General vehicle thread

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Originally Posted by Gman

Wow, that whole operation sounds really sucky. Sounds like some anti-seize on the plug threads would have helped?

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Unlikely. It blew the spark plug out of the hole while driving. Apparently its a relatively common Ford thing.

I did some kind of insert, but it wasn't a helicoil, dont remember the brand. This was about 15 years ago on my Taurus. Solid insert, used grease while tapping the hole. Put another 100,000 miles on the car without issue.

I had a spark plug insulator fail and it kept pushing the boot off. That was an older car that didn't have a coil pack sitting on top of it, so it wasn't a big deal. I just had to replace the plug. I've never seen a plug pushed out of the threads in the head.

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Originally Posted by Gman

I had a spark plug insulator fail and it kept pushing the boot off. That was an older car that didn't have a coil pack sitting on top of it, so it wasn't a big deal. I just had to replace the plug. I've never seen a plug pushed out of the threads in the head.

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I had a '79 Super Beetle that blew a plug out on me, but I got lucky and it just unthreaded. My cousin had an F-150 and had it happen multiple times. He said sometimes they'd just unthread and sometimes it'd trash the threads. We were on our way up to Cheyenne for a camping trip and he blew a plug around Fort Collins. It trashed his threads so he drove it the rest of the way up to Cheyenne, then took a day out of our trip to drive it back home and come back with another vehicle. This was all towing a little pop-up trailer too. That was a fun trip.

Well, I've never owned a Ford, so maybe that's it? Even my Chevy Lumina with aluminum heads didn't have that issue. Just needed to make sure to use anti-seize compound to make sure the head threads were protected from the steel plug threads.

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Originally Posted by Gman

Well, I've never owned a Ford, so maybe that's it? Even my Chevy Lumina with aluminum heads didn't have that issue. Just needed to make sure to use anti-seize compound to make sure the head threads were protected from the steel plug threads.

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This! Usually change plugs before 50K miles.

https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-8007...37354522&psc=1

I didn't do it that often, so I just used a tube:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1500_.jpg

As I recall it had a copper color to it, but that was in the '90s.

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Originally Posted by 00tec

I did some kind of insert, but it wasn't a helicoil, dont remember the brand. This was about 15 years ago on my Taurus. Solid insert, used grease while tapping the hole. Put another 100,000 miles on the car without issue.

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Likely a Time-Sert. I have used them many times, often on saltwater engines when the steel bolt corrodes and takes the threads out of the aluminum block.

https://www.timesert.com/

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Originally Posted by Gman

As I recall it had a copper color to it, but that was in the '90s.

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The copper is higher temp and is a better electrical conductor. There is also a nickel that is very high temp and high pressure for stainless and titanium.

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Originally Posted by Irving

Update: It's not the cylinder head temp sensor. The spark plug immediately to the left blew out. The exhaust leak just blew out the rubber boot of the temp sensor.

Went and got a new coil and new plugs. Threads are trashed. How do I tell if I can use a helicoil, or have to have a sleeve welded in?

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Ouch. Well there is a fix, besides a new head- there is a helicoil kit just for the Fords and for the Focus You can order online or Napa should have it. comes with the drill bit,tap and insert. Be advised you should have an air compressor so you can blow out the drill shavings out of the hole otherwise the engine gets trashed. Helicoil or Keenserts should be available