I was driving my 2002 Ford F150 with a 4.6L Triton V8 at 65 miles per hour, when all of a sudden my motor made a loud bang and the was banging non stop. I was unable to pull over imediatly because I was on the pa turnpike at a narrow point. I pulled over a little down the road and after a exspensive tow I learned that the #3 spark plug blew out of the cylinder head. The mechanic first tried to repair it with a self tapping sparkplug repalcemen thread but the damage was to extensive. Now he is going to try a heli coil if that doesn't work I'm told I will need a new head.

- East Greenville , PA, USA

Spark plug blow out in 2002 Ford Triton engine. In past 3 years have had 2 sparkplugs blow out while traveling approx 65mph. Problem corrected by retapping and replacing the plug at approx $700 repair each.

- Thornton, CA, USA

#3 spark plug blew out of the head going 65 mph. $500- repair bill to place a helicoil. Talking to several mechanics, it is a common problem with the 5.4 Ford motor. Why has there been no recall or safety warning issued?

- Redding, CA, USA

2002 Ford F150 blew the spark plug out of the head when starting engine. Gasoline fumes in cab very strong, had to exit vehicle, disable sparkplug coil to keep from having a serious gasoling fire on my hands......

- San Leon, TX, USA

2002 Ford F-150 5.4 V8 - spark plug blew out of cylinder no. 3 under normal driving use. Vehicle has 98,000 original miles on the engine. I have Ford extended service plan on the vehicle, although the local dealer said this is not covered under the warranty, and wants to charge me $4500 to repair. When I called the salesman to inquire about the esp, he said that the 5.4 is known to have those problems with the spark plug, so why will Ford not stand up and accept responsibility!

- Stevensville, MD, USA

I own a 2002 F-150 4X4 it has 79K miles and had the original Ford plugs in it. I was stranded a long distance from home when the truck spit a spark plug out destroying the coil. Smoke and fuel came out from the engine compartment and not knowing what went wrong I thought the truck was on fire. I had the truck towed to a Ford dealership where they said yes that's a bummer. They fixed it with an insert and said there is no guarantee it wont happen again to that cylinder or the other ones!! not feeling comfortable leaving town in my truck now, I find out this spark plug issue is so common that there are shops in my little area that fix one to two of these problems a week! I'm sure Ford don't even know about these vehicles. So I contacted Ford directly and was told the same thing everyone else is being told across the country sorry cant help you!! but we have great incentives on new vehicles!! I was told the preventable fix for this problem is to replace the spark plugs more often although due to the cylinder head design this is only a possible bandage not a permanent fix and it could still happen. Ford and Chevrolet represent history. I know times are bad but stand up for your product be american!!

- Paso Robles , CA, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Ford F-150. The number 7 and 8 spark plugs have blown out of the cylinder head. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection. The technician stated that the spark plugs misfired because there was not enough thread to hold the spark plugs in place. Spark plug number 8 and replaced and number 7 was in the process of being replaced. The failure mileage was 94,227.

- Lodi, CA, USA

2002 Ford F-150 5.4 V8 - original factory spark plug blew out of cylinder no. 3 under normal driving use. Vehicle has 78,000 original miles on the engine and plugs and Ford does not recommend changing the spark plugs in this engine for the first 100,000 miles. Service manager at the Ford dealership where truck is being repaired indicated that this is a common issue with this motor, however the repair is not covered by Ford.

- East Haddam, CT, USA

Ford Triton 5.4 spark plug ejection.

- Libby, MT, USA

2002 F150 Ford Triton spark plug ejection.

- Azle, TX, USA

I got in the truck and started it, there was a funny noise and a loud bang. I shut off the truck and saw smoke coming from under the hood on the passenger side near the windshield. I looked under the hood and decided it needed to go into the shop. I took it to the dealership and was told the spark plug had blown out of the block of the truck, they tried to put it back in but the head had been stripped and the coil was cracked. We were then advised that the truck needed a new head.

- Delia Ab Canada T0j 0w0, 00, USA

02' Ford F150 Triton V8 5.4 1. loud tapping noise from motor. 2. & 3. spark plug blown out of the head. So far this has happened twice. New spark plug, new coil pack, healy-coil pack, 4 hrs of my time working on this P.O.F.S... there should be a recall on this because it seems to be happening on all the Ford trucks out there. Only Ford.

