Ford V-10 Horror stories

[Radman2776]

In reading Forums on the Ford V-10. It looks like they have had an issue with the spark plugs blowing out of the aluminum heads. How common is this? I have a 1999 Motorhome with the V10 with 33,000 miles (1998 engine). Is this something I should worry about? The engine runs great and has been well maintained and is dry with no oil leaks etc.. I own a repair facility and I am very capable in changing the spark plugs and doing it correctly. I am one of those people that believe some things are better left alone. No I believe in prentive mantinence, but sometimes you can create problems. I would like to hear other staories good and bad about the spark plugs and other issues with this engine. I am satisfied with the power etc.. But more information is better. :question:

 

[JimE]

RE: Ford V-10 Horror stories

I have about 100 vehicles in my fleet with a majority being Ford trucks. Several years back we did have problems with the plugs blowing out of the block on several of the V8 and V10 units. I would estimte I had 75 of the pick ups and I believe 5 of them had the problem. No apparant rhyme or reason why one blew and not the other but it was an expensive problem to fix.

 

[Radman2776]

RE: Ford V-10 Horror stories

Thank you. That is what I am needing to know. I was wanting to know that I might as well get ready, because it could happen or was it a one in a thousand type of thing. Did you change your plugs or did you just get normal mileage out of them? I don't want to worry about driving the motorhome and getting stranded on the side of the road. There are enough other things to worry about, than to have to worry about blowing a spark plug out. I own a full service radiator shop. we do all types of mechanic work and I have certified mechanics. I just need to know is do I need one of my mechanics to replace the plugs? It sounds like to me they need to be checked anyway? I just don't want to fool with the plugs if they are okay. What would you suggest with your past experience? What kind of Ford trucks did you run in your fleet? What type of trucks were they?
thanks,
Phillip

 

[Triple E]

Re: Ford V-10 Horror stories

Some where in this forum some one was talking about this problem and what they had to do to fix it. I believe it was in newer models than yours. I use to have a V-10 in a 2000 model and did not have any problems. Well that is not true. I had to replace the cruse control twice. :angry: Anyway, I am sure your 1999 is ok.


:8ball:

 

[C Nash]

Re: Ford V-10 Horror stories

Phillip, I think it was in the older model V10 and yours was in the models it happened. The problem IMO was not enough thread on the plugs. Don't think you would need to change them at 33k. Might just want to check the torque. Do not over tighten as the heads are aluminium. Crossthreading is easy to do when replacing so be sure your best tech does it and DONOT let them use air tolls for this. Telling my age but I always liked to feel the threading in. I also have the V10 2002 model and don't worry about it much. Do a goggle search oon the internet and you will find a lot of info on this. When you think of the number of V10 that are out there and then the number with blown plug problem the chances are pretty slim of it happing IMO. Having said all this I'll knock on wood There are kits to repair them w/o removing the head but if possible I would remove mine.

 

[Radman2776]

Re: Ford V-10 Horror stories

Very good information guys. I will check the torque. I have all the corrective instructions and specifications to make the change. I will cross my fingers until I check it out. I have googled the issue and you do only here the bad things, because that is what you googled. But through a forum such as this, you will get both sides. I am still wanting to hear the V10's that have problems and the ones that have not.
Thanks,
Phillip

 

[Kirk]

Re: Ford V-10 Horror stories

The early V-10 was a 275 hp version and the one that had the plug blowing issue was the early units once they went up to the 310 hp version. Part of what was done was to increase the compression when the boosted the hp and that was when the problems began. I don't know of any ov the 275 hp engines that have had the problem.

 

[Triple E]

Re: Ford V-10 Horror stories

Phil, I found this on BING. I thought I would share it with all.

Here is a good email from a concerned shop owner:

"As a mechanic shop owner, I am very familiar with this particular Ford problem of spark plugs blowing out of cylinder heads. I own a 2002 F-250 and just yesterday on a perfectly maintained personal truck, I blew the #2 plug while cruising at 60 mph.

I also had never changed plugs due to lower mileage of this truck and therefore cannot be blamed for improper torquing of new plugs or any of the other unique ideas Ford is currently making up. I am somewhat of a Ford person and am not here to bash Ford, however I would like to clarify what happens in this situation. I began to notice what sounded like a fairly loud lifter noise about 5 days prior to blowing a plug and should have been suspicious because this is a overhead cam engine and therefore HAS NO LIFTERS!!!

It does have cam followers that can give trouble but the noise is different. Any way I changed oil at a 2500 mile interval just to be safe and noticed no difference. In hindsight I could have recognized the ticking noise for what it was and maybe saved the spark plug and coil and mostly the threads in the cylinder head. The ticking noise was high pressure air escaping around the threads of the LOOSENED sparkplug!!!

When a plug is loose and an engine is rotating at 2000 rpm, it generates a tremendous amount of pressure each time it fires a cylinder.

So the longer a sparkplug wobbles from being loose in the threads the more thread damage it does and finally the last few good threads can no longer take the pressure and out comes the plug!!, taking the last few threads with it.

So here we are and what do we do now? Most troubling to me is the huge diversity of dollar cost and repair procedures for a relatively simple thing to fix. A thirty dollar HeliCoil kit can do the trick if installed correctly with a good loctite compound installed on the threads of the repair insert. Sadly most mechanics just retap the hole and throw an insert in and a new plug. It usually lasts a while and then blows again creating a bigger problem! Don't panic! IT CAN BE FIXED!!!!

If this happens to you disconnect the coil harness at the plug in question as well as the fuel injector harness and you won't have an engine fire as a result of fuel vapor coming out of the plug hole and being ignited by the exposed coil!!!"


:8ball:

 

[Poyfrhdelop]

I really liked this information.