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Spit Spark Plugs Still Hobble Ford Trucks

Used truck buyers beware; problem still not solved

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 20, 2008

• Spit Spark Plugs Still Hobble Ford Trucks • Buy American? Not Again • Ford's Spit-Out Spark Plugs Hit Mechanics in their Wallets • Spit Spark Plug Ignites Ford Truck • Ford Mechanic: Engines "Dropping Like Flies" • 2003 Ford Trucks Now Spitting Spark Plugs • Ford Trucks Spit Spark Plugs • Petition Asks Feds to Order Ford Recall • Consumers Complain of Spark Plug Blow-Out --- • More about Ford ...

With the regularity of a piston engine, Ford trucks continue to spit out spark plugs, and some Ford truck owners are now reporting that 2005 Ford trucks are suffering from the expensive engine defect.

ConsumerAffairs.com has received more than 100 complaints from Ford truck owners since the first of the year reporting a spit spark plug.

Ford dealers and customer service reps still insist to some customers that the expensive engine flaw is a rare occurrence, reacting as though they had never heard of a Ford truck with a blown spark plug before.

The owner of a 2000 Ford F-350 equipped with the V-10 Titan engine and 79,413 miles on the odometer said he received that runaround from Ford.

“Last week the number 4 spark plug on the driver's side blew out of the head,” he wrote. “Called Ford customer service and they act like I'm the first one to have this happen.”

Faced with angry customers paying expensive repair bills many Ford dealers are conceding there is a problem with the truck engines.

One Ford owner in Panama City, Florida received both stories. Ford pretended the spit spark plug problem did not exist. His dealer was more forthcoming.

“My local Ford dealer tells me they are averaging 3 or 4 vehicles per week with the blown or broken spark plug issue,” the Florida man said.

Book value

The continuing problem with Ford engines blowing spark plugs strongly suggests a used Ford truck, especially a Ford truck from the 1999 to 2003 model years, is a risky purchase.

Here is one example.

Joe bought a used 1998 Lincoln Navigator with a big 5.4-liter V-8 engine in what he described as a "private party sale." Joe said that he wanted “to provide a nice American-made ride for my family,” but couldn't afford a new truck.

The Navigator looked like a great deal. The price was $2,000 less that the book value and the Navigator had only 136,000 miles on the odometer.

But the great deal blew up in Joe's face when the used Lincoln Navigator spit a spark plug.

“While driving to a union meeting my 1998 Lincoln Navigator made a sound like the exhaust had blown apart,” he said.

The check engine light came on as the truck began to lose power. Joe “limped it another mile to the meeting, popped the hood and found that gasoline had leaked over the entire back side of the engine,” he said.

Joe found air and fuel coming out of the hole where the number 4 spark plug should have been and fuel shooting out from where the plug had lodged in the engine.

“The ignition pack for that plug was shredded,” Joe said. He had owned the used Lincoln Navigator for just three weeks.

The threads in the number 4 spark plug hole in the Navigator were stripped.

Joe soon discovered it would cost too much money to repair the truck at a Lincoln dealership, more than $3,000 to replace the engine head after the spit plug incident.

Joe found a junkyard motor with 80,000 miles for $1,400, bought $350 in parts from Ford and paid a mechanic $900 to install everything. “So much for under book,” Joe said.

Feds sit it out

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has repeatedly refused to intervene in the spit spark plug scandal, insisting there are no safety issues involved.

Ford refuses to accept responsibility for the affair that has cost thousands of consumers thousands of dollars each. Admitting an engineering flaw could cost the struggling automaker hundreds of millions of dollars in repair costs.

Joe has another answer: “Anybody willing to buy a 98 Navigator with a junk yard engine or can you say Honda?”

A Grayson, Georgia Ford owner found his own spit spark plug in a 2003 model year truck. “I own a 2003 Expedition Eddie Bauer 5.4L V-8. It had about 85000 miles on it when the plug blew out,” the Georgia man truck owner wrote ConsumerAffairs.Com.

Repairing a spit spark plug does not insure the engine will not eject another plug.

In Watertown, Connecticut a 2003 Lincoln Navigator spit a plug. The owner bought the truck used with only 55,000 on the odometer. “The problem started in June 2007 when it spit a spark plug out of the head shattering the coil pack. I took it to a Lincoln Dealer who wanted to charge me over $4,000 to repair it,” he wrote.

“In February 2008 it happened again, this time a different plug spit out at a cost of almost $2,700” the Navigator owner wrote.

Ford engines with low mileage spit plugs as well. “My 2003 Ford Lighting with 46,000 miles blew out the number 3 spark plug while sitting at a stop light,” an Arkansas Ford truck owner said.

NHTSA has received complaints of problems with spark plugs in the 2004 and 2005 Ford F-150. One ford truck owner told NHTSA he faced a $2,000 repair bill because a spark plug broke off in the engine head.

A second F-150 owner complained to NHTSA that two spark plugs split in half while still in the engine.

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