This couldn't happen to a nicer guy

[punomatic]

Well, I finally have experienced the Triton V10 spark plug spit out in the PU in my signature below. Traveling up US101 yesterday near Coos Bay, OR and pulling a long grade, we heard a loud bang followed by a pop-pop-pop. At the first opportunity, I pulled over, opened the hood and could feel poof-poof-poof near the #10 cylinder.

Called GSRA, and although they had a little trouble finding an available tow service, we ended up at LTM Truck and RV repair in Coos Bay. These are wonderful people who immediately went to work on the truck. In three hours' time, we were on the road again. By then it was dark, cold and raining. DW suggested getting a motel, and since I was chilled to the bone, I didn't argue. After dinner in a restaurant and a long hot shower, life is good.

Question for you fellow Triton V10 owners: #10 cylinder is the one that spit the plug, and I seem to recall reading this is the one that usually goes. Is that correct? Can I trust this engine? It purrs like a kitten and has 128K miles, no fluid leaks. I love this truck, but this has me a little spooked.

BTW, I don't want to hear from all of you Ram, Chevy, Diesel or other owners telling me how bad Ford is or how bad gassers are. I'm looking for input from Triton V10 owners. Thanks.
Tom

[DaveF-250SD]

The V-10 is a great engine. Love my '04 F-250, no issues of any kind. The cylinder heads were changed to a different design late in the 2002 model run to address the plug thing. The earlier heads have three threads to hold the plug in place. Late 2002 and up heads have seven threads. Much better design. I chose my 2004 partly for that reason, and I wanted the Dana 60 front axle, which became standard in 2003, I believe. I did not want the coil spring front suspension that came on the '05 and later models. Narrowed it down to an '03 or '04, then started my search from there. Make sure your plugs are torqued to 11 ft. lbs. and you should be fine.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

Well I'm a Ram guy but if you love the truck why not just take it in and have the other 9 cylinders fixed? This would give you the peace of mind you once had.

Don

[Wes_Tausend]

#40Fan wrote:
This is the one and only way to fix any Triton engine plug blow out. Been there, done that, and then bought this to fix the "been there's".

Best Blown Plug Fix!

#40Fan,

Are you sure you linked the kit you intended? The link you furnished is designed for the newer 3-valve engines, not the original 2-valve engines as the OP, and others here have.

These early 2-valvers only had about 4 threads that tended to come loose from either not enough mounting torque, or too much install torque which partially stripped the few threads. Besides precise installation torque values, these heads were very sensitive to cross-threading, probably moreso than nearly any other bolt anywhere. The newer 3-valve engines had more trouble with plugs getting stuck (carbon clogged threads) and breaking off during attempted removal. The threads on the sparkplug itself extended below the cylinder casting, allowing carbon build-up.

A local Ford garage changed my plugs for the former owner, but at least one still failed while I owned the truck. My V-10 replacement engine has updated head design to resist this.

Wes
...

[wing_zealot]

I was going to reply a couple of days ago that I had 150,000 miles and no problems. Than last Friday I blew out no. 8. So Monday they fixed it and now I'm good to go but $258 poorer(including new plug and coil pack). I still plan on driving this for 5 more years (its a '02 F-250).

[RAllison]

I have 2002 F350 V10 with 2450000 miles on it and it is still running strong, blew a plug out at 180000 miles. Talked to a retired Ford engineer and he recommended plug change every 50000 and make sure who ever changes them you can trust them to torque all the plugs.

[_40Fan]

This is the one and only way to fix any Triton engine plug blow out. Been there, done that, and then bought this to fix the "been there's".

Best Blown Plug Fix!

[Kalabin]

Just make sure that whoever did the repairs did it correct. Over on the Ford V10 forums my brother has a thread going about his truck that recently blew a plug. Come to find out the previous owner blew it out prior, had it repaired and the repair failed. It did not appear to be a Timesert, and it was over drilled so a large Timesert could not fix it. He is now stuck pulling the top of his motor and replacing the heads.

Not saying this will happen, in fact it is VERY rare.. my brother just has bad luck. I drive a 2001 Excursion with now over 190k miles and no signs of a timesert / helicoil.

Worst case scenario if all things went bad you could do a Ford Reman motor or Jasper motor and still save TONS compared to having to purchase a new truck. I plan on doing this if the need ever comes up. But more than likely if things go bad it will just be a top end rebuild and not a long-block.

EDIT : Just saw your post about the tech, you should be good to go! Timesert is what everyone recommends for these V10's.

[punomatic]

Thanks for your encouragement, Wes, and for your kind words about my blog. The tech who worked on my truck has been at it for about 40 years and has repaired many of these blown plugs. He used the TimeSert kit. Your story gives me confidence that I can hit the road without worrying. I do think I will take Red in to see my mechanic and have the plugs torqued. Thanks again.
Tom

[Wes_Tausend]

punomatic wrote:
Well, I finally have experienced the Triton V10 spark plug spit out in the PU in my signature below. Traveling up US101 yesterday near Coos Bay, OR and pulling a long grade, we heard a loud bang followed by a pop-pop-pop. At the first opportunity, I pulled over, opened the hood and could feel poof-poof-poof near the #10 cylinder.

