hear that Mr Vax

mrvax · May 4, 2007

Thanks Kilgore. I haven't been able to call a mechanic yet but I'm thinking of ordering this TimeSert kit right now and then giving it to the mechanic to do the job, whichever mechanic I end up going with.

RandyStinchcomb · May 4, 2007

mrvax said:
Thanks everyone. I was lucky enough to get a # for a local mechanic/machinist. I'll call Time Sert tomorrow and see how long they will take to ship the tool.<p>

BTW: I already have 2001 heads, P&P. I'd like to keep them if possible.

well, now would be a good time to have those 2001 heads updated wth full threads too, as they have 1/2 threads and you dont want to have this happen again

mrvax · May 4, 2007

RandyStinchcomb said:
well, now would be a good time to have those 2001 heads updated wth full threads too, as they have 1/2 threads and you dont want to have this happen again

Randy, I suspect the heads would have to come off for that and the cost would be astronomical b/c I cannot do the job myself. I NEED the car back ASAP. I ordered the TimeSert kit just now, will have it by Tuesday. So, I'll bring it to a mechanic with the instructions and have them use the TimeSert kit to make the repair.

I'll post up about how it goes for the next victim. This is really stupid. 1st the crappy thing attached to the throttle body that senses engine speed is defective, then they slap on plastic intakes that will always break and now spark plug holes meant to self destruct.

I dunno if I'll buy Ford again. I'm serious.

XtorT'r · May 4, 2007

mrvax said:
Randy, I suspect the heads would have to come off for that and the cost would be astronomical b/c I cannot do the job myself. I NEED the car back ASAP. I ordered the TimeSert kit just now, will have it by Tuesday. So, I'll bring it to a mechanic with the instructions and have them use the TimeSert kit to make the repair.

I'll post up about how it goes for the next victim. This is really stupid. 1st the crappy thing attached to the throttle body that senses engine speed is defective, then they slap on plastic intakes that will always break and now spark plug holes meant to self destruct.

I dunno if I'll buy Ford again. I'm serious.

I know what you mean after I found someone/something didn't drill all my oil flows in one of my heads. This week I went to buy a car for my wife and we did not go with a ford. They're gonna have to prove that they're doing a good job again before I buy anything else from them.

Streetstrip00 · May 4, 2007

http://www.back-tap.com/

Never used one, was able to save the threads on the head.

Interesting tool.

DropTopPony · May 4, 2007

Streetstrip00 said:
http://www.back-tap.com/

Never used one, was able to save the threads on the head.

Interesting tool.

They had that in one of the Mags last year but i haven't seen/heard anything else about it.

DropTopPony · May 4, 2007

RandyStinchcomb said:
well, now would be a good time to have those 2001 heads updated wth full threads too, as they have 1/2 threads and you dont want to have this happen again

How would i go about that? Timesert in each plug area?
My "W" heads are P&P'd and i have them off.

Stangsgrl · May 4, 2007

I think that Timesert is what my shop (Fastlane) did for mine.
I had the same spark plug blow twice (they wanted to make sure it didn't happen again before making me spend more money).
So they did more research that second time and did that...
So no helicoil or new heads. I was so happy....the bill was like $250 and that spark plug will never blow again...puts a lot more threads for the spark plug to hold on to.

Spark plug blowing is a crappy thing...Good luck!

EDIT: okay maybe that timesert isn't what they did since i didn't pay $500... However...they did say the tool they had to buy was expensive but they figured it'd be worth it since they know how often it can happen. They were going to do a second one this week actually...
From what they described to me how it worked, back-tap looks like what they used. :idunno:

Spark Plug Blew Out - Need Advice

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