Eff-by-Four

2002 Ford F-150 FX4
Supercab XLT 8 ft box
331 cubic inch/5.4 liter V-8
3.73 gears
BFG AT-KO tires
Bilstein Heavy Duty Shocks
Pendaliner bed liner
Access Roll-up Tonneau

She's been a pretty good truck except for blowing the number three plug on the passenger side at 72,000. I wasn't beating on her or nothing. Just sitting at a light. Went to pull away and it sounded like someone lit off a pack of black cats under the hood. Nearly crapped myself. Limped her home and almost did again when I saw what was going on. I pulled the coil and there was the boot and plug all beat to snot with no threads in the hole. Gee thanks Ford. Tell me the plugs are good for a 100,000 and I buy it. Yep, I'm a sucker. I get a recall for a cruise control wire but not for this. I did a little surfing and found that it is a common problem on the Triton 5.4 V-8. Nice. Thanks again Ford. You could have at least sent out a warning.

I easily fixed it with a Time-Sert kit and some common sense. I took my time, used an air ratchet, kept the cutting tools well oiled and cleared the chips often. No problems in 10,000 miles and at 300 bucks plus a little labor it was way cheaper than the 3 grand the stealer wanted to install a new head with the same factory defect.