ANSWERS: 7
  • Buy a new sparkplug, gap it, take the old one out and put the new on in. If you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, take it to a mechanic or else you could hurt your fuel economy and the cylinder. **Remember you need a spark plug wrench to take it out, not a normal socket** Good luck, Hope this helps
  • Please don't answer unless you have an answer. The Tritons have a problem with blowing the plugs out of the head, taking the threads with them. Winzer had a kinsert available for sparkplug threads. just drill and retap threads vacuum out the cylinder and thread the new plug in.
  • Dealer Fix: remove six body bolts; remove body; tap out plug hole; heilicoil hole; put new plug in; place body back on. Never overtighten spark plugs. The hard to get to ones are the common ones to over tighten.
  • Not all "Inserts are created equal! Especially in Alloy Heads. As there is a Tremendous amount of HEAT FLOW at this point, the insert has to take this into account. A standard "Heli-Coil" stays in due to the collapsing of the wire inside the "Threaded Hole". Stainless is good, but it shrinks & gets loose in the repeated "Heating & Cooling" of the "Head", losing its "Springiness" & then coming out. There are some inserts designed especially for "Heads" that are a "Threaded Shell Insert" with 4 small "Stakes" that once threaded in place, are driven into the head preventing the "Shell" from backing out. I thought they were called "Keen Serts" but I could be wrong. I have used many of these in "Small Engines" while running the Engine Shop at the U. of A. here in Tucson. Never had one fail & our Diesels get HOT out here!!! John
  • This happened on my 2001 Mustang GT, same type of threads in the heads. Its being fixed right now and i should have it back today. An aluminum insert made by ford is the only way to repair it. Heli-coils dont work for many many reasons, time-serts are praised by many for this fix with the ford aluminum heads but should not be used because the aluminum head cools the spark plug, and putting a steel inset into it will make that one spark plug to run hotter. That will cause pinging and detonation and eventually will blow the insert out leaving a hole so large it cannot be repaired properly,if at all. Ask Ford to put the insert in, they will want to replace the head but tell them you want the aluminum ford insert. You may have to call more then one dealership to find on that will do it. They want to change the head because its about 5 grand to do, vs. the $300 for the aluminum insert. You may need to call engine building shops and machine shops to find someone who will put an aluminum insert in, get the phone book and call every one until someone knows how to do it. If you do that you should be able to have it fixed for $300 or so depending on your area. Remember call around because they might not be able to do the repair but may know someone who can, thats how it worked for me.
  • you actually need a stainless steel insert because this will heat and cool like the aluminum and it can be a bitch to drill and tap with the head on the engine, use a vaccum when drilling, start the engine with the plug out to clear any metal chips. You may be able to find a shop to do this in your area. this is not a dealer fix BTW, most say to replace the entire head at about $4k. This can be avoided by following the service manual and removing, inspaecting, and re tightening the plugs every 30K miles. they may be 100K plugs but because they are steel threaded into aluminum the loosen from temp changes
  • You have to ream the spark plug hole, insert the helical coil as you have said and than thread the spark plug about six hundred at dealer. Have had three blown.

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