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FORD EXPEDITION BLEW A SPARK PLUG OUT AND SHOP IS TELLING MY FRIEND ITS GOING TO BE 3K BECAUSE THEY NEED TO REWORK BOTH HEADS AND HELIARC ALL THE SPARK PLUG HOLEs AND CHANGE THE TIMING BELT.

I TOLD HIM HE JUST NEEDS TO FIX THE ONE SPARK PLUG AND THE TRUCK WILL BE JUST LIKE IT WAS BEFORE.


ARE THERE ANY PROBLEMS WITH DOING THIS?

I'm guessing they need/want to Heli-Coil the threads, not heli-arc weld them... but it's probably not bad from a preventative maintenance angle, to do them all, if one has already blown out. I agree with you, probably would run fine for now, with just fixing the one cylinder.

they want to charge him 3k. chit for 3k he could have the whole GD engine rebuilt. It only has 130k miles on it.
Yes sorry i did meen heli-coil.

I just don't see a need to do all of the holes. Or change the timing belt/chain.

They should be able to Helicoil that one hole, there are plenty of creative ways to do it without removing the head. I can see their point, they don't want to 'own' that engine if another one lets go. BUT, you own the vehicle, it's your choice. If they can't/won't fix that one cylinder, find someone who will.

Dr Feelgood is correct, prolly just heli-coil one hole.

I have even done them with the heads on the car, just put grease on the tools to catch the chips. tell him to bring it to me, I'll do it for $1000:D

Do an insert in just one hole. Can be done without removal.

Thats what i told him so the mechanic started to feed him a bunch of chit like the timing won't be right and some other bullchit. I told him to take it else where that they are trying to fu9k him.


He found a shop that is going to just the one hole.

Do mechanics think everyone is dumb?

I told him i would d it if he wanted me to but for some reason he doe not trust me:evilb:
he was on the boat after i rebuilt my engine the first time last summer and BOOM. so that is stuck in his mind:D

How can putting a thread insert into a hole change the timing???

Maybe i should go back to mechanics school, cuz they never taught me that one:rolleyes:

sorry,

but that would kinda stick in my mind also:eek:

Dont feel bad though, it happens to us all, just did it with my outboard last week, third time out.:rolleyes:

thats when i started ti laugh at the guy:Dand told my buddy to leave:angry-smiley-038:

its ok it just gave me an excuse to build it up bigger:drink:
i was in a rush trying to get it ready for the TF200 but wiped it out. Took my time the second time and she has run strong ever since.

The boom was caused by the zz502 heads i put on dropping a valve which the tech at gm told me they have been having that problem:eek:atleast they replaced the head free.

No. But some or them are. You wouldn't believe some of the idiots I've interviewed in my lifetime. Then, there are some guys out there who can fix ANYTHING. Ya just gotta find them.

I think a timesert would be a better fix for that problem, heli-coil may have sealing issues in that application

http://timesert.com/html/triton_repair2.html

I'm curious - was this a stock engine or was he running a power programmer on it?

More than likely stock, Fords do this.

Possibly. Until Timserts came about, helicoiling was the only way, has worked for lots of fixes.

My dad took his Expedition to a muffler shop for a cat-back system. They told him his manifold studs were rotten and in order to do the job, they'd have to pull the heads as the manifold-to-head bolts were corroded badly as well. I had it towed to my nephew who drilled the studs out and bolted the crossover in. Their quote $2500. His labor- 2 hours.

They catch lots of people every day.

Don't know if it's still the case, but they were the only thing approved for Mercedes head bolt repairs back when I was wrenching on them. Never had one fail. Helicoils are very iffy for spark plug repairs IMHO

I agree. Less room for an imperfect repair, Timeserts are better, but they're not as easily found at your local parts house.

stock.

really?How big of a problem is it,and what causes it?

If it's the rearmost plug on the right side (#4), it's usually due to the plug being cross threaded during a plug change. A lot of the cause has to do with the access and angle the plug is in the head - they face back on the right, forward on the left. They are tough to get in right, and if a tech puts a wrench to it without screwing it in by hand first, it's WAY too easy to cross thread. If it IS that one, you may not be able to do it from the outside, simply due to the inability to get to it, and you'll be forced to take the head off - or remove the cab/body to access it!

Its #3

You may be lucky - they may have enough access to it! Just curious - how long since the plugs were last changed?

less than 30k miles

From the Ford Truck message boards, the earlier V-10's are known to blow the spark plugs out too. I think there is only 3 threads or so that hold them in. 3 threads, aluminum heads... don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out.
Proper torqueing is a must. The timesert seems to be the most prefered repair, otherwise a new head was ordered.

I have blown out two on my old lightning and that was with 18lbs of boost and a 100 shot of gas, heli-coiled both of them and never had a problem with them........some poor sucker might up the road, but it ran awesome for a year and a half under heavy abuse and held just fine.

Rerminds me of my days in college! I used to work on mostly friends cars for extra cash. Onna my friends came to me after already spending a few hundred telling me he needed to spend somin like 6 or 7 hundred on his old buick because it needed a timing chain! I told him I would look at it. The *******s had run the timing up. 5 minutes and he was on his way with a car running like a champ. That 200 and somin $ tune up almost ended up being a grand! If he had come to me in the 1st place he would have left spending less than a 100! :D

PS Got a heck of a job with the local newspaper working on their fleet for the same reason! tried and tried to tell them as I was driving for them...when a motor finally blew I had been warning them about the offered me a job!~ You wouldn't believe the sh*t I saw! When I first took the job onna the trucks had just had a brake job. The back brakes were toast in a couple a days. They had run the emefgency brake cable tight! Got me a free pair a vicegrips outta that one! They were still locked on the adjustment sleeve! :D

a heli coil insert is light years stronger than the original thread

what made the spark plug blow out to start with?

crappy design.

ford spark plugs suck.

the old 2 valve motors have about 3 threads. So much of a problem that ford published a TSB with the procedure to helicoil the head on the vehicle.

the new 3 valve heads have the exact opposite problem. the spark plugs are way too long and they break off in the head. again, ford developed a special tool to fix it without removing the head.

all he needs to do is helicoil the one head. there are special tools and inserts available for just this purpose, look on ebay. it's a very common problem with those heads.

I have an 01 with the 5.4. Is that the same motor? It only has 60k on it.

yes he has an 02 with the 5.4

If you are going to keep the truck do it the right way, if you plan on trading it in on a new one, take the cheap way, but understand that I've seen it happen on quite a few 4.6L and 5.4L engines and have never given a warranty to a customer unless it gets done the right way. Food for thought, the newer 5.4L 3V engine doesn't have this problem.

I had a 2000. If I recall, there were specific ones, not many, but some, that could thrown plugs.

Mine was chipped (yes, back then it was a plug in chip :D ) with intake and exhaust. Never a problem one.

Wish my Excursion was the same. Although the Excursion will do 2 circles around the Expy. then park at the end of 1/4 and wait for it to catch up. :D 6.0's aren't trouble free, but when they're running, they are running.... :D

According to Ford, the "right way" is a helicoil. Maybe i'm not using the right term, i believe ford calls it a "timesert" or something to that effect, but it is an insert that can be installed in the head without removing the head that serves the same function as what we know as a helicoil.

And the new 3v engines have the exact opposite problem... the spark plugs break off in the head. Ford has already published a TSB and developed a special tool for that fix.