jpd80 Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 (edited) Lisle have a neat little tool for doing the job, I think it's around $75-$90 depending on supplier. Most people skip the expensive Rotunda kits and nibble out the electrode until the left hand thread can be put into the broken plug. I know of several people doing this in Australia on the 5.4 3Vs supplied in some Falcons, so long as a six pack is handy and a couple of friends for company, the job goes pretty smooth. A bit of nickel anti seize on the plug threads before installing reduces and the chances of a repeat performance.. Edited October 1, 2010 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Read the list of vehicles on Ford's TSB. Good grief - give it up. The TSB only tells you which vehicles MAY be affected, not how many WERE affected. Did you not see Dean's post that his dealer only had 2 total? You have no way to even estimate the number that actually HAD the problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenp77 Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 Actually this began as a comment about testing new designs (like engines) to prevent this kind of issue before production. The 3V 5.4L engine launch was just an example of a detail that slipped through. Today with special service tools (something else to buy) the issue is little more than an annoyance that makes spark plug changes more time consuming than they need to be...and time is money. But yes in order to have a discussion of long term durability we have to have an example of an engine that has been is service more than just a few months. X2 which was the only reason I entered this discussion in the first place, ford by virtue of changing plug design, head design, cam phaser re design knew they had problems my quibble is ford will not stand behind a known defective design flaw, other than that I love my FX-4, Ihave just had a very expensive learning curve.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 The TSB only tells you which vehicles MAY be affected, not how many WERE affected. ^ this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 (edited) What does any of this do but try and imply that the EB V6, 5.0 V8 and 6.2 V8 will all be unreliable? While some here may have been burned bad by Ford quality, the majority of 5.4s have been trouble free reliable units for their owners, as demonstrated by strong sales of F truck. To suggest that Ford's new engines are somehow tainted and to be avoided is negative in the extreme. Edited October 2, 2010 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F250 Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 Are you aware that you just committed libel? Are you serious? Yea waste their time going after him...and bring internal company documents out in the open. I think Ford would prefer to leave this issue alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F250 Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 (edited) Good grief - give it up. The TSB only tells you which vehicles MAY be affected, not how many WERE affected. Did you not see Dean's post that his dealer only had 2 total? You have no way to even estimate the number that actually HAD the problem. Dean is in sales (no offense), not fixed operations. If only a couple of plugs ever broke off why would several tool companies make an investment to produce their version of the extraction tools...and why Champion made an investment to design and patent a 1-piece spark plug that will not break in half like the originals. There are millions of Fords with this spark plug design...times 8 or 10 plugs per engine! Edited October 2, 2010 by F250 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Are you serious? Yes. That's libel. Say you steal a car and you never get caught. Does that mean you never committed the crime? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Some interesting Wiki-history about Libel: Under English common law, proving the truth of the allegation was originally a valid defence only in civil libel cases. Criminal libel was construed as an offence against the public at large based on the tendency of the libel to provoke breach of peace, rather than being a crime based upon the actual defamation per se; its veracity was therefore considered irrelevant. Section VI of the Libel Act 1843 allowed the proven truth of the allegation to be used as a valid defence in criminal libel cases, but only if the defendant also demonstrated that publication was for the "Public Benefit". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 I can't think of any instance where libel is criminalized in the US, although laws against hate speech seem to come closest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F250 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Yes. That's libel. Say you steal a car and you never get caught. Does that mean you never committed the crime? I see your point Richard. But I don't think much of someone making a comment about a huge multi-national company. It's the personal attacks on individuals around here that irk me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 I see your point Richard. But I don't think much of someone making a comment about a huge multi-national company. It's the personal attacks on individuals around here that irk me. Back on point F250, with the new engines like EB V6, Coyote and the 6.2 Boss, I doubt that we'll see a recurrence of the spark plug problems as most of the DOHC versions of 4.6/5.4 seemed to be fuss free over the years, Europes DOHC I-4 also seem to be trouble free with plugs and cam phasers. So I think Ford has learned a lot, maybe even moved onto much better designs in any case. Probably can't convince you either way but the longer then new engines are out there the more data we'll see coming back. Here's hoping the new engines are as reliable as Ford claim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenp77 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Back on point F250, with the new engines like EB V6, Coyote and the 6.2 Boss, I doubt that we'll see a recurrence of the spark plug problems as most of the DOHC versions of 4.6/5.4 seemed to be fuss free over the years, Europes DOHC I-4 also seem to be trouble free with plugs and cam phasers. So I think Ford has learned a lot, maybe even moved onto much better designs in any case. Probably can't convince you either way but the longer then new engines are out there the more data we'll see coming back. Here's hoping the new engines are as reliable as Ford claim. Point well taken and your last two sentences are the key here it was my own damn fault I had to be the first to own the 5.4 as old as I am I certainly knew better, next year about this time I will own a 5.0 DOHC am certain it will be fine, was just dissappointed in the fact ford did not stand behind the product... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 (edited) Point well taken and your last two sentences are the key here it was my own damn fault I had to be the first to own the 5.4 as old as I am I certainly knew better, next year about this time I will own a 5.0 DOHC am certain it will be fine, was just dissappointed in the fact ford did not stand behind the product... Sorry to hear you had a terrible run with your 5.4, FoA side stepped a lot of those problems by building its own versions of the 5.4 4V Boss and importing a few (Gen 1) 5.4 3Vs in 2002, before Ford started putting them into F Trucks!! So, if anyone is to blame its us for not letting Ford NA know if there were any plug problems, I guess the engines were still too young in 2003 for any problems to show themselves... Edited October 3, 2010 by jpd80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenp77 Posted October 3, 2010 Share Posted October 3, 2010 Sorry to hear you had a terrible run with your 5.4, FoA side stepped a lot of those problems by building its own versions of the 5.4 4V Boss and importing a few (Gen 1) 5.4 3Vs in 2002, before Ford started putting them into F Trucks!! So, if anyone is to blame its us for not letting Ford NA know if there were any plug problems, I guess the engines were still too young in 2003 for any problems to show themselves... Thanx for the info very interesting, I would guess there are many who wait for the 100K recommended plug change that haven't experienced the issue as yet but most should be getting close by now, will be quite a surprise!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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