I have a 2001 F-150 with a 4.6L Triton V8. The truck has 107,000 miles on it. Last Friday I was driving home from work on 95 North in Providence. I heard a loud poping sound, almost like I blew out a tire. Pulled off the road and had the truck towed to the garage.
Mechanic calls Friday afternoon. Tells me the spark plug blew out of the head on the #7 cylinder. Apparently this is a very common problem with these 4.6L and 5.4L V8’s. I was unaware of this situation which is why I’m posting this info.
He told me because it’s the rear cylinder up under the hood cowling he can’t get the hela-coil tool in there. So, Ford makes a sleeve you can use that cuts it’s own threads in the head and then the spark plug threads into the sleeve. He said it was a 50/50 chance. Got the part Monday, tried it, no luck. Plug kept blowing out of the head when he started her up.
The next option was to replace the head. Requires pulling the engine. Cost to pull the engine and replace the head was $3200. That’s with no garuntee it won’t happen to the other bank of the engine or again to the replaced head.
Option 2 was to put in a Jasper rebuilt engine. Jasper has bored out the spark plug bores and inserted steel sleeves to prevent the plugs from blow out again. $5500 for the rebuilt engine which comes with a 3 year/75,000 mile warantee.
The truck is in great shape besides the engine, so I went for option 2. This is my 2nd F-150 as well as my last after this mess. I’ve never heard of such a thing happening. Just thought I’d let everyone know about this. Also curious to see if anyone else has had this problem.
Replies
They never should have left the old reliable inline 6.
be can't kill 'em
Granted that the majority are able at last either to own or hire the modern house with all its improvements. While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings. And if the civilized man's pursuits are no worthier than the savage's, if he is employed the greater part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely, why should he have a better dwelling than the former?
Parolee # 53804
"They never should have left the old reliable inline 6."I'll second that sentiment.
3rd here, put 250,000 on one._______________________________________________________________
"The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him. As a human being he may have moods and a will and personal aims, but as an artist he is "man" in a higher sense - he is "collective man," a vehicle and moulder of the unconscious psychic life of mankind." - Carl Jung
Mine ('94 w/the str8 six 300) is going to roll over 200,000 miles this week. Original everything inside and out of that beast, even the battery!
Edited 5/6/2007 8:02 pm ET by Buttkickski
Cruise on over to fordtrucks.com and research this issue. Lots of info on this topic to be sure.
wow 5500 for a long block? you should be able to buy the long block for 1500 and install for a 1000. i would guess i could buy a ford in the crate complete engine for 4000 grand. i' d shop a little.
also before i put 5500 in a 6 year old 110k truck i would have to do some soul searching on what the future holds for driving that out of it.right now i would guess the truck would bring 1500/2000 .that gives you 7500 in your pocket toward a different truck.
don't get to impressed with the 75k warranty deal ,fords motor lasted a 107k and your p.o'd at them.
this is from a guy who has been a car dealer and own more than my fair share of bad motors. larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I gotta ask out of curiousity what model truck you drive today?
CheersGranted that the majority are able at last either to own or hire the modern house with all its improvements. While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings. And if the civilized man's pursuits are no worthier than the savage's, if he is employed the greater part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely, why should he have a better dwelling than the former?Parolee # 53804
i drive a 1 ton dodge van,if you weighed it i'd probably be over by 1 ton.lol i wouldn't want to get up on a soap box and says it's the best by any means.
being in the car bussiness you learn every make has it's hang ups. the manf. comes out with the newest and greatest and next thing you no it was a good idea on paper. with my the motors are great,transmission's suck,and dodge has been painting cars for what 75 years and the still don't know how to make the paint stick to the car.
the newest idea they have out is this 4/6/8 cyl cutout. it will be interesting to see how it pans out in a 100k miles.cad tried it back in the 80's and it was a disaster. larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
I had the same problem with my 1997 F-150. When this happened I was just pulling up on an Autoparts store I installed a plug then went to my mechanic and he installed a Hela-coil and worked just fine.
Tim
That's not good. I've got the same truck, 2001 4.6L, with 97,000 on it. Guess I'll cross my fingers.
this is why i am switching to jap trucks... i think someone said it best a toyota recall is for a bad cup holder, while a ford has exploding tires (I own a ford... it has given me so many problems ... I cant wait to get rid of it).
A little off the spark plug problem but here goes, My brother has a 01 explorer, 64k miles on it. Now he is a freak about maintaining every thing he owns, The harmonic balance falls off, crank breaks in half, bad casting.
Ford dealer says this is not right & Ford should make at least some sort of deal with him. This in not a matter just replacing the crank, this trashed the motor.
Ford corporate response is, " Ya that's to bad, this matter is now closed"
To the dealers credit, He did work some numbers with my brother but it was still a big repair.
