OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Pictures shortly
Not quite the way I envisioned starting my day today.
Not quite the way I envisioned starting my day today.
POP! Goes the spark plug!
- Thread starter OVERKILL
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Timesert time.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Timesert time.
Nope! Believe it or not!
I think I have a horseshoe up my behind.
Timesert time.
Nope! Believe it or not!
I think I have a horseshoe up my behind.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted By: JRed
I'm going to guess it was the Expedition?..
You would be correct sir.
I'm going to guess it was the Expedition?..
You would be correct sir.
Did it just loosen up and blow out?
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Back-story:
A couple days before I got my exhaust manifold replaced, the truck sounded like the leak was getting worse and worse. When I got it back, there was this "tick" which sounded like the exhaust leak, but we (myself and the mechanic from Ford) could not find the source of the leak.
He thought that perhaps the truck had "developed" a tick. I wasn't in agreement, since the engine has always been smooth and quiet. I thought perhaps my recent switch to M1 0w30 loosened something that got caught in and was causing an HLA to stick. But it REALLY sounded like an exhaust leak......
Well, lesson learned for both myself and my Ford mechanic friend:
When a Modular has a spark plug that has loosened off, it makes a noise that sounds like an exhaust leak with no discernible leak point. It sounds like it is coming from the manifold area; there is no real evidence of noise from above. But you cannot pin-point the location of the noise.
So, driving to work today.............. POP!!!!!! pfwah pfwah pfwah pfwah "oh no" I say to myself, as I figured that is what it was.
Pulled into Mack's Milk parking lot, popped the hood. Couldn't see anything immediately amiss.
Called my wife to bring me my tool set.
When she arrived, I hopped up onto the rad support and started digging around. I found the top of the coil for #4 cylinder (very back cylinder on right-hand side, the one with the coolant tubes running over it). Then I found the plug, it was sitting on top of the intake manifold right at the very back. There was part of the coil still bolted to the intake manifold. The boot for the coil was also off, stuck down by the runner.
Took the Focus up to Ford, and talked to my buddy Mike at the parts counter. I told him I was hoping it didn't take the threads with it (there was no evidence of thread material on the plug) and he laughed and wished me luck. And I picked up a new plug and coil.
Went back to the truck, stuck the plug (DRY this time, no anti-seize this time around!) in the plug socket, and down the hole. Threaded right back into the hole and snugged up firmly without issue. Installed the new coil and I was back in business.
This was the hardest plug to do when I did them. And the last one I did. I don't know if this contributed to why it popped out, if it was the anti-seize or maybe a combination of the above. But she's back in now and my "tick" is now of course completely gone
Lesson learned!
A couple days before I got my exhaust manifold replaced, the truck sounded like the leak was getting worse and worse. When I got it back, there was this "tick" which sounded like the exhaust leak, but we (myself and the mechanic from Ford) could not find the source of the leak.
He thought that perhaps the truck had "developed" a tick. I wasn't in agreement, since the engine has always been smooth and quiet. I thought perhaps my recent switch to M1 0w30 loosened something that got caught in and was causing an HLA to stick. But it REALLY sounded like an exhaust leak......
Well, lesson learned for both myself and my Ford mechanic friend:
When a Modular has a spark plug that has loosened off, it makes a noise that sounds like an exhaust leak with no discernible leak point. It sounds like it is coming from the manifold area; there is no real evidence of noise from above. But you cannot pin-point the location of the noise.
So, driving to work today.............. POP!!!!!! pfwah pfwah pfwah pfwah "oh no" I say to myself, as I figured that is what it was.
Pulled into Mack's Milk parking lot, popped the hood. Couldn't see anything immediately amiss.
Called my wife to bring me my tool set.
When she arrived, I hopped up onto the rad support and started digging around. I found the top of the coil for #4 cylinder (very back cylinder on right-hand side, the one with the coolant tubes running over it). Then I found the plug, it was sitting on top of the intake manifold right at the very back. There was part of the coil still bolted to the intake manifold. The boot for the coil was also off, stuck down by the runner.