Called GSRA, and although they had a little trouble finding an available tow service, we ended up at LTM Truck and RV repair in Coos Bay. These are wonderful people who immediately went to work on the truck. In three hours' time, we were on the road again. By then it was dark, cold and raining. DW suggested getting a motel, and since I was chilled to the bone, I didn't argue. After dinner in a restaurant and a long hot shower, life is good.

Question for you fellow Triton V10 owners: #10 cylinder is the one that spit the plug, and I seem to recall reading this is the one that usually goes. Is that correct? Can I trust this engine? It purrs like a kitten and has 128K miles, no fluid leaks. I love this truck, but this has me a little spooked.

BTW, I don't want to hear from all of you Ram, Chevy, Diesel or other owners telling me how bad Ford is or how bad gassers are. I'm looking for input from Triton V10 owners. Thanks.
Tom

Tom,

I once felt your spook.

I once lost #5 (passenger rear) on my Excursion V-10. I had it heli-coiled and was satisfied with the result. I did a lot of posting on another thread some time ago, details (here).

Although other repairs work, I would recommend use of the Timesert brand repair since it is thee one single repair Ford recommends. I think others may work, but since the Timesert brand is hardened aluminum, the aluminum provides identical spark plug heat range contact characteristics, and Ford may have felt it was the best official way to comply with EPA regs that demand any modified engine still comply. The other advantage is that the affected cylinder remains normal and transparent in every other way, such as plug fit etc.

Since your repair was so quick (as Turtle n Peeps mentioned), you either found a real expert in thread repair... or the tech merely turned a new plug into damaged threads and replaced the shattered coil. The latter is not recommended, but may work in some rare instances. Usually the steel plug has been vibrating in it's hole for a bit before the aluminum threads finally all strip, not like the good ol' cast iron heads.

I heartily also recommend the Triton V-10. For my testimony, because the Ford chassis are so good, I eventually found it advantageous to actually replace my engine with a new V-10 Ford longblock over an unusual, unrelated failure. The V-10 is a great powerplant, the equal or better of any. Note Ford continues to supply this durable engine in it's heaviest duty gas trucks.

Liked your blog page by the way.

Good luck and pleasant journeys to you and yours.

Wes
...

[shadows4]

Huntindog wrote:
An excellent engine..... That fails in a very basic area. Millons of motors have been made over many decades that do not have this problem... All of a sudden it is "to be expected".. Carry a fixit kit with you for when it happens..
REALLY??

My murphys law says that this known problem will happen at the worst possible time.
I would have a truck with a different motor sitting in the drivewayDo ASAP.

Don't be a hater!!!!
We had a 2000 Excursion with the V10. 162,000 miles on it when we sold it. Pulled our 10,000 lb TT very well. Never a problem spitting plugs. Ocasionally had to replace a coil but other than that never a problem with it. Was a great truck and engine. IMHO.

[Huntindog]

An excellent engine..... That fails in a very basic area. Millons of motors have been made over many decades that do not have this problem... All of a sudden it is "to be expected".. Carry a fixit kit with you for when it happens..
REALLY??

My murphys law says that this known problem will happen at the worst possible time.
I would have a truck with a different motor sitting in the driveway ASAP.

[blofgren]

No bad mouthing the V10 here; they are an excellent engine.

We sent a 2000 E-450 at the city that I work at to auction recently with almost 300,000 very hard miles with very few repairs. IIRC it did blow a couple of the spark plugs in that mileage but like others have said the repair is relatively straight forward. It was an extremely reliable truck, so I would say keep your truck well maintained and carry on :B

[punomatic]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies and for sharing your experiences. I am feeling more confident already. We are planning a 6,000 mile trip for late spring/early summer, and I really didn't want to have to find another truck and get it road ready. There will be enough details to attend to. I will be happy to continue reading and absorbing your collective genius, so keep the replies coming!

[K-9_HANDLER]

Redcatcher70 wrote:
I own a 2004 F250 V10, just had the plugs changed this week, I have 72,000 miles on it and a week or so ago it was very damp and rainy and I had a miss, so I put it in the shop to check plugs and the sparkheads on each cylinder. The shop suggested changing the plugs but all the sparkheads checked fine. I previously owned a 1997 F150 with the 5.4, drove it over 100,000 and no problems with it spitting out plugs either.

A miss is a common problem when reusing the plug boots. I reused mine and had a miss even though they looked good. I tried to save a few bucks and skipped on doing the boots. When I retorqued the plugs i replaced the boots and the miss went away.