Problems with 2002 Ford F-150 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. the contact stated that while at a stop, there was an abnormal noise coming from the engine without warning. the contact mentioned that the failure recurred intermittently. the vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where it was diagnosed that the radiator supports were rusted and needed to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 73,000 and the current mileage was 74,000.

While driving the truck one of the spark plugs blew out of the aluminum head on top of the motor. this vehicle malfunction destroyed a coil pack, spark plug and wiring.

Spark plug ejected at ignition while parked. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. the contact stated that while driving 65 mph, he heard a loud bang from the engine and started to smell an abnormal fuel odor. the vehicle taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that one of the spark plugs was fractured. the vehicle was not repaired. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the failure mileage was 140,000. updated 05/07/12

Spark plug blew out and stripped threads in head. this is the 2nd time a spark plug has blown out of the head. repaired once about a year ago. *tr

A neighbor called 911 to report my vehicle on fire, parked in my driveway while i was at work. the engine was not on and there were no keys in the ignition. the last time the vehicle was driven was 2/14/2012. a neighbor was able to spray water on the fire, and the fire department was able to get the fire out and prevent the fire's spread to the cab, or to my house. there is quite a bit of fire damage to the engine. there are several components of the engine melted on the driver side of the engine, above the left front tire. *tr

While at a stop light waiting to proceed on the arrow, i accelerated and heard very loud pop and a violent shake. pulled over out of traffic and check under the hood and found that the right rear spark plug ejected out of head. it should be noted that this the second time for this to happen my vehicle the first time the had 71000 miles and now. ford will not do any thing about this requiring problem with it's ford f-150 5.4 triton engine 2002. *tr

I was traveling 60 mph on the freeway when a sparkplug was ejected from the engine, breaking the coil attachment from the engine. i found both the spark plug and the coil lying on top of the engine. *tr

Tl* the contact owned a 2002 ford f-150. while driving in reverse at approximately 2 mph, the contact noticed smoke emitting from underneath the hood. the contact immediately exited the vehicle. a police report of the incident was filed. the fire department extinguished the massive flames, which extended 50 feet into the air. the vehicle was towed to a salvage facility for further investigation. the manufacturer was not notified of the failure. the approximate failure mileage was 55,000.

On three separate occasions my truck has blown 3 separate spark plugs from 3 different ports in the head. i have read numerous complaints about these motors doing this, and ford should be held responsible. *tr

Upon starting the vehicle a spark plug blew out of the head. 5.4 l triron engine. threads in head damaged beyond repair. fuel vapors escaping cylinder. spark plug has never been removed/replaced to my knowledge. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. the contact stated that while driving approximately 25 mph, the vehicle suddenly stalled without warning. the vehicle was able to be coasted off the road and was towed to a dealer. after diagnosis, the dealer advised him that a spark plug had blown through the aluminum head and needed to be replaced. the vehicle was repaired for the steel ring being placed where the plugs were stripped. the manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. the failure mileage was approximately 65,000. updated 03/05/12*lj updated 03/07/12

Turned over my 2002 ford f-150. a loud pop occurred as a spark plug/coil pack blew out. this is the 3rd coil pack that has blown since april of 2009. they fix it every time by having to replace the coil pack and spark plug, along with having to re-tap the head. luckily, this time, i was in a grocery store parking lot. the last two times, my wife and i were driving the truck when it happened, which placed us in danger because it could have caused an explosion. i know there are quite a few other people saying the same things about that happening to them multiple times. i think it's time that ford pushes a recall through dealing with the coil packs, as more and more people are affected by the same issue, before someone is seriously hurt as a result. *tr

Went to make an appointment with firestone to have my plugs changed per ford manual on my 2002 f150 5.4 liter v8. it was told to me that they would not touch the vehicle as i should contact ford directly. they claim the plugs explode. we then called the ford dealer service department in sayville the woman stated at sayville ford service department the plugs would cost to replace $ 383.00 unless the plugs explode inside the engine when removed then it would cost 1/2 hour more per plug as they are having problems with the plugs exploding it could run up to a total cost of$ 800.00 max to remove. something about new sleeve has to be replaced when it explodes. i was really irate we are only talking about plugs. i then contacted ford at 1 800 392-3673 at customer relationship center claims they know nothing about this problem well i have a problem with this if firestone will not touch the vehicle and there own ford dealers explains they have a major problem then how do you not know about it. problem. i have a big problem with this not only concerns about engine also the cost factor with regards with the removal of defected plugs i believe they already knew of this problem and as usual they are trying to pass the defect to the consumer. it needs to be stopped. *kb

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f150. the contact stated while the vehicle was parked he heard a loud noise and noticed the vehicle was on fire. the fire department stated the fire initiated in the engine. there was no mention of a fire report being filed. the vin information was not available. the failure and current miles was 200,000.

