2000 F150 Triton 5.4L #&*@!! = $$$$$$$

[oliver28472]

Had a 98 with 5.4. Traded at 140,000 miles. Plugs were never changed. Now have a 2003 with 5.4 and 135,000 miles. Changed one plug and coil so far.

 

[Dargo]

lol, thats almost comical. if this is the absolutely very first issue, please explain how this is doing good. there is no valid reason to change plugs routinely in any modern engine at 30k, doesnt matter who does it or why, waste of money.

Again, you need to qualify your statement. I have 2 GM gas engines that will never make it 10k on a set of spark plugs and it doesn't bother me one bit. One is a 572ci big block and the other is a 502ci big block. Great and nearly bullet proof engines, but they'll flat eat spark plugs. I had a Dodge Durango (that was supposedly the first 5.9 powered one in Indiana) that made it to almost 300k miles before the plugs were changed in it. My 2004 Chevy Impala won't make it 20k miles without having the steering shaft repaired on it. GM considers that "normal". The two worst vehicles I ever owned (and I've owned well over a hundred vehicles) were Toyotas. Toyota had to buy the piece of junk Avalon back under our state's Lemon Law. Otherwise, Toyota was just going to tell me tough luck.

 

[Dmace]

The plugs in my HEMI truck were changed from the stock copper plugs at 30k miles to platinum tip plugs. I am at 95k miles now and they still look like new. They come out easy, I check a random plug at every oil change and I don't plan on replacing them until 130k. 16 plugs certainly ain't fun to change.

 

[kebo]

Well, an update for any of you who are interested. My closest Ford dealer looked at it today, pretty much all they did was run a diagnostic test on it, pull two coil packs off, and say yep, looks like all the plugs are rusted and they will probably break off too. They didn't have any interest in trying to get the plugs out, their solution was to quote a price on a remanufactured motor for $5600 bucks. I said forget that, quote me a price on pulling the heads off, and trying to salvage the motor, that was $3900. I said forget that too, put it all back together. They charged me $125 for that little bit of nothing.

So, I picked up the phone and called another mechanic I knew I could trust about it. He explained that due to a bad back he didn't work on engines anymore (he has a shop in his yard and works by himself). He mostly agreed with the Ford dealer that maybe the best thing was to replace the motor. In the past he had seen issues with reworking just the top half of a motor. It can increase the compression and bad things can sometimes happen. He did that once to a motor, $2200 to rebuild the top half and a few weeks later he wound up having to replace the whole motor. That poor fellow shot $2200 down the drain real quick.

As a last resort, he did recommend another friend of his that runs a garage not far from my house. Called this guy up and he was willing to look at it so, it's already there now. He was going to pull all the coil packs off today before he left and spray the plugs good with some penetrating fluid, let it soak over the weekend, and then try and see if he could break any of the other plugs free on Monday.

We will see what happens, cross your fingers.....

 

[dodge man]

Anybody that knows what they are doing could get the heads off and on without problems. Its just going to take a lot of time since a lot of stuff has to come off the motor. I'd think you could do it with the engine in the truck but I don't know how much clearance you have.

I don't know how you could increase the compression unless you used the wrong head gaskets. Putting in a new motor for a broken spark plug seems like a waste to me, kind of like drilling holes in the bottom of your boat to let the water out. If you know you have a good solid motor, I'd stick with what you have. I assume it runs good and doesn't use a lot of oil. They make a tool to get out the stuck spark plugs, I'd say try that. I'd just about try anything that didn't involve pulling the heads first.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree with Dodge Man. If anything get that one plug out and put a new one in and live with it. If not it would be no different than having a head gasket replaced. Have the guy try to get the plugs out. Tell him not to bugger it up. If not pull the head and send it to a machine shop to have them remove. If anything they can drill them out and install a heli-coil fix. It really comes down to the plugs not having anti-seize, over torqued, and left in too long.

The other option is that with the truck being 11 years old trading it. How long do you plan to keep it? Might be time to get it patched back together and trade her off.

Chris

 

[kebo]

D-man, if it comes to taking the heads off, I'm hoping it can be done without having to pull the motor out. The problem with getting the one stuck plug (that I know of) out is that there just isn't much metal to work with. It seems like there is more porcelain than metal. I guess the risk with using any specialty tools to get the plug out is that if any piece of metal or porcelain falls into the chamber, it's over with. I think you would have no choice but to pull the head(s) one way or the other if that happens.

The motor was running great other than it just wasn't running smooth like a fresh tune up does for it. It wasn't using any oil, or leaking any either I was planning to keep it from now on, until it fell apart in the middle of the road. I had even started getting estimates to get it re-painted!! That money will now go towards the repair bill, whatever it comes too.

 

[Skyco]

He was going to pull all the coil packs off today before he left and spray the plugs good with some penetrating fluid, let it soak over the weekend, and then try and see if he could break any of the other plugs free on Monday.

That is a waste of time and penetrating oil. Unless the plugs are broken free a little the oil can't get down into the thread area and below. The plugs tapered face seals it to the head, if it handles compression without leaking it sure isn't gonna let any oil seep through...as mentioned in that TSB the plugs need to be cracked loose to let the oil seep in.
IMHO.

 

[GATC35]

Kebo sorry to hear about your problems. I had numerous Triton engines over the years and never had one spark plug issue. I currently have a 1999 F-150 with the 4.6 Trition engine with 241,000 miles on her and she purrs like a kitten. Also had a V-10 I put 168,000 miles on with no problems. Out of curiosity which cylinder is the plug broken in? I know the very aft cylinder (closet to the firewall) on the passenger side has a problem because of the heater hose above it would leak into the spark plug well. I have seen this numerous times. I change my plugs every 40 to 50,000 miles depending on how the engine is running. I always use the ford Motorcraft plugs that are fully threaded. I always coat the threads of the plugs with anti seize and coat the boots with lots of silicone grease.

Keep us posted, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. There has to be some way to get the plug out without pulling the head.

Good Luck....

 

[Dmace]

Replacing the engine for a few broken spark plugs is just dumb. It sounds like the dealer was looking to keep his mechanic busy for a few weeks...

At least the guy that has the truck now sounds like he knows what he's doing by hitting the plugs with penetrating oil like PB Blaster and letting it sit. If that doesn't work, then I would look for a set of used heads and just replace them.

Good Luck!