Yes that is the BEST toyota recall.But what about the worst ones.Wheels falling off, steering locking up and brakes failing."This May, Toyota Motor Corp issued one of its largest safety recalls in history. Toyota is recalling more than 750,000 pickup trucks and SUV’s because of problems with the front suspension that could make the vehicles difficult to steer. The recall covers 775,000 vehicles in the United States alone, including 2001-2004 model years of the Toyota Tacoma, the 2001-2002 models of Toyota 4Runner and the 2002-2004 model Tundra and Sequoia.During the manufacturing of these vehicles, the surface of the front suspension ball joint was scratched. Wear and tear on this ball joint creates friction that makes the vehicles difficult to control. At speeds as low as 20 mph, Toyota drivers have reported ball joints collapsing, causing the front wheels to fold under the truck."http://ezinearticles.com/?Toyota-Truck-Recall:-Tacoma,-4Runner,-Tundra,-and-Sequoia&id=47735"• 2006 Toyota Tundra
Recall Date: 20070329
Component: SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:MASTER CYLINDER
Number of Units Affected: 13128"http://www.internetautoguide.com/auto-recalls/05-int/trucks/toyota/index.html
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I don't buy into the brand bashing with trucks. The bottom line is that there's something wrong with ALL of them in one way or another. We've already read about the Toyota recall(s). My buddy had GMC 3500 diesel with Allison transmission. Went through two transmissions before he hit 100K miles with zero trailering. And a guy that works for me has two Dodge 3500's with Cummins diesels. One was in the shop so much that he eventually just sold it. And the one he still has has had issues with everything from the front end to the transmission. Again no trailering. I pull a trailer daily and am on my third Ford w/ Powerstroke. Yep Ford. The one with probably the worst reputation out of the bunch. And yet (knock on wood) I haven't had a single issue with a major system in any of the three I've owned and I trailer daily. Go figure.
Ford sucks, GMC sucks, Dodge sucks.... blah, blah, blah. Shall we unzip and grab a tape measure and see what all the fuss is really about? Or maybe I'll just get one of those cute decals with the kid pizzing on another truck logo. Yeah, that'll show 'em.
FWIW, I don't doubt the troubles you've had with your Ford. You're certainly not the only one. I'm just trying to prevent the thread from turning into the pizzing match that inevitably evolves every single time a brand of truck is mentioned on this forum. It really isn't directed at you or your post personally.View Image
i understand what you are saying. I dont mean to bash ford... I always prefer to help an american company. when i make a purchase ... I check out reviews and learn as much as I can about the product. when it comes to autos I try to see the number of reported problems for x amount of vehicles made. the japs are simply leading the way w. the least amount of problems per vehicle (since this helps resale) and this is where my money is going.
BTW... not to nitpick.... but many people find the term "jap" to be an offensive slur. It doesn't bother me so much, but in the right (or wrong) company you may inadvertantly insult the wrong person.View Image
I'd really crunch the numbers on this. What was the truck worth before this happened? What will the truck be worth after you sink $5500 into it? About the same I would suspect.
What if you replaced the head, sold the truck, took whats left of that $5500 and what $ you get from the truck, and spent that on a new/newer truck with lower miles and a warranty.
Putting $5500 into a truck thats worth $6-8000 running doesnt make much since to me.
On Edit: I didn't catch the $3200 for the head replacement, that seems quite high to me, I'd shop around in either case.
Edited 5/6/2007 10:56 am ET by 9ENGEL
Bri,
I just fixed one of these for a customer. It was not the back cylinder, it was the third one back. The rear one definitely would have been a challange, but I think it is doable. Timesert makes a kit just for these engines, but it is expensive. I am normally doing them with the head off the vehicle, this was the first in I have done on the vehicle. It really went pretty easy. The biggest worry is getting all of the aluminum cuttings out of the cylinder. We used a shop vac with a lond piece of vacuum line and seemed to work ok.
Ask your mechanic to call his machine shop and see if they do it. If not, they might know someone that will.
He does make a good point in that the rest of the plugs might be ready to do the same thing. If the truck is in good shape, it may be worth putting an engine in it. $5500 is only about ten months worth of payments. You might call Ford and ask if they will "help" in any way. This is a very well known problem.
Hope this helps,
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
There's a third option...sell it and buy a Toyota Tundra!
Try googling this topic. There's an overwhelming amount of reults.
I hear so many horror stories these days Im hanging on to my 93' straight 6 F150 'til the bitter end.
I've got a 1999 ford F150 6 cyl and when I bought it used in 2001 from a Ford lot it had about 40,000 miles on it and the dealer had just replaced 2 front ball joints. Within a week I had an oil leak and they changed the harmonic balancer and front pulley and new front seal for free. A couple of years go by and I find my battery going dead all the time and sometimes finding the radio blaring without keys in the ignition or the heater fan going. Turns out it is probably the G.E.M. (generic electronic module) is getting wet some how and needs to be replaced. I have since found that front and back windows leak. I alwys thought the odd water puddle on the floor was caused by something else. A few weeks ago my front left brake seized up. Never heard of that happening befor so I replaced it. Last week I'm driving along smelling something and mentioned to the wife that I recognized that smell as burning brakes and some unlucky guy was having problem. Turned out to be ME! the right front seized. Lucky the parts are cheap. Oh! I forgot the pitman arm is worn and need to be replaced. I hardly use the truck and it still only has less than 80,000 mil;es.
Other than all that, it;s fine.
roger
The '98-'99 model was pure junk and everyone who bought one knew it. I had a '98 brand new and the drive shaft broke when I was on the freeway. It fell off and went under my rear tire and was kicked up and smashed the windshield of the guy driving behind me.I think that was truly the beginning of the end of Ford making money.
Im hanging on to my 93' straight 6 F150 'til the bitter end
'94 f-150 straight six, 122k mi., and I think I'll do the same! Put a new transmission/torque converter/shift kit awhile back. Now it runs great.
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View Image"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."
Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe
Don't forget the new tailgate you installed. Want to explain that one?"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Came with the truck. Don't know the story, but the guy I bought it from was the second owner, and he said it was missing a tailgate when he bought it, and someone gave him that one. It was not attached to the truck. I paid a mechanic to find the missing hardware, and attach it, when I bought the truck."I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."
Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe