V10 Engine Spark Plug Blowout

[genesimmons]

Originally Posted by WilleyB

I have a 2000 model, and I've had the SP blowout. In van models you'll find it is the #3 plug that blows and the F models it is the #5 plug that blows. That made my research very interesting because the most difficult plugs to install are the #3 and the #5 respectivly. The only conclusion I could come to is they were not installed properly (sloppy work)
The blow out happened 3000 miles from home on a Sunday afternoon. Continued driving to a relatives home where we could stay. The repair (Ford authorised at a Ford dealer by a trained tech), 10 new plugs, and all filters and oil changed (my insistance) cost me $500. The tip off is the sound of an exhaust leak, my wife heard it, I didn't (I'm some what deaf)
Our rig is an ex rental, purchased with 1002 miles on the odometer, at 1010 the plug launched. The spark plugs were changed, tires, filters etc replaced before I took ownership. This was confirmed by the dealership that done the repair as the plugs appeared to be new and did not need replacement. I've rechecked the work myself, the plugs are well seated (proper torque with a torque wrench) and I no longer have any fear of SP blowout. The V10 is a damm good engine, look after it and it will serve you well.
Cheers
Willey

could you tell when the plug blew out ? could you feel the miss in the engine or just hear the sound like an exhaust leak?

[WilleyB]

could you tell when the plug blew out ? could you feel the miss in the engine or just hear the sound like an exhaust leak?

Oh! no problem hearing it when the plug blew, first thing I looked at was to see what happened to the muffler. When it blew there was a very loud BANG.
What I know now is if you hear a slight "tish! tish!" exhaust leak coming from the dog house (engine cover) pull over as soon as possible, get out your torque wrench, socket, short extension and a 7 mil wrench or socket and re torque the plug. It will only happen after an improper installation of a spark plug and that will be well over a few thousand miles ie. ours purchased with 102K miles and plug blew at 110K miles. Being deaf there was no way I could hear the slight exhaust leak sound.

Second thing to do is disconnect the fuel injector lead to prevent any chance of a fire from a very flamable fuel mixture. It will also prevent the smell of raw gasoline.
The engine will miss a bit, be very loud, (actually it was pretty smooth running except on the heavier grades) but the only notice of power loss was on steeper hills. On the hills I locked out the overdrive, other than that the overdrive was on. I drove it 103 miles like that. So if you should be unlucky enough to blow a plug, it's not the end of the world or RV'ing. About $300 cost to repair it at an authorized Ford dealer. Don't use those cheap fixes, it's too chancy. There is another reputable fix (forget the name) but a video scope should be used to ensure there is no thread cutting swarf left in the cylinder, that could cause MAJOR $$$ repair and even engine replacement

Cheers
Willey

[Will H]

Thanks for all of the responses, they are very much appreciated.
Fortunetly on my HR the whole top of the engine is accessible from the cab and i will change the pluge at 40000 miles. Having said that i just recently purchased it and is 12 years old and i'm not sure if has been tuned up since then. I read some where that the torque on the plugs is 12 to 14, can anyone verify that.

[LVJ58]

Hi Will,

Unless your engine is running poorly resulting from a spark plug problem, I would suggest reconsidering changing your plugs at 40,000 miles.

Our 2000 coach now with 75,000 miles still has the original plugs.

Although I'm mechanically inclined, when time comes to replace plugs in ours I plan to have our local Ford heavy duty repair facility change them out so if anything goes wrong later I have a come-back.

As far as the torque specs, I did search on Google and came up with folks stating torque specs anywhere from 10 to 25 ft. lb's of torque and one of 132 in. pounds which sounds more realistic.

I would contact Ford for the correct specs and go from there.

I wish you the best of luck..

Jim

[Moonshine94]

As WilleyB mentioned you do get some warning of an impending spark plug blowout. Although it's not actually an exhaust leak, it does sound very much like one. His "tish tish" description is spot on, although I'd have described it as a "tap tap". Either way, it's the sound of gases making their way past the spark plug on each compression stroke.

As LVJ58 suggested, it might be best to let the local Ford dealer handle the spark plug change.

On my 2000 Lightning (5.4 Triton, but the same issue) Ford covered a head replacement under warranty even though I was 15k miles beyond my warranty period. Reason? Because the dealer had replaced the plugs when they performed the intercooler recall, so any improper torquing was on them.

If a plug does let go, you'll know. It sounds like a bomb going off in the engine compartment.

[hanko]

Originally Posted by LVJ58

Hi Will,

Unless your engine is running poorly resulting from a spark plug problem, I would suggest reconsidering changing your plugs at 40,000 miles.

Our 2000 coach now with 75,000 miles still has the original plugs.

Although I'm mechanically inclined, when time comes to replace plugs in ours I plan to have our local Ford heavy duty repair facility change them out so if anything goes wrong later I have a come-back.