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. the contact stated that spark plug number six blewout, damaging the engine coil and reducing the power of the vehicle. there was no warning prior to the failure. the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where the contact was informed that the failure was a factory defect. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure and current mileages were 102,000. updated 10/12/11*lj updated 10/24/11

2002 ford f-150 with a 5.4l triton v8. the #7 spark plug blew out of the port and broke the coil. that left fuel vapors from the piston to be exposed to the damaged ignition coil that was arcing and could of caught fire with my kids in the truck. if you look online there are thousands of complaints from f150 owners. this needs to be addressed and a recall from ford needs to be issued. *tr

Driving to work and had to stop at a stop light a few blocks from work. when light turned green i accelerated to go and the car sound like the exhaust manifolds blew off. parked car and had it towed to a local repair shop. was notified by the technician that the back passenger side spark plug blew out of the cylinder. technician repaired by using an insert. i have been doing alot of reading and i am finding out that this a common problem with these motors. why has their not been an investigation into this matter? *tr

2002 ford f-150, 4.6 triton engine keeps blowing the spark plugs out of the heads. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. the contact stated while driving approximately 50 mph he heard a loud banging noise before the vehicle stalled. the vehicle coasted to a stop and the contact noticed the spark plugs had fractured from the engine. the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that this was a known failure. the vehicle was in the process of being repaired. the manufacturer was notified and also acknowledged this was a known failure; however, the manufacturer offered no assistance. the failure and current mileages were 65,000. the vin was unavailable.

I am one of the people who have had the original factory spark plug eject from the engine, which indicates there is a defect with the engine & cylinder head design. where i work, four of us have the same year truck, three of us had the same spark plug eject problem! the fourth guy only has 40,000 miles on his truck, so were all waiting for it to happen to him! just another of fords better ideas-i don't think so

I have a ford f-150 that has a triton v-8 motor. it has 110,000 miles. i have had the truck for 3 years and purchased it with a 5 year loan agreement. i was driving and the spark plug blewout of the motor. apparently this is a common problem,so common that they have a kit thats a qwik fix. evidently a previous owner had this problem and put the kit on there got rid of the car and it was sold to me by town toyota in roxbury, new jersey. it blows my mind that i bought it with 65,000 miles and it alredy had a major problem not only once with a previous owner but also happened to me. now the only fix is to replace the head of the motor or even replacing the entire motor.i have come into hard times with being laid off from work and having no means to pay for it or even getting anywhere to find work. i am getting price quotes ranging from 3000 to 8000 dollars. its unbelievable to me theres no recall or compensation. im stuck with a vehicle that i not only have to pay for but cant even drive. something needs to be done. my e-mail is [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

I was driving home from work doing about 35mph and a large and loud pop followed by repeated quieter popping sound until i shut the engine off. i looked under the hood and confirmed my suspicion. a spark plug ejected from the #3 cylinder. i had to helicoil the head to fix it, otherwise the dealership wanted $1800 to replace the head. 2 months later driving too work the #2 cylinder ejected its sparkplug. same fix. i'm to worried to drive the truck at this point and haven't driven it since. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. the contact started the vehicle and there was an abnormal explosion from under the front hood. the vehicle was shut off and towed to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that one of the spark plugs had blew out and detached from the engine. the vehicle was repaired. the failure and current mileage was 78,000. the vin was unavailable.

2 spark plugs passenger side nearest radiator 'blew', vehicle has had all reccomended oil changes, including one a week prior to the incident. this particular incident also shredded all the spark plug wires on the passenger side. this has happened 2 more times involving all spark plugs now on passenger side of vehicle. *tt

My 2002 ford f150 with a 5.4 l triton v8 engine spit out a spark plug for no apparent reason. my f150 has 117,000 miles on it and has had no mechanical problems over it's life. it is serviced regularly and is used for routine driving. i happened to be 30 miles from home when i heard a loud tapping coming from the engine compartment. knowing a little about engines i checked to see what had happened and noticed that the spark plug had been pushed out of the cylinder head, causing the compression to cause it and the coil pack to continually strike the fuel rail. fortunately i knew a mechanic in the area 1/4 mile from my location and slowly drove to his shop. he said that it was a common problem with ford 4.6, 5.4 and 6.8 triton engines. he added that the aluminum used for the heads was too soft causing the spark plugs to spit out. there was no way of preventing this from happening or predicting when it would happen. the hole for this spark plug had all the treads blown out when the plug came out so i had to leave my truck at the garage for repair. the repair consisted of having to put a steel threaded insert into the head in order to secure the new spark plug / coil pack. the mechanic stated that i should definitely not drive it since it could cause a fire. i could smell the gas fumes from the engine compartment and fully believe this to be a good possibility. i can only imagine if someone was unfamiliar with engines and continued to drive with this condition with the possible result of a fire in the vehicle while their family is aboard. i think ford needs to do a recall on these engines to have them repaired in a safe fashion to prevent a tragedy of a fire while in operation. upon a google search of this topic it looks as though there are a multitude of the same type of incidents with these engines. thank you for your consideration. *tr

