when someone says.."i snapped a sparkplug off...."
 

that means the plug sheared off the threaded section, into the head? i have never done it before. (so i dont know) so the plug seized into the head, and in the act of trying to back it out it comes apart?

friend did this to a used truck he bought. 2002 F150. in SoCal. truck had receipts showing a full tuneup 20k ago. i told him to leave it alone. damn. what method will they use to get it fixed? he took it to a mechanic that "tried gluing it"? no go...now the head needs to come out?

I snapped off a glow plug in my Benz. Drilled out the threaded portion *very carefully* then made a puller to yank out the body of the plug. That was fun.

Jake's 99 e300d Vegoil Conversion: Glow plug disaster

Unfortunately it's a fairly common problem with Ford's 5.4 engines. You need to buy a kit (around $450) to install Time Certs. Google "2002 Ford F150 spark plug time cert" and you'll find lots of information.

Couple pics of 5.4 Triton spark plug holes - FordMuscle.com Forums

Usually snapping off a plug means you broke the electrode off and stripped the threads. If the mechanic tried "gluing it" i guess they tried to epoxy the electrode back on?

Ugly situation. Gotta pull the head and easy out the old plug.

These trucks have two problems with the plugs, either the threads in the head strip( they are real short) or the plugs also will snap off in the head, leaving the threaded portion of the plug in there.
Snap on makes a kit to remedy both of these scenario's. If the plug is just broken off in the head, the head does not need to come off. I have done this repair before.
I was lucky in that the one I had come in with stripped threads, was in for a head gasket, and I had to pull the head off anyway, I have never timecerted one of these heads before , but I am pretty sure the head does need to come off for this operation. Pretty lousy design if you ask me. I have also had to junk a set of heads as the cam bearing surface was completely torn up.
I think there replacement heads with the "PI" designation on them. They are called performance improved, but the spark plug holes are threaded all the way down to remedy thread stripping syndrome.
My butt cheeks pucker up real tight everytime I have to tune one of these up, as it is pretty hard to tell a customer that his tune up is going to cost $1500.00

chriminy! 15hundred??? damn, i feel for my buddy. he had a roadtrip coming up too. sucks.

Might not be that much. if the plug snapped off , and the shop is able to get the old plug out leaving the threads intact, posstibly a 3-4 hour job, but if the heads need to come off..... yuck. The book says the motor has to come out to replace the heads, it is possible to remove the heads in the vehicle, but it is not really a time saver, and is a royal pain in the $%#, You have to set the head down in with the head bolts already inserted in the head, you stand a real good chance of tearing the head gakset, or scratching the deck. I did it once this way, and I will not attempt it again. Much easier to do it right once, than have to do it twice,

Any way you slice it, your friend is looking at a big bill.

That pretty much sums it up .

When I think "snapped a spark plug", this is what I picture. Not hard to do if you aren't using the right tool.

http://jeep.us41.org/sparkplugs/broken.jpg

But I think this isn't uncommon (but I'd think you've gotta work a lot harder to do it).

http://www.ricevigeantracing.com/broken_sparkplug.jpg

I did this to the last plug (at the firewall) on a 4.0L I6 in a Jeep Cherokee. I got it out by banging on the remaining piece with a brass drift, then inserting easy-out into center of remaining threads and praying. Nothing to lose by trying even if breaking the easy-out as the head would have to come off anyway.

I kept the plug as a souvenir of one of my pucker moments... :p

We have about 35 F-250s in service here. Just the other - first time ever, one of the plugs actually came loose. To our knowledge the last time it was touched was at the factory. Go figure.

Had to pay a machine shop $600 to re-thread, but they did not have to pull the head.

This is timely.

I broke the tip of anew plug off when installing new ones in my Grand Prix last weekend.

My brother was helping meand I thought he was nuts as he could not gett he new plug wire to seat. He isn't really a hands-on guy so I figured he was just doing it wrong. Nope, the tip had broken off when I threaded it in. I don't have an explanation but it happened.

I bought a '04 F150 last year with 5.4 triton. In my research I found the pre-04 5.4 Triton had probems with to few threads in the heads and the engine spitting plugs. The '04 and newer had more threads but the plugs would seize and break when trying to change them. The more mileage on them the tougher to get out.
I bought my truck with 103K Km (64K Miles), but the plugs had been changed once already. I also bought a Ford 3year warranty. I don't want to have anything go wrong on that thing while it's on my dime. Once the warranty is out, i'll probably sell it and get another truck. I do like the truck a lot though.

Those are 100k mile plugs in the modular engines. I have always changed them around 60k as I was worried about just that - seized plugs, after 8 years of no change ... I would also put some anti seize putting them back in those aluminum heads.

You really have to hang off that wrench to break a plug IMHO. Make sure that buddy of yours stays away from your vehicles.:)

George

Been there fixed that. P.I.A.

I never understood why Factories, and most mechanics (backyard, or otherwise) don't use anti-sieze. If something comes off of my Jeep, when it goes back together, it get a liberal dose of it. Cars that come in the shop get it too. Especially if it's steel going into aluminum. Unless it's brakes, then the fasteners get loc-tite blue. Compared to fixing a stripped plug hole, the stuff is REALLY cheap!

I still can't figure out how a drop of anti-sieze can smear and cover an area the size of Times Square though.

Mr. Hendog:

Please know that based on our experience with the 5.4, you are probably going to do very well with your truck.

As far as the 5.4, we have had well over 100 of them since they came out, and this is the first time we had a problem with a plug. The only recurring problem we have had, and it is not that common, is that the individual coil packs die occasionally and of course the engine then misses.

With the 04 and later trucks, the weakest point seems to be the front brake rotors, which use irreplaceable bearings.

Other than that, they are great trucks. The 150's also have a phenomenal ride for a truck, and are very rigid.