As far as the torque specs, I did search on Google and came up with folks stating torque specs anywhere from 10 to 25 ft. lb's of torque and one of 132 in. pounds which sounds more realistic.

I would contact Ford for the correct specs and go from there.

I wish you the best of luck..

Jim

talked to a ford truck wrench today, and said NOT to do what you recomend. The longer you leave them in, increases the chance or pulling off the threads when they are removed. Remove every 20 thou and retorque using anti seize compound

[LVJ58]

Originally Posted by hanko

talked to a ford truck wrench today, and said NOT to do what you recomend. The longer you leave them in, increases the chance or pulling off the threads when they are removed. Remove every 20 thou and retorque using anti seize compound

I suspect there's many and varied opinions from the wrench techs out there on when, how and at what mileage intervals the plugs should be R & R'd on the v10, and perhaps they're right.

However I would think the more you R&R the plugs under 100k miles there would be a greater chance for thread/plug damage, but could be wrong as often I am.

It would seem reasonable, if the proper procedure was employed by the Ford technicians when changing out the plugs at 100k miles or so, there shouldn't be any thread damage, but again I could be wrong.

When ours reaches that 100k mile mark and plugs are changed out, I'll let all know and maybe even have to eat Crow if there's any resulting damage..

Best regards & safe travels to all

[WilleyB]

back a few years ago there was heavy discussion on this topic on a lot of forums including the Ford forum. 132 inch lb to 168 inch lb was the accepted std. I wish I had saved some of the discussions especially by a master mechanic. It is best done with an inch/lb torque wrench. Also whatever torque setting you decide to use, recheck a second time as the tension rests a bit after reaching the initial setting. I use 168 in/lb myself, people with Time sert inserts have used 25 ft/lb, the inserts were steel at the time but since then Timesert has offered aluminum repair inserts.
The maintenance manual is out in the RV but I'll check tomorrow, I believe the spark plug recommended change is at 90K miles and that would coincide with the improper installation of my #3 plug. Most blowouts occured in the Van and Truck chassis ( E and F chassis) and not in the class "A's" where maintenance is a mite easier if I recall correctly.
Cheers
Willey

[hanko]

Now Am I to understand that Ford has corrected this problem somehow on newer engines?

[CJ7ole]

From the FAQ on the blownoutsparkplug.com website:

Q: Why do you prefer 28-32 foot lbs torque instead of the factory specification?
A: Over the past few years we have heard from many of our customers that they tightened their plugs to the correct torque but they still came loose. We worked with 10 other Ford Certified Master Mechanics and concluded that 28 foot lbs of torque would be satisfactory. We have been using 28 foot lbs of torque for many years and have never had one come loose or strip out. To verify that we would not damage the original threads we used a test cylinder head with good factory threads we applied over 100 foot lbs of torque to the spark plug without any failure.


Q: Do you use Anti-Seize when you install new spark plugs?
A: No, we always use Motorcraft nickel plated spark plugs to stop any issues with electrolysis.

[Rick Long]

I guess it's time to post my pic's and what happened to me. I purchased my Bounder used almost 5 years ago and didn't know that one of the plugs had blown out previously and had been repaired... but repaired incorrectly.



The hole was reamed out to deeply and then the keen-cert installed to far down.
The damage that happened when the plug blew out was unbelievable... It melted the side of the spark plug, turned the coil boot to white powder, fried the fuel injector and melted all the connectors to that cylinder.



The cylinder head had to be replaced and required disassembling the front of my motorhome...



Three weeks and $5,000 dollars later I got to leave Santa Barbara. About 80 miles later I got a check engine light... and NO I did not turn around and go back!! The engine is running fine.. in fact pulls hills better then ever. Maybe because I'm now really running on 10 cylinders instead of 9.
The error code is one of the very wide range ones that can be from the dipstick not seated down to just about anything else. I'll find it myself. It took me a month to get that smell of grease and oil out of my nose and I don't ever want to go back there, it was the only place in Santa Barbara that would work on motorhomes.
By the way... this is a 1999 V10 with two valves per cylinder... the newer three valve engines do not have this same problem. They do however have a problem of plugs seizing and breaking off the ceramic part.

[Rick Long]

P.S. I all of the sudden have transmission slipping problems... no way to prove it's realated to their repair. I'm stuck in this camp ground till I can raise $3200 for a new tranny

[LVJ58]

Rick, so sorry to hear of all of your misfortune along with all the expense you've been out. Hopefully when you get your transmission repaired that will be the end of it.

Best of luck and safe travels,

Jim

[96 Wideglide]

Originally Posted by LVJ58

When ours reaches that 100k mile mark and plugs are changed out, I'll let all know and maybe even have to eat Crow if there's any resulting damage..

Best regards & safe travels to all

Well hurry up!
Mine's creeping up on 50,000 and I'll wait and see how you make out, and then decide whether to change mine out early !