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Spit Spark Plug Ignites Ford Truck

Feds Deny There's a Safety Problem, Refuse to Take Action

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 26, 2007
Thousands of Ford truck owners have paid thousands of dollars to repair the damage caused by the mighty Ford Triton V-8 engine spitting a spark plug from its aluminum cylinder head.

They're the lucky ones compared to Dan of Huntington Beach, California. They at least had a truck left to repair.

Dan's 1997 F250 is a mass of charred rubber, melted glass and frayed wires.

Dan's Truck

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The first plug blew from the number three cylinder on the passenger side of Dan's truck. He repaired it. Then 200 miles later the number four cylinder from the passenger side spit a spark plug.

"This time the loose plug started a fuel fire and burned my truck down to the axles in 12 minutes," Dan wrote ConsumerAffairs.com. The truck was destroyed.

"BEWARE. This could kill you," Dan warned. "It went up so fast we lost our cameras, computer, GPS and just got out ourselves."

Other consumers agree the problem is a hazard.

"Truly this is a dangerous situation because the fuel rail is right above the coil and spark plug. If this rail and injector break when the plug blows out this could result in a fire," said Robert of Quarryville, Pennsylvania, whose 2001 F250 Super Duty Crew Cab blew its #3 spark plug a few weeks ago.

NHTSA: No Problem

But at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a taxpayer-supported agency whose job is to protect the American public, federal employees disagree with Dan and Robert's warnings and have responded that no one is going to die because, as they see it, the spark plug issue presents no serious safety consequence.

An attorney in Santa Clarita, California, had petitioned NHTSA, asking it to investigate reports that Ford SUVs, pickups, Crown Victorias and Mustangs sold in the 1997-2004 model years had spark plugs that can come loose and fly through the hood.

Instead of putting consumer safety first, NHTSA is backing Ford. It's refusing to consider spit spark plugs beyond stating that its analysis of 474 complaints describing the incidents "found only a very few alleged any safety-related consequences. None of these showed any evidence of a serious safety consequence."

For its part, Ford continues to stonewall the problem and refuses to acknowledge any responsibility, a policy that is causing unrest among Ford service managers and technicians. One service technician recently told ConsumerAffairs.com that, even when Ford agrees to repair one of the engines, it pays dealers so little for the repair that the technicians end up working free hours.

NHTSA concluded its brief investigation with a haughty brush-off for Ford truck owners.

"In the need to allocate and prioritize limited resources to best accomplish the agency's safety mission, the petition (for a full-scale investigation possibly leading to a recall) is denied."

The agency made Audi stage a second recall of some A6 sedans, claiming a previous recall had not fixed a headlight switch that could short out and start a fire.

If complaints to ConsumerAffairs.com are any indication, few of the defects addressed by these recalls have caused widespread problems. Ford's spark plug problems, however, produce a steady stream of anguished complaints. While most don't involve fires, many have caused sudden engine failure that left consumers stranded on the roadside.

Boxed In

NHTSA might want to explain to David of Richfield, Ohio, that the safety plug blow-outs aren't a safety hazard.

"I was driving my 2001 Ford F-150 from Cleveland to Columbus when all of the sudden I heard a loud pop then a loud continuous popping sound came from the engine," David said in a ConsumerAffairs.com complaint dated March 21, 2007. "At first I was a little scared because I was in the middle of traffic on I-71 boxed in between two semi trucks. I couldn't move to the right or left.

"When I finally was able to move to the side of the road, I opened the hood and what did I find?" he wrote. " A spark plug melted to a piece of plastic and a spark plug coil with the spring sticking out sparking against another piece of plastic. I can only wonder what would have happened if I touched the energized spark coil or if it came in contact with metal and I touched the metal. Or even worse, what if the sparking coil came in contact with something flammable?"

"I was lucky that I and my passengers were not killed," Dan said. "Will someone have to die before this problem is fixed?"

Chris of Temple, Georgia, was driving home from work in his 2001 Expedition when he "heard a loud explosion as if some one had fired a gun right outside my door. The Expedition began operate poorly and was hard to control."

"I pulled to the side of the road only to see my spark plug sitting on the intake manifold. The sparkplug blew out of my motor thru the coil pack and busted my pcv valve hose," Chris said.

"I was driving my 2001 Ford F-250 with a V10 engine in some bad winter weather when I heard the engine pop," wrote Thomas of Bellevue, Iowa. "Luckily I was able to maintain control on slick roads after sudden loss of engine power. After getting out to inspect engine, I found the #1 spark plug still in the ruined ignition coil resting on top of the engine."

"My wife was driving to work when the number 3 spark plug blew out of my 2002 f150 Lightning," Dennis of Alta Loma, California, reported. "My wife was stranded on the side of the road. 30 miles from home. For 4 hours at night."

Not Uncommon

Most of the complaints of spit spark plugs at ConsumerAffairs.com involve vehicles with Triton V-8 and V-10 engines in model years 1997 to 2002. This includes the Econoline vans, F-Series trucks, the Explorer, Expedition, Excursion, Crown Victoria and some models of the Mustang.

More than 200 consumers have written to ConsumerAffairs.com about the problem over the last five years. In nearly every case, the Ford owners also complained to Ford, only to be told that the problem was not covered under their warranty and disclaiming any knowledge of a broader problem.

Many Ford dealers feign surprise at the sight of a spark plug blown out of its position in the cylinder head and profess to have never seen anything like the mess spread out before them.

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