Ford f150 2002 was having what we thought was a wheel balance issue. day before sounded like lifters we needing adjustment (tapping) that seemed to get better as it drove. was turning onto a highway type road, engine made a bang that sounded like it threw a rod, followed by loud pops. there was no smoke or oil. immediately pulled over and cut the engine. had to tow truck to dealer ($90). ford dealer identified blown spark plug #3, and used a kit to install helicoil to allow replacement spark plug. they said induction cleaning was also necessary due to the non-firing cyl, plus all new plugs. repair cost $950. lost use of truck for two days, and then found out this is a known issue without a recall; and it could happen at any time on other spark plugs. spark plugs original to vehicle and normal maintenance was conducted on the truck. was advised i could have done nothing different to prevent this from happening.. shocked and appalled to read of thousands of similar occurrence, and ford even has a kit to repair their manufacturing defect. *tr

I own a 2002 ford f150 with a 5.4 triton engine. i just had an issue with a spark plug coming out of the head. i have read many reports of people having this same issue with new factory plugs and replacement plugs. this seems to be a design flaw that ford has yet to admit is a design flaw. this issues can result in a fire luckily it did not happen with mine. i work at a salvage yard and this is one of the common things we see happen to these motors. i thought i had one that was not part of the issue but i guess not. now i will have the cost of a tow call and what ever it will cost to fix it and from what i have seen so far around $500-1500 if heads are not changed. if heads are changed then it could be alot more. *tr

In april of 2010 my f-150 truck "spit" a spark plug while traveling at freeway speed. this was a dangerous situation since it was during rush hour and many 18 wheel trucks were traveling down the i-5 at the time and were reluctant to allow a car to pull over. i had the truck fixed at a aaa approved repair station which removed the remaining spark plug, retapped the block, installed an insert and new plug. then, the same thing happened again in october of 2010 to a different plug. again i had the truck repaired in the same manner. the risk of fire and collision was directly caused by the failure of these spark plugs. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. while driving approximately 60 mph, the contact heard a loud rattling noise from the engine area. the vehicle was taken to a local repair shop where the contact was informed that one of the spark plugs had blown out. the vehicle was being repaired. the current and failure mileages were approximately 110,000.

Blow spark plug on a 2002 ford f-150 5.4 pickup. *tr

On september 28th 2010 i was driving from indianapolis, in to louisville, ky on a very busy i-65 interstate. at approximately 4pm i heard a very loud pop and lost all power. i could hear a very loud banging noise and at first i thought i blew a tire. i immediately tried to get from the fast lane to the emergency lane but with as many cars on the road this was difficult. i finally made it to the emergency lane and turned my flashers on. when i got out of my vehicle i checked for a flat tire but that was not the issue. i restarted the truck and lifted the hood of my engine. i noticed that one of my coil power packs was at a weird angle. when i went to check if it was still attached the compression of my number 2 cylinder blew the spark plug the rest of the way out of the engine and hit my hood very narrowly missing my head. the coil was also destroyed by the force of the spark plug coming out of the cylinder. my truck is a 2002 ford f-150 with less than 100k miles. this is a very dangerous issue that needs to be corrected. *tr

Events leading up to the failure would have to be...everyday driving.... the failure - for the third time now, a spark plug ejected from the cylinder head. consequences - $800 ford dealership parts/labor, plus 2 tow truck services. new plug, insert, and coil. *tr

I was driving in the urban street and i suddenly hear a noise coming from the engine compartment, like something is leaking from the engine. so i had it towed to my house which is around 2 kms away. we discovered that one of the spark plug just pull out of the engine and it was the one that was making the noice and no power. i brought it to my friend whjo is a mechanic and he discovered that the tread is damaged and he cannot insert the plug anymore. i bought it used on march 2008. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. while driving approximately 3 mph, the vehicle exhibited a loud pop from the engine as the vehicle began to lose power. the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer where he was informed that a spark plug fractured from the engine and tore an engine coil. the vehicle was in the process of being repaired. the vin was unavailable. the failure and current mileage was 95,800.