Took the Focus up to Ford, and talked to my buddy Mike at the parts counter. I told him I was hoping it didn't take the threads with it (there was no evidence of thread material on the plug) and he laughed and wished me luck. And I picked up a new plug and coil.
Went back to the truck, stuck the plug (DRY this time, no anti-seize this time around!) in the plug socket, and down the hole. Threaded right back into the hole and snugged up firmly without issue. Installed the new coil and I was back in business.
This was the hardest plug to do when I did them. And the last one I did. I don't know if this contributed to why it popped out, if it was the anti-seize or maybe a combination of the above. But she's back in now and my "tick" is now of course completely gone
Lesson learned!
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Timesert time.
Nope! Believe it or not!
I think I have a horseshoe up my behind.
OOOO lucky. Actually my mom's 2000 Grand Marquis shot a plug just like that and i was able to thread the same plug back in and reuse the coil. Worked great for a year or so and then it shot out again so i had one of the techs at my work do the timesert and all is well.
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Timesert time.
Nope! Believe it or not!
I think I have a horseshoe up my behind.
OOOO lucky. Actually my mom's 2000 Grand Marquis shot a plug just like that and i was able to thread the same plug back in and reuse the coil. Worked great for a year or so and then it shot out again so i had one of the techs at my work do the timesert and all is well.
Been there. Twice. Different cars.
People on here will say you didn't install the plug right.
Yeah, it has nothing to do with el cheapo lost foam casted aluminum cylinder heads with tons of heat cycles in them.
I'd be willing to be those threads are not as good as you think. They may of grabbed something, but I doubt they got much of a bite. Beware..
People on here will say you didn't install the plug right.
Yeah, it has nothing to do with el cheapo lost foam casted aluminum cylinder heads with tons of heat cycles in them.
I'd be willing to be those threads are not as good as you think. They may of grabbed something, but I doubt they got much of a bite. Beware..
Last edited:
I had the same thing happen to me on a VW. One Plug loosened up and it made a tick tick till finnaly by accident i dropped a screwdriver down by da plug and upon removing it i noticed the plug was sligtly loose. Ever since then i check all plugs amd exhaust leaks when i hear a tick tick. Lucky u are
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
#3 and #6. #6 was very bad, it had exhaust all over the boot like #4 did. #3 didn't, but when I slid the socket down the hole, I was able to begin unscrewing the plug by hand. Same with #6. All the others were tight.
I borrowed Slammds15's 5-75lb-ft Snap-On torque wrench and went over them all with it set to 13.5lb-ft. They were all still "at torque" except for the two that were loose.
God what a retarded design on an otherwise bulletproof engine.
Wonder if a set of these are in order:
http://www.trickflow.com/partdetail.asp?part=TFS-51910003-M38&autoview=sku
I borrowed Slammds15's 5-75lb-ft Snap-On torque wrench and went over them all with it set to 13.5lb-ft. They were all still "at torque" except for the two that were loose.
God what a retarded design on an otherwise bulletproof engine.
Wonder if a set of these are in order:
http://www.trickflow.com/partdetail.asp?part=TFS-51910003-M38&autoview=sku
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
#3 and #6. #6 was very bad, it had exhaust all over the boot like #4 did. #3 didn't, but when I slid the socket down the hole, I was able to begin unscrewing the plug by hand. Same with #6. All the others were tight.
I borrowed Slammds15's 5-75lb-ft Snap-On torque wrench and went over them all with it set to 13.5lb-ft. They were all still "at torque" except for the two that were loose.
God what a retarded design on an otherwise bulletproof engine.
Wonder if a set of these are in order:
http://www.trickflow.com/partdetail.asp?part=TFS-51910003-M38&autoview=sku
You are right sir. It has ruined an otherwise good design. I'd make sure TF heads were designed with more threads. If you were ever serious about them. Would it not be a shame to pay for them only to find two threads in the head.
#3 and #6. #6 was very bad, it had exhaust all over the boot like #4 did. #3 didn't, but when I slid the socket down the hole, I was able to begin unscrewing the plug by hand. Same with #6. All the others were tight.
