I'm going to swear off cars.

"Boneyard Rendezvous" (BoneyardRendezvous) 01/04/2015 at 02:24 • Filed to: None

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Went out to a buddies house tonight. Took another friend along, because why not, gas is cheap. Decided to drive the tow pig, a '97 expedition. Ran beautifully all night. Last leg of the trip home, right off a stop sign, there was a sudden banging/popping noise from under the hood.

Fuck.

Did a 3 point turn in the middle of a 2 lane blacktop, and headed for the gas station. At first I thought it might be the exhaust doughnut, but its not hitting every cylinder, just on the one. So I climbed up onto the engine bay, and it appears I have blown out a spark plug. I think. It was already midnight, cold with freezing rain. I'm going to get a better look tomorrow.

The thing is, while Ford 5.4s are all sorts of problem prone, mine is a '97. I dont have the 2 piece plugs, and I'm pretty sure I dont have the short threads either. This gets driven about 1200 miles a year, so I havent changed plugs in forever. Anybody have an issue like this that could point me at some literature? I'm hoping I just blew the center out. I dont feel like trying to thread a helicoil in this thing.

Heres a pic of what I hope to find tomorrow.

Wish me luck, I'm going to call it for the night.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Boneyard Rendezvous 01/04/2015 at 02:40

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put a new set in and be done with it , plus use it a bit more. go for NGK.

bryan40oop > Boneyard Rendezvous 01/04/2015 at 02:49

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change plugs. Use motorcraft. Fords are picky, for fucks sake don't use autolites. Torque to ~30lbs and be done.

Squid > Boneyard Rendezvous 01/04/2015 at 04:12

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You might be lucky, but at least you know you could be looking at some bad news.

Definitely use motorcraft plugs, fords can hate aftermarket plugs. just be happy you don't have the shitty 2 piece plugs.

samssun > bryan40oop 01/04/2015 at 04:16

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Don't forget the anti seize

bryan40oop > samssun 01/04/2015 at 04:26

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Meh, not needed on the 2v heads. Nor on the 3valve or 4valve. The updated motorcraft plugs are 1 piece construction and has some fancy coating on them to disallow seizing.

PS9 > Boneyard Rendezvous 01/04/2015 at 06:28

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Better than when i was driving a Ford that had some banging sounds under the hood.

BJohnson11 > Boneyard Rendezvous 01/04/2015 at 19:04

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Had something similar happen to my 2000 Expedition with the 5.4. Blew out a plug (fucked the coil at the same time). Pulled the plug all the way out later, limped it to the Ford dealer where they suggested a new head (spark plug threads got stripped). After the dealership diagnosed that issue, the lead service tech came up to me and said he'd repair it after work for $100. Took it to his house where he hooked up some sort of drill/vacuum behemoth, drilled out the threads and helicoiled that bitch.

Hopefully your repair goes that smoothly!