Starting from a stoplight, i heard a sudden pop and smelled gas. loud clicking or popping noise caused me to turn around and head straight to the dealer. they said a spark plug blew out, damaging the coil. initial estimate of $500 grew to $3600 as they said then that the head would need to be replaced due to damage there as well. researching this problem, it appears that there are quite a few (many many many) ford owners with this problem! why is there no recall? immediate safety or not, this is an obvious defect. *tr

I was following the ford rules for when to replace spark plugs at 100,000 miles. i have 99,860 miles on my 2002 ford f150 xlt 4.6l triton v8 motor. i was driving home from getting the new plugs from the auto store to replace when i heard what sounded like a gun going off. one of the spark plugs fired out of its location ripping off the coil pack hitting my fan blade on the truck. this is very dangerous because as i have been reading. the fuel could have been ignited by the coil pack causing a fire or worse. what is being done about this defect and why has their not been a recall on the ford motors? *tr

I have a 2002 f-150 harley-davidson edition supercrew pick up truck and just had my number 3 spark plug blown out it destroyed the coil pack the plug and boot the vehicle has 121,556 miles. *tr

2002 ford f150 5.4l engine plug popped out broke coil. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. while traveling at 25 mph, there was an unusual pop from the front end of the vehicle. immediately, there was an abnormal air pressure release sound. the dealer advised that the engine head would need to be replaced. the vehicle was not repaired. there were no prior warnings of the failure. the current and failure mileages were 106,000.

I have had two sparkplugs ejected from my truck motor. i have a ford truck. it has happened twice in two years with plugs that were in it when i bought it new from a ford dealer, with ford certified mechanics. 2 out of 8 is a 25 % failure rate. *tr

2002 f-150 history - have had to replace 4 coils. 2 were burned out and 2 were damaged from the spark plug blowing out the hole, this last time just recently (june 2010). *tr

On a 2002 ford f-150 harley davidson edition truck, the # 2 spark plug was ejected from the engine while driving 65 mph, causing my vehicle to slow down, and the gasoline and exhaust fumes were filing the drivers compartment. this is the second truck i have owned previous a (2003 same vehicle model) where the sparkplug has been ejected from the engine while driving. why is there no recall or study on this problem from ford?? engine still had original plugs from factory!! their torque specs!! *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. while driving at 55 mph, the spark plug failed. the contact called an authorized dealership and the dealer stated that the spark plug did not call for repair until 100,000 miles. the dealer also stated that there are different metals interacting with each other which would cause the spark plugs to fail and stated that the contact would have to pay out of pocket for repair. the vehicle was repaired. the current mileage was 89,533. the failure mileage was 89,520.

Spark plug blow out ford f150 4.6 v8 triton engine. *tr

Spark plug blowout of the cylinder head on a ford 5.4 triton motor. many have had this problem and have to deal with a bad design by ford. it makes these ford vehicles non reliable because it could leave you stranded away from home with no one to fix the problem like what happened to me. *tr

Ford triton v8-4.6l spark plug ejection on #2 plug. this has now happened to me as i was driving at 60mph and it blew it out and the coil spring is now down on top of the piston and smashed within seconds. towed to ford dealership and mechanic admitted this was common but no recalls. he scoped the cylinder with bore scope to find the coil spring smashed so bad it could not be retrieved. estimated cost is $3500.00 plus remove head and clean out. can i claim this back to ford? *tr

Auto fire: resident heard car horn sounding, came out and saw 2002 ford f-150 smoking. opened door and air entering vehicle started flames to grow. neighbor extinguished with dry chemical. appears to have been smoldering for sometime, due to heavy smoked glass in cab interior and melted dash compartment. resident had last driven vehicle at 7pm, monday night. truck dash is extensively damaged. fire originated in the middle of the dashboard. vin # has no recalls. reported to fire department. *tr

My 2002 ford f-150 with triton 4.6 liter engine blew the #4 plug on sunday morning. after it spent 3 days in the dealership to repair the problem, it then blew the #2 plug the very same night i picked it up on 4/7. now i have found that this is a very common and well known problem in the 1997 to 2008 for engines with aluminum head threads. ford is not taking responsibility for this design flaw. it is a hug problem that needs to be acknowledged. *tr

I was driving my 2002 ford f150 with a 4.6l triton v8 at 65 miles per hour, when all of a sudden my motor made a loud bang and the was banging non stop. i was unable to pull over imediatly because i was on the pa turnpike at a narrow point. i pulled over a little down the road and after a exspensive tow i learned that the #3 spark plug blew out of the cylinder head. the mechanic first tried to repair it with a self tapping sparkplug repalcemen thread but the damage was to extensive. now he is going to try a heli coil if that doesn't work i'm told i will need a new head.