- North Fort Myers, FL, USA

2002 Ford F150 5.4L, spark plug blew out of engine while driving, gas smell and sparks in engine compartment. This has happened twice to me, 11-25-08 at 70K mi with original factory plugs cly #3 passenger side and 11-03-09 at 82K mi with the replacement ngk plugs cly #4 drivers side. This should be a recall very high risk of under hood fire.

- New Berlin, WI, USA

I have a 2002 Ford F-150 lightning, I was driving one day and the spark plug shot out of the engine due to lack of threads to hold the spark plug in. The vehicle was repaired using a time-sert kit.

- Katy, TX, USA

Apparently the NHTSA must need more complaints or a death to investigate this issue. Second pending fix 9-23-2009 95,000. After having read all these complaints and reliving the same problems again through this website, and I'm sure many more undocumented complaints. I am now on my second fix. First time 3 spark plugs through the engine. Had extended warranty so Ford did a band aid fix ( surprise ) now here we are a year later and we need surgery $4900 just to put a new head on one side. What is being done to hold Ford accountable for a known defect. The opportunity for fire and/or death is very high and yet this problem is not important to anyone except for letting Ford get rich on their known defect. Sad gov site this is just a vent page never to handled.

- Simi Valley, CA, USA

My 2002 Ford F-150 has in the past two months experienced three blown/ejected spark plugs causing the damage and necessary replacement of "coils". this posed a possible safety hazard, and I am very unhappy at the time and cost I have incurred since the initial onset of this problem, that apparently Ford has been aware of all of this time.

- San Jose, CA, USA

Event.. I was driving West bound on the 215 freeway in las vegas, nv. Exiting durango road. I sat at the intersection waiting for the signal light to turn green. When the light turned green, moving forward, I was making a left hand turn going (10mph) South bound on durango road, just at that time I herd a loud pop noise. As I was pulling over, my truck (F150) was running rough, I stopped, put it in park, shut the engine off, opened the hood and there sat a coil pack including the spark plug on top of the motor. After evaluating the incident more, I notice that the coil pack and spark plug came from the passenger side engine head #three (3) cylinder. My truck has the original motorcraft spark plugs in it since 2002. Not sure why the spark plug would just pop-out. Nice job Ford!! Ford manufactures the motor (Triton 5.4L) and the motorcraft spark plugs" seems very simple whose responsibility this is. Repair cost''the repair shop is estimating $2,500 head repair or new engine at approximately $6,500 Inc. Labor. Questiions.. how is the consumer going to know prior to the spark plug popping out, to secure it? why are the spark plugs popping out? not enough threads? how do the executives at Ford sleep at night knowing that this problem could take someone's life at any time" personal comment.. when the spark plug or the coil pack was ejected from the engine head, this could have hit the fuel rail and started a tremendous fire, like a lot of people in the us we don't always carry a fire extinguisher because an '!@#$% spark plug is going to pop out of the engine head and start the truck on fire. This is ridiculous!!!! Ford Motor Company needs to own up to there mistakes before somebody looses there life. I am not the suing type of person, but if one of my kids looses there life driving my truck because of a spark plug problem and Ford Motor Company did not tell me about it, I am afraid to tell you what I would do. This is not a threat just reality.

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

Blew two spark plugs out of the head on two separate incidents about 3 months apart. Had plug hole rethreaded and it blew out again about three months later. Had sleeve put into the head today. Hope that holds it but doubtful.

- Welch, WV, USA

I own a 2002 Ford F150 with the Triton 5.4L V-8. I have had spark plugs eject from 3 different cylinders now and Ford claims it is not a recall issue. This problem has been noted on many of the Ford vehicles with the Triton 5.4 V-8. when the spark plug is ejected fuel vapor can leak into the engine compartment and possibly cause a fire. I have not had that problem but I am frustrated with Ford's unwillingness to cover a known problem with their design.

- St. Paul Park, MN, USA

Driving along a river road at 35 miles per hour, after a short highway drive of about 70mph, a spark plug blew out of the #3 cylinder. We were going camping with our 2 young boys, so decided to drive the truck home. During the drive the smell of gasoline vapor was overpowering. We had only a 45 mile drive to home. On getting the truck home I popped the hood and to my horror the ejected plug was still firing on top of the valve cover. This is an extreme fire hazard!

- Hayden, ID, USA