'99 - '03 Cylinder Head Problems On 5.4L

Has anyone experienced or know of anyone who has had a sparkplug blow out of
their cylinder head and strip the head threads for no apparent reason?
Apparently there are 100's of people across the country that this is
happening to and Ford is not admitting to any wrong doing. It seems that the
#3 sparkplug hole on the passenger side only has 4 threads making it
susceptible to thread stripping, even with the originally installed
sparkplugs. Was curious to see what people had to say about this problem.

Bob

On Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:21:56 GMT, "Robert Krecak" <rkrecak.TakeThisOut@wi.rr.com>
wrote:

>Has anyone experienced or know of anyone who has had a sparkplug blow out of
>their cylinder head and strip the head threads for no apparent reason?
>Apparently there are 100's of people across the country that this is
>happening to and Ford is not admitting to any wrong doing. It seems that the
>#3 sparkplug hole on the passenger side only has 4 threads making it
>susceptible to thread stripping, even with the originally installed
>sparkplugs. Was curious to see what people had to say about this problem.
>
>Bob
>


THe problem is that Ford used a improper torque spec and head/plug
design and they loosen up and wobble until the threads are eaten away
by hot gas errosion and plug rattle and then they blow out. Stell and
aluminum has defferent expansion rate when heated which aggrevates the
problem) Ford redesigned head and changed plug type to fix problem. If
you have a old one, do not panic, just make sure plugs are snug/tight
and check them again after a few thousand miles and see if they are
lossening. Also check them warm, not cold as they will get tighter
when they are cold as aluminum contracts around threads. Whn you
remove them for serviceing, do it from a warmed engine, not a cold
one.
-----------------
The SnoMan
www.thesnoman.com