Feds Urged to Act on Ford Spark Plug Blow-Outs

[Pop Goes The FORD]

My 1998 Ford E350 Van has blown it's second spark-plug at 124,000 miles. I had to drive it home from Houston, TX to Abilene going POPPIEDITY POPPIETITY POPPIEDITY for 362 miles... Gawd this was embarrassing. Other drivers and pedestrians must have thought Jed Clampett and Granny were driving their jalopy... Well, Fords with the TRITON engines are jalopies. Funny, TRITON rhymes with DIE-ON, as the engine DIES ON YOUR RIDE HOME.
Now I know what the Texas Two Step is!

[Ford Spark Plug Repair]

Pop Goes The FORD wrote:

My 1998 Ford E350 Van has blown it's second spark-plug at 124,000 miles. I had to drive it home from Houston, TX to Abilene going POPPIEDITY POPPIETITY POPPIEDITY for 362 miles... Gawd this was embarrassing. Other drivers and pedestrians must have thought Jed Clampett and Granny were driving their jalopy... Well, Fords with the TRITON engines are jalopies. Funny, TRITON rhymes with DIE-ON, as the engine DIES ON YOUR RIDE HOME.
Now I know what the Texas Two Step is!

Pop, if you want a permanent repair from the Texas Two Step, please visit www.PGSparkPlugRepair.com for information

[James R]

well my waranty will cover the head repair/replacement but i have to pay for the ruined coilpack and sparkplug lol itsa gonna cost me bout 60 for that plus my deductible so im coming out ahead for the moment now a week without the truck :(

there pullin the motor out tomorrow

[Katymae]

My 01 Expedition has blown out a spark plug 6 times in 9 months... and I only drive it on the weekends!!!!! There should DEF. be a recall

[Sally]

Can I join the club over here?'98 Navigator popped the #4 one last year... and I just sent the #3 into orbit yesterday.

I had an extended warranty for the first go-round... this one is gonna cost.

Ford: YOU SUCK for not doing a recall on these heads!

[Travis from California]

My 02 F150 Harley Davidson edition blew a spark plug out of the #2 cylinder. I have been going round and round with Ford about this. The customer service line is useless. I tried them and they told me Ford is doing nothing to fix this problem. I emailed the consumer affairs manager at Ford. Her name is Rosemary O'Malley ([e-mail]). She had Lynne Buckman from the Corporate offices of Ford Motor Company call me. She offered to pay me back for the parts of the fix, which added up to a whopping 125.00. She claims that this is not a common problem. My bill was 500 bucks for the heli coil fix. I was told by my local dealership that the heads are $4,000 to replace. Lynne told me that it would be a waste of my time to write a letter to the CEO of Ford Alan Mulally because he would send it right back down to her. This is not right. The heads need to be recalled and people who drive the F series vehicles should be able to drive their vehicles with confidence.

[James R]

well the head was repaired and they changed out all the plugs for free.......so hopefully all will be good

[mike]

The United Auto Workers union is close to reaching an agreement with American Axle & Manufacturing that will accept company demands on every major issue, including cutting wages and closing at least two plants. More than 3,600 workers have been on strike at AAM for ten weeks.
Details of the agreement have been reported on blogs run by American Axle workers and in the media. The Detroit Free Press reported on Thursday that a framework for a settlement was near, and would include the closure of two plants, substantially lower pay for all workers, and the breaking up of the national agreement into separate plant-by-plant contracts. The newspaper cited “people briefed on the talks” as the source for its information. Talks are expected to continue throughout the weekend.
According to the Free Press, wages would be cut to $17 an hour for production workers,$14 for non-production workers, and $25.50 for skilled trades workers.
Before the strike, American Axle workers earned $28.15 an hour, with skilled trades at more than $30 an hour. The terms outlined above would mean a pay cut of between $11 and $14 an hour (or upwards of $25,000 a year) for most workers.
Prior to the strike, the UAW had agreed to substantial wage cuts that would have given workers a few dollars an hour more than what they would receive under the framework reported by the Free Press.
Two forging plants would be closed—at Tonawanda, New York, and in Detroit, Michigan. A third plant in Three Rivers, Michigan could also be closed.
Shutting down the Detroit forge plant would mean the loss of hundreds more jobs in a city that has been devastated by the decline of the US auto industry and the outsourcing of labor to cheaper locations in the US and internationally.
The closure of the Tonawnada plant would likely mean the end of American Axle’s operations in the Buffalo, New York area, further devastating a region that, like Detroit, has been hit by the destruction of its manufacturing base. Tonawanda employs about 400 workers, and a companion finishing plant, whose future existence is also questionable, employs about 110. Last year, American Axle idled a plant in Buffalo that once employed over 2,000 workers.
According to reports on blogs run by American Axle workers, the company was prepared to keep the forge plants open if the workers accepted $10-$14 an hour wages for production workers. If the forges are shut, the work there will be replaced by low-wage plants in the US and Mexico.
The closure of these plants will leave only two remaining—the manufacturing facilities in Detroit and Three Rivers, provided that the latter remains open. Extremely significant is the proposal to break up the remaining plants into separate contracts. This framework, which has been adopted by the UAW at other auto parts suppliers, would serve to pit the different plants against each other in a competition for lower wages and benefits, under the threat of closure.
AAM is reportedly threatening to close Three Rivers in one year if the concessions are not high enough. The company is insisting on a clause that would allow it to shut the plant down if the company’s financial situation worsens.
Over the past 25 years, the UAW has worked to impose concessions by blocking any mobilization of workers across the auto industry. Separate contracts are negotiated at separate companies, and concessions at one become the foundation for demanding concessions at another. This model is now being extended within each company itself, as a means of breaking up any solidarity among the rank-and-file.