I borrowed Slammds15's 5-75lb-ft Snap-On torque wrench and went over them all with it set to 13.5lb-ft. They were all still "at torque" except for the two that were loose.
God what a retarded design on an otherwise bulletproof engine.
Wonder if a set of these are in order:
http://www.trickflow.com/partdetail.asp?part=TFS-51910003-M38&autoview=sku
You are right sir. It has ruined an otherwise good design. I'd make sure TF heads were designed with more threads. If you were ever serious about them. Would it not be a shame to pay for them only to find two threads in the head.
The other nice thing about the TrickFlow heads is they have replacable camshaft caps. The mod motors do not use camshaft bearings so when there is a oil flow loss to the top end the cam weld themselves to the head.
Whats with Fords and this happening? It happened to me when I was driving my gramp's 69' 360ci Pick up.
Isn't 13lb-ft a bit low? My manual says 22lb-ft and I do it at 19-20 since I use the anti-seize.
Isn't 13lb-ft a bit low? My manual says 22lb-ft and I do it at 19-20 since I use the anti-seize.
no 13 is the middle of the range called for from the mother ship. I bought a set of PI heads off of fleabay a few years ago for my Mustang and the cams had seized from lack of oil. Luckily I found a local CC that had a auto shop program with a bunch of donated 4.6 PI motors who let me swap my heads with a known good set and a monetary donation.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Whats with Fords and this happening? It happened to me when I was driving my gramp's 69' 360ci Pick up.
Isn't 13lb-ft a bit low? My manual says 22lb-ft and I do it at 19-20 since I use the anti-seize.
The range is 11-14lb-ft. So I did 13.5 to be safe.
It is low compared to what you would use on an iron head, yes. But that's not the issue. The issue is the low thread count.
Whats with Fords and this happening? It happened to me when I was driving my gramp's 69' 360ci Pick up.
Isn't 13lb-ft a bit low? My manual says 22lb-ft and I do it at 19-20 since I use the anti-seize.
The range is 11-14lb-ft. So I did 13.5 to be safe.
It is low compared to what you would use on an iron head, yes. But that's not the issue. The issue is the low thread count.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted By: Mokanic
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
#3 and #6. #6 was very bad, it had exhaust all over the boot like #4 did. #3 didn't, but when I slid the socket down the hole, I was able to begin unscrewing the plug by hand. Same with #6. All the others were tight.
I borrowed Slammds15's 5-75lb-ft Snap-On torque wrench and went over them all with it set to 13.5lb-ft. They were all still "at torque" except for the two that were loose.
God what a retarded design on an otherwise bulletproof engine.
Wonder if a set of these are in order:
http://www.trickflow.com/partdetail.asp?part=TFS-51910003-M38&autoview=sku
You are right sir. It has ruined an otherwise good design. I'd make sure TF heads were designed with more threads. If you were ever serious about them. Would it not be a shame to pay for them only to find two threads in the head.
TFS says: "full ¾ in.-reach spark plugs" so I assume they are full-thread holes.
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
#3 and #6. #6 was very bad, it had exhaust all over the boot like #4 did. #3 didn't, but when I slid the socket down the hole, I was able to begin unscrewing the plug by hand. Same with #6. All the others were tight.
I borrowed Slammds15's 5-75lb-ft Snap-On torque wrench and went over them all with it set to 13.5lb-ft. They were all still "at torque" except for the two that were loose.
God what a retarded design on an otherwise bulletproof engine.
Wonder if a set of these are in order:
http://www.trickflow.com/partdetail.asp?part=TFS-51910003-M38&autoview=sku
You are right sir. It has ruined an otherwise good design. I'd make sure TF heads were designed with more threads. If you were ever serious about them. Would it not be a shame to pay for them only to find two threads in the head.
TFS says: "full ¾ in.-reach spark plugs" so I assume they are full-thread holes.
to: OVERK1LL the plug has a center electrode that is rounded, this will kill performance, mostly throttle response. most people dont know that there is LOTS of turbulence, so much that sometimes the spark has to travel as much as 1/4 inch. that causes the center electrode to wear fast.
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