Expedition Triton 5.4L - Blown Spark Plug

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Fitz98
This Lock N Stitch kit looks very well engineered. Looks challenging to do without removing the head. Have you done this in the vehicle before?


It was done in the vehicle by the machine shop, yes. This was done at the Ford dealer as I wasn't above to fight with cylinder #4 myself and I wanted to be certain that I had a fix that was permanent.

I knew that the lock-n-stitch one was the ONLY one approved by Ford, and this was of course the one they used at the dealer.

Pricing was reasonable and this insert cannot (as you've probably noted from the documentation) back out like a heli-coil can. It is a permanent fix that makes the threads in the affected cylinder better than those on the rest of the plugs in the engine. If I had been able to afford it and the downtime when it happened I would have had all eight holes done for the peace of mind.

 

[Thax]

Dorman's repair kit is another good alternative , cheap and you can keep it with in case of an emergency.
http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-3179-42025.aspx
Kit retails for about $60

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The only approved repair for this is this one:

http://www.locknstitch.com/sparkpluginserts.htm

Which is what I had done on my #4 hole when it popped.

I didn't try and fix mine, I just drove it on 7 cylinders up to the dealer, who has a mobile machine shop that uses the above insert kit to do the repair come in.


Did you disable the fuel injector so you don't overload the cat with raw fuel and shorten it's life or kill it? I had a coil fail about 6 miles from my mechanic's shop. Could not tell easily which one. No code set yet and I didn't have my code reader to check for pending codes. So for those 6 miles I pumped raw gas into the cat. Hopefully it didn't hurt it.

Whimsey


Nope, IIRC the ECM is smart enough to know that there's no spark happening in that cylinder (no coil plugged in) so it should automatically disable the fuel to it.


Also, since it's a ford, it will never set a check engine light

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
The only approved repair for this is this one:

http://www.locknstitch.com/sparkpluginserts.htm

Which is what I had done on my #4 hole when it popped.

I didn't try and fix mine, I just drove it on 7 cylinders up to the dealer, who has a mobile machine shop that uses the above insert kit to do the repair come in.


Did you disable the fuel injector so you don't overload the cat with raw fuel and shorten it's life or kill it? I had a coil fail about 6 miles from my mechanic's shop. Could not tell easily which one. No code set yet and I didn't have my code reader to check for pending codes. So for those 6 miles I pumped raw gas into the cat. Hopefully it didn't hurt it.

Whimsey


Nope, IIRC the ECM is smart enough to know that there's no spark happening in that cylinder (no coil plugged in) so it should automatically disable the fuel to it.


Also, since it's a ford, it will never set a check engine light


Very true! I've lost two coils and neither set a CEL