Driving on CO Hwy 14 about 25 miles west of Walden (out in the middle of nowhere) when BOOM! Thought I'd had a blow out. Stopped & checked all tires, all good. Maybe the engine blew up! Of course, there was NO cell service! Engine re-started, but it made a terrible noise if I went over about 20 MPH. So, about 1 1/2 hours later limped into Walden & stopped at 1st mechanic I saw. Well, he knew right away what the problem was. A blown spark plug! Yep, that year & make of engine is known for this problem! So, he replaced the spark plug the next day & I was on my way again. However, he did tell me that this would happen again! So, after I got home did some research & found that quite a few others have had this same issue with this engine.

Apparently Ford will not take responsibility for it (shame on them) as mostly this happens after the warranty runs out! So, the cost to replace the plug in Walden was $208, but now I need to have an insert put in, which will hopefully prevent it from happening again (to this plug at least!). It is incomprehensible to me, that a major US car manufacturer will not stand behind their product & admit to having made a mistake! I always considered Ford to be a good reliable company, but not so much anymore!

I had a turn up of all 8 spark plugs in 2013 but the check engine light came on. No one could find out why. Ford dealers refused to service because it was a 22ft RV. I paid 370.00 for a Kia dealer to do tune up as required at 101,437 miles. They started doing RV under hood work. In June 2016, driving down I-65 in Birmingham Al. a spark plug blew out and severe noise occurred. It was Sunday and had to have a mechanic come out to road because dealers were closed. It cost $210.00 total for parts and labor to get me going and home. September 14, 2016 the same spark plug plus 1 more blew out on US 20 Portage, In, terrible loud noise. Drove to nearest car center cost, it cost 376.00 to temporarily fix problem and an estimate of 4500.00 to solve the problem and prevent spark plugs from blowing out while driving. The Mechanic said Ford knows this was a factory error but no recall because there was not any fires from this., There is a class action lawsuit settled on 2004-2008 5.3L at www.fordsparkplugsettlement.com but not for my year. The spark plug holder cracks and will blow out if I drive at a high speed. It is loud driving on 7 plugs rather than 8 and it uses enormous amount of gas. Can't get dealers to help me because it has an RV on it's chasis. I am a 501c3 foundation that talks to veterans and give shoulder massages in their neighborhoods to help combat PTSD so the vehicle is important. I paid for it myself. Can anyone help me with this problem or having a similar problem with their F-350 5.4L engine?

Took the van to the store. Upon returning from store started the van, there was a loud explosion as if a bomb went off. Everyone looked because it was so loud. Turned the van off and restarted it. It sounded like a drag car at the track, no exhaust system at all. Took cow off and looked inside, found the spark plug with the boot laying on top of the valve cover or intake, not sure there is no room and just enough to get two fingers in to retrieve it. I had noticed a little ticking earlier in the day like an exhaust leak, but did not find one. Had vehicle towed to repair shop, where it is now. Not sure what will happen next.