Engine problems of the 2001 Ford F-150 - part 2

Number 3 spark plug blew out, stripping the threads in the head and breaking the ignition coil. Fuel could have been ignited from the dangling spark plug wire after the spark plug blew out.

For a few months after tuning up my Ford F-150 with the 4. 8 v-8, my truck started blowing spark plugs out of the motor while driving down the road. I brought this to the attention of Ford and was told it was a common problem with this motor but they would not be responsible. I did my own research and found instances of people running off the road after their plug shot through their hood and scared them.

My 2001 Ford f150 recently ejected a spark plug. I have had an ongoing problem with this truck, having it in the repair shop numerous times. Approx. 2 weeks ago during normal driving, the engine blew a spark plug completely out. I received an estimate from a Ford tech. Of approx. $2000. I have purchased a kit to repair this myself. The company made the kit specifically for Ford triton engine repairs, which shows this is a major problem. I estimate the total cost of my repair will be over $1000.

I have a 2001 Ford f150 with a 4. 2l v6 engine and at 97,500 miles it started to leak antifreeze. A mechanic told me that it is a problem that he has seen in many f150 trucks with the 4. 2l v6. He said that the lower intake gasket as well as the timing cover gasket have to be replaced to fix this problem.

Our Ford f150 has 46,000 miles on it. On Friday the 14th my husband was driving down a residential street when he heard a loud banging under the hood. He pulled over right away and the engine died. He looked under the hood and could see that the distributor cap was broken and flopping around. He had a friend tow the truck to the friends residence so that the truck wouldn't be left on the side of the road. My husband then called a tow company to tow the truck 18 miles to a nearby dealership to examine the truck. We were told that the spark plug threads were stripped and that new heads would be required to repair our truck. We were also informed that our extended warranty did not cover this repair and that our bill would be approx $3,200. 00. After the tow bill, parts, labor and rental car we are now up to $3,500. 00 in expenses.

2001 Ford f150 supercrew 5. 4 liter triton v8 engine. On sept 16, 2005 my truck experienced a #7 spark plug blowout. The head was replaced. One month later, the other head experienced a spark plug blowout. It seems there are not enough threads to hold the spark plugs in the engine during normal operations. The engine only has 71,000 miles on it. At 60,000 miles, the Ford service center replaced the spark plugs in accordance with the Ford motor company manufacturer specifications and recommended maintenance schedule.

The #3 spark plug blew out while accelerating from a stop sign. My small town mechanic said he is seeing 4-5 of these per year and blames a design defect in the triton 5. 4 head. The head is too thin and made from aluminum so the threads strip out. The truck has 70,000 miles and the plugs are original. Ford has changed the head design but won't admit to the flaw. This could have been very dangerous.

Spark plug getting blown from the head, damaging the head in a 5. 4l Ford F-150. Repair was done by myself, using a big-sert repair kit from time-sert. This was the second time it has happened.

While parked for 24 hours vehicle caught on fire in the engine compartment where the cruise control cable was located. Owner was able to put the fire out.

I own a Ford f150 5. 4l lariat 4x4 that recently had a blown plug in #4 cylinder. My truck has 9200 miles on it. I was driving down the road when this happened. I drove the truck to a Ford dealer on all 8 cylinders for a tune-up and advised of what had happened. They acted oblivious to the problem and supposedly their 20 yr tech could not get the 4th plug back in all the way when he was supposed to be changing the plugs. I later found that "blow bys" in the Ford 5. 4l engine is actually very common. The mechanic at the Ford dealer totally stripped the #4 cylinder and Ford wanted to charge me $2700 to replace the head. I took my truck to a private shop and had stainless steel sleeves put in all 8 cylinders, since the problem is due to the heads being aluminum and the plugs being steel. When these 2 dissimilar metals expand and contract at different tempatures, causing the plugs to eventually work their way out. How do we get Ford to own up to their design issue and stop passing on the problem at the consumers' expense?.

