Okay, not to scare anybody but this needs to be brought to attention. This problem typically has affected the F-series pickup trucks and crown vics. However as it is uncannily similar to the problem that I am having I feel that I need inform everyone. The more research I do the more I am learning quite a bit on this here problem.
ConsumerAffairs.com has this ‘spark plug’ problem listed for many different Fords, typically F-series trucks, and crown vics. They articles that I have reviewed claim that the problem is with the Ford Aluminum Cylinder Head and the threading for the spark plugs. They claim that there are not enough threads to hold the spark plugs in under stress. As a result the spark plugs literally get blown out of the cylinder head, sometimes right through the hood. Ford is charging between $2000-$5000 to get the vehicles fixed.
So if you have a Ford, years 1997-2006, be on the look out for this problem.
[url=http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/01/ford_truck_engines.html]http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2 ... gines.html[/url]
There are quite a few articles listed at consumer affairs. typing “Ford Spark Plug Problem” at google also brings up many different pages on the issue.
I am going to pursue this and try to get ford to fix my car. As this seems to be a common problem that ford doesnt want to acknowledge.
So for a problem that they created, you have to pay for fixing it? That seems a little backwards.
Hope they will fix your spark plug problem.
thats what im working on!! Just have to wait to hear from my uncle who is a ford mechanic. Hes getting some information about it. Supposively they are supposed to fix it even though the car is out of warranty. But we will see.
I hope that works out for you dude. That is an awful lot of money to put out for something that is their falt to begin with.
-Miranda
If they give it a name like “defect” they will. Or perhaps they might have a “Re-call” to fix the problem.
thats why they are claiming that the problem is in the spark plugs. They get around covering warranties that if its in a common maintenace part.
gotta love loop holes. I just find it kinda of strange that I am having this problem with my car and its well documented to be happening with other ford vehicles, regardless of wether or not the problem is from something that I have done.
I’ve worked at 2 Ford dealerships and never had 1 problem with the spark plugs.
Miranda - Thanks! If they deny the warranty coverage on that basis I already have the phone number for the lawyer mentioned in one of the articles about this issue on consumeraffairs.com. Im going to give him a call and see if there is anything that I can do.
I have a feeling that they will deny the coverage based on what they have been claiming, “Its a spark plug issue”. If they do, it’ll give me an excuse to get some work done to the head.
Its people like you that makes Ford go bankrupt.
If Ford makes quality products, they wouldn’t run into these problems. Rather than just denying the possibility. they should look into it.
They are acting exactly like they did when Ford was having that fallout with the Explorer and the Firestone tires it came with. Instead they played the blame game instead of trying to figure out if there was any truth to the stories. Stories about a product they produced that might be the cause of injuries or death.
You never hear of other car companies having these problems. But why? I think because they notice when there might be a problem and they take care of it right away.
so… chillin… what your saying is that in general people who have problems with their cars shouldnt take them back to Ford, the maker of the car to get it fixed? That Ford shouldnt be held in anyway responsible for creating a defective product?
Im am in no way saying that every single ZX2 has this issue. I am suggesting it for people that have had this problem, myself being one of them. Ford has known about this issue on their other platforms, what is to prevent this from being a problem on the ZX2???
And I honestly dont know what you mean by implying that Im responsible for making Ford go bankrupt. Ford wouldnt be in the condition they are in now, if they had made good management decisions years ago.
Mark…No prob. Just keep us updated about what happens. I am very curious to see how this all goes down.
BTW if Ford goes bankrupt its their own freakin falt not their customers. They are the ones that make the decisions about the company and their product. We as consumers may influence them sometimes but that is about it. I am not bashing them in any way mind you. Heck I work for them. I just think they need to take responsiblilty when it comes to stuff.
-Miranda
I agree with you completely there Miranda. I read an article in, i think it was Time magazine, recently about Bill Ford and I have a new found respect for him after reading that. Seems like hes only one trying to dig ford out of there own grave.
I dropped the car off tonight to be repaired by the ford dealership. Lets see if they replace the head or put a Heli-Coil kit in.
You just want a free head even though there are no tsb’s or recalls on the successful Zetec motor. Just cause you hear a small production run of F-150’s having an oops on the head doesn’t mean your escort has the same oops. It’s called torque the spark plugs instead of ‘snugging’ them into the head, maybe then it wont pop out. The only reason I am getting offended by all of this is because I got laid off twice by Ford because warrenty pay was coming in more then customer pay because of some idiot tried to make an Explorer an autocross car and another idiot that keeps hitting the cruise control button until the module overheats and lets there car catch on fire and then watches the garage catch on fire then calls the fire department so that they can sue Ford, and ultimatly they cut back on employees because now they have to make over a million redesigned cruise control switches that dont overheat by abuse. So my point is, dont be a dork, nothing is wrong with the zetec motor and thats one of the reasons I bought my ZX2, despite the tranny issue because I beat the sh1t out of it.
thats where your mistaken… Im not looking for new head. It would be nice to get a new head, but im not expecting it. If they put the heli-coil in and it works then im cool with that until I can get the money to replace the head myself. I dont know about you, but I certainly do not have $1450 sitting in the bank to go out and just spend on repair parts.
As far as being laid off, I know what that struggle is like. I am sorry that the dealerships had to do that, but I do question exactly how much warranty work they were doing. If they were doing more warranty work then customer pay that again goes back to a management issue, a typical problem that Ford has had for years.
I dont know if you were talking about Ford cutting back employees at the dealerships you worked at or not, but Ford restructuring plan is not because of one part. However defective parts that they are making should be addressed in that plan.