I'd read all over the internet that this was an issue and several years ago my next door neighbor had the exact problem on the 5.4L engine in his Explorer, but I've been (or thought I had been) diligent in doing frequent preventative maintenance and taking care of it....UNTIL NOW.

On my way to work this morning I heard a loud "pop!" and then heard a fluttering sound similar to an exhaust leak and noticed a sudden power loss. I pretty much knew right away that a spark plug had blown.

I limped it the last couple of miles to my work, and once it was light enough outside my inspection confirmed my suspicions - #2 spark plug blew out, detonating the coil pack in the process. I guess I should feel fortunate that I got 227,672 miles on it before this happened? What sucks is this truck ran butter smooth without issues before this happened, and now I need to decide to sell it as a project / parts vehicle, or pony up about $1K to repair a vehicle that likely Bluebooks slightly above that.

With the current state of our economy, I really don't have the money to fix this or even put a down payment on a new(er) vehicle.

With the plethora of complaints and details posted everywhere it's obvious that Ford has been aware of this since at least the early 2000's, Ford really needs to step up to the plate and OWN THIS!

What will it take for Ford to honestly handle this and provide a PERMANENT solution? A mass boycott at a Ford motor plant or dealership? Ford owners towing their broken down vehicles to a Ford motor plant and parking them in front in protest?

I was getting on the interstate when all of the sudden, I heard a popping noise coming from under the hood, and the engine lost power. I got off at the next exit and when I opened the hood (after I shut the engine off) I smelled unburnt gas. I figured it was a blown spark plug just from hearing about it so often. Yep, it was blown. I probably could have disconnected the fuel injector and drove it for a bit more, but I didn't.

The fix involved rethreading the head where the plug blow out, and putting an insert in with red RTV. I have now driven over 2,000 miles with no issues. My total cost was around $50 + 2 hours of work. MAKE SURE YOU GET ALL THE METAL OUT OF THE CYLINDER AFTER RETHREADING! I used a shopvac and an air compressor to make sure no metal was left.

This truck is like new, it was really take care of. I was driving down the road about 55mph when it started running rough. I heard a bang in the engine, and then it really started running bad. It sound like I had a bad exhaust leak. I called a friend who is a mechanic and told him what happened. He told me I blew a spark plug and it is common with them. Well he was right, I discovered the last spark on the passenger side was missing. The boot was torn up and the coil pack was damaged. I have heard of fouled plugs, but not of one completely missing. Come on ford and man up!! If somebody would have been following me I would have been hit from behind. The road I was on did not have a lot of room to pull off, If this is how ford makes thing and stands behind them by not doing a recall. I'm going to get it fixed and trade it in on a new CHEVY!!!

I was cruising along the highway at approx 68 mph then initially I heard what sounded like a loud POP then immediately after sounded like I had a cracked manifold but not quite. Once I felt the power had dropped quite a bit I then realized my engine shot one of the spark-plugs. I pulled off into the first parking lot I could find and found it to be the #3 cylinder, it also wiped out the ignition coil too. The truck currently has 153,827 miles on it, I did have the plugs serviced at the Ford dealer I bought the truck from at around 120,000 miles Figuring they where genuine Ford techs and were well aware of this issue, I thought they would have a few ways to help avoid this problem (proper plug torque and etc...). Hence why I would pay someone else for an otherwise simple job, so for Ford to go and say this issue is caused by improper installation of spark-plugs is indeed bull$hit. As of now I ordered a repair kit Ford Triton Spark Plug Repair Kit 5553 by TIME-SERT, a set of ignition coils and a new spark plug for around $510 and will try my luck when they get here. As for Ford themselves I am very pist off at a company that still uses the slogan "Built Ford Tough" and yet lacks the accountability to own up and do something about a serious problem that has plagued so many other people for so long now. Other than that I've grown to like my F-150 a lot its been good to me so far up til now but I am also very disappointed in the same breath.

I am on a fixed income, just had an operation on my neck ! The plug blew out about a month, maybe two, before my operation was done. The cost to fix cost almost as much as the value of the truck ( $3000 -$3500).

It's been a long period of time and I still haven't got the money to solve this problem. Why Ford didn't recall all these engines and fix or buy them back, not leave them out here for people to purchase not knowing this engine can blow a plug like that? Dealers / Sellers needed to give the buyers a warning of the issues with this engine it can and will cause someone that don't know injury or? .

Have had vehicle since 1999. Never had any mechanical problems. I decided to keep the vehicle and replaced shocks, brakes, tires, alignment, new tires etc.Then vehicle's engine started missing, vibrating. Had it checked mechanic said something was not right with #4 plug. On repairing it, he said he used a helicoil. It ran for a couple of weeks. Then one day I heard a loud pop. Engine started vibrating bad. Looked under hood and found spark plug dangling by the plug wire.

Did some research and found that Ford did not have adequate threading on engine block. It has 4 threads instead of 8. This was found out by a man who supposedly filed a class action lawsuit in California. I have searched all over the web, time and time again, to see if there were any results on to no avail. What gives? Was someone paid off, or did Ford just blow it off hoping everyone would loose interest?

Needless to say I'm switching to Chevy. I had been with Ford for a long time but when all you get is lame excuses, it's time for a change. I still have my Ford truck waiting to save up 3200 dollars or more that they tell me fix it. But there is no guaranty they it will work as I hear that the blocks are iffy after many miles.

This is the third time the engine has blown out a plug. I'm reporting this one only because I do not know the dates of the other two times, my mechanic can probably look them up.This is obviously a huge problem that MANY people have.

I have paid about $1200 to have the three blown spark plugs fixed. Since this is an inherent problem with Ford engines I feel they should reimburse all costumers, this should not be happening. I am just waiting for the next one to go, when I hear the familiar sound, call my mechanic and lose a few more hundred dollars.

Come on Ford, do the right thing!