My truck developed a vibration and began to have trouble accelerating. Sometimes it would shake violently at idle. I brought it to my dealer and had a technician ride with me. He felt the shuddering and said my engine was misfiring. The coil pack and plug (I believe #1) had to be replaced. This, of course, occurred just after my truck was out of warranty (47k miles). An employee told me she had the same thing happen to her truck after she bought it used.

Ford spark plug blowout.

Bought a 2001 Ford f150 lightning with 32,xxx miles on 4/16/04. I was driving the truck back from michigan to tampa,FL, and after refueling my truck, went to start it up and blew a spark blug straight out of the cylinder head. After doing hours upon hours of research tonight, this seems to be a common problem with no recourse from Ford. There is no recall or TSB on the 99-02 f150 lightning cylinder head, yet in 03 they redesigned the cylinder head with added threads to keep the spark plugs intact. I feel that with so many people affected by this, something needs to be done about it.

Spark plug blew out of driver side cylinder head, on an 2001 Ford, F-150 lightning all factory 5. 4l supercharged v8. Vehicle was traveling in extreme rain at around 40 mph, and 1000 rpm. Vehicle has 31,000 miles, and no modifications have been added to the vehicle. If the vehicle was running at a higher rpm, spark plug could have become a projectile injuring somebody, or causing a wreck at 5:00 traffic time.

2001 f 150 5. 4 l engine driving along and spark plug # 3 blew out of the head.

2001 Ford f150 caught on fire while parked.

2001 Ford f150 "lightning" 5. 4l v8. Blew out the 3rd spark plug back on the passenger side head. This is due to a small number of threads that hold the spark plugs in the head on 1999-2003 Ford f150 lightnings, as well as other Ford products that utilize the same head design (mostly 5. 4l v-8s). Head was replaced under warranty, along with the coil pack that was destroyed by the ejected plug. Do not know if an open cylinder could have caused a fire.

While traveling on the highway and without prior warning vehicle will shut down.

The rear passenger side spark plug blew out of the head at normal operating speed (40mph). This appears to be a common problem among the Ford f150 triton v8 engines (having reviewed several internet web sites). There is a design flaw where the rear passenger side cylinder overheats and causes the sparkplug to blow out of the cylinder head. Consumers must be made aware of this situation and Ford needs to take responsibility and be held accountable. If I were on the freeway with my children in the truck when this failure occured I shudder to think of what could have happened. Shame on Ford!!!.

The consumer complained that on two occasions, the spark plugs failed. When the spark plugs blew, the entire head needed to be replaced. The consumers wife was driving when the incidents occurred. The dealer replaced the head within 12kmiles in which it blew another spark plug out of the other head. The consumer was told that it was from an internal backfire that was so strong that it blew plugs out. The consumer was aware of others whom experienced that same problem. (cylinder #7 specifically).

The consumer complained that on two occasions, the spark plugs failed. When the spark plugs blew, the entire head needed to be replaced.

2001 Ford F-150 4. 2l v6. Two spark plugs have loosened and ejected so far.

Harmonic vibration starts at 40mph and occurs again at 65-70mph. (tiresize: p235/r16).

This was 2nd transmission failure; both times the transmission fluid sprayed under vehicle & tires, making vehicle slide on road. Both transmission and drive shaft were replaced; tech stated the rear seal had blown.

Spark plug blown out of engine and stripped threads in engine head. Due to poor engineering of original thread length. Short thread length in aluminum block will not hold compression pressures over time. I must either repair the head or replace the head with newer design with threads of proper length. Has not been fixed yet.

The contact owns a 2001 Ford f150 lightning sbt. The contact stated that the spark plugs are blown from the engine. While driving 45 mph the sparks plug blew out while the engine was running. The vehicle was towed to a repair shop where they replaced the spark plugs. The manufacturer was called and informed him to call NHTSA to file a complaint. The failure mileage was 56,000.