READ MORE: http://futureoftheunion.com/...

[Brian from Rhode Island]

Just a word or three.....

97 f-150 blown #8 plug today third time for this 4.6l Tell Ford about this problem and it always falls on Deff ears.. They Always tell me they are working on the problem sorry it happened to you sir. What a crock of crap.

[David Brooks]

there is a kit that fixes the problem ..I have a 99 f250 v10 same problem,the kit will fix 5 spark plug threads
if interested email me
[e-mail]

[Ford Spark Plug Repair]

Busy weekend...permanent cylinder repairs in WI and OH for a fraction of the dealer or garage price. Please visit www.PGSparkPlugRepair.com for more information.

[Martin E]

I own a 1999 Lincoln Town Car with 81k miles on it. It is in immaculate condition. The previous--and original--owner kept it in a garage and babied the engine. I left Michigan on a Mother's Day trip and ended up stranded in the rain at 3AM on the side of I-40 outside of Jefferson City, TN due to blown #5 plug. Prior to the failure I had begun to hear a slight ticking sound coming out of that side of the car; friends and mechanics at the dealership where I work assured me that this was a normal sound made by my fuel injectors. My car just had a major service and inspection done at 79k miles, and I suspect improperly torqued spark plugs combined with Ford's CRAPPY design. Thankfully I was able to get online on the side of the road and based on the research I did , I disconnected and removed the spark plug and coil, then I disconnected that cylinder's fuel injector, and after a night's sleep at a local motel I was able to drive the car 140 miles to my destination, though it sounded like a Harley. In fact, every time I passed bikers riding through the mountains, I'd revv my engine; I got lots of funny looks. Because I got the work done at a dealership I used to work at, it only cost me $177 to put in an insert and replace the plug and coil. I sell used cars for a living and I will never sell -- or own -- a Ford V8. If this has happened to you, just google "ford blown spark plug." for more info on fixing it.

[Cory from NJ]

My 2000 Ford Expidition 4.6 V8 Blew the number 3 spark plug and what a surprise Ford wants nothing to do with it. They have the worst CSR I have ever dealt with. What more can we do to make them fix the prob and make it a recall.

[Milton]

My 1999 Ford have some miles on it but a spark plug blew out on me Saturday May 17,2008.The Ford place wants $555.15 to recoil or $ 3300 for a motor.

[Zack F]

I too have joined the pop club with the #3 cylinder and am astonished that nothing is being done about the situation. As far as not buying a Ford again like some others are saying, it won't happen. I have taken great care of my 99 Expedition 5.4 V8 and wouldn't trade it in for this reason. As goes with any brand of vehicle, if you take care of your vehicle your vehicle will take care of you, but in this case its a design flaw and its nothing anybody could predict to happen...i.e shit happens... And thats what I'm being told. Dodge sucks period... Chevy to has an internal engine problem that isnt being recalled along with steering problems... So really it doesn't matter what you buy you are still buying a problem. I have pondered the thought of petitioning in Ohio about this problem and with some known lawyer friends it wouldnt cost anything... All of this could go in many directions with so many people and Ford would be in trouble.

[Zack F]

Have no clue why its popping up Illinois, I'm from Ohio... Anyone interested in a possible lawsuit or with fixing suggestions let me know

[Pop Goes The FORD]

I'm looking into having a reman RHINO engine installed in my Ford E-350 van, instead of having a helicoil "fix."

My blown spark plug form last month, looks to be a blown repair job on the original "helicoil" fix.

I just sent Rhino Engines an e-mail, asking if their reman engines have "beefed-up Spark Plug bosses." If I get a response, I'll re-post here for all to read.

[Don]

#3 plug blew last week. My garage replaced it with the Ford fix kit, which is an aluminum coils sent from Ford. That held for 2 days. My garage called Ford saying it didn't hold and said that this aluminum usually holds. This is actually a cheaper coil Ford sends out first to try to fix the blown plug. Found out that Ford make a steel coil which is slightly bigger and stronger that they now sent. We'll see if this works because they already had to bore the plug hole once to get the first coil in. This steel coil is bigger and we'll see if there is enough metal left to bore new threads for the steel coil. Ford should pay for this. They know about it. Look at this thread and all the other ones out there. Like this one http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/for... .

[GJH]

Blown plug on my 2002 F150 Triton King Ranch.
Can't believe all the history on this, and no
reaction from Ford!

[Ford Spark Plug Repair]

GJH wrote:

Blown plug on my 2002 F150 Triton King Ranch.
Can't believe all the history on this, and no
reaction from Ford!

GJH, for the highest quality cylinder repair, at the lowest cost, please visit www.PGSparkPlugRepair.com for additional information.