DEtonation

[Mach351]

ANyone ever had a plug blown right out of the front head of their V6? My wife goes to crank the escape this afternoon, and BLAM! That is some kinda detonation. What would cause this? I'm faced with pulling the head and either replacing or heli-coiling. WTF should I do?

[jnatale3]

I have seen "spark" plugs "shoot" back out of the cylinder head spark plug hole. That is usually from them not being tight enough. Do you mean a freeze plug? Not sure if that is what you meant. :)

[Mach351]

It was a Spark Plug, what really suxx is that I was replacing the plugs tommorow. If anybody is wanting to see me pull an engine apart, I will most likey be pulling the Head. Reading the Haynes manual now, it will not be FUN!

[jnatale3]

How are the threads in the plug, did it just back out? What year car? How many miles, I might can help you out, I have done similar ones, that is if it needs to be pulled.

[Mach351]

How are the threads in the plug, did it just back out? What year car? How many miles, I might can help you out, I have done similar ones, that is if it needs to be pulled.

It's a 01 Escape 3.0L V6 with 150k miles. It's a steel spark plug, so it stripped out the aluminum head. From what I am reading, it seems to be a problem with mod engines period. Even the tow truck driver mentioned he has seen 2 expeditions with 5.4's do it this week alone. I also ran up on this thread in Stangnet (http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=607458&page=2) while doing research. I'm leaning towards a helicoil of some sort with the head on the engine, and then going straight to a dealership and trading it in. :)

[droptopsnake01]

This happens all the time in mustangs. The plugs are held by 4 threads FTL.

[jnatale3]

Yeah, that is true about the plug's threads. I hope it works out okay man. :)

[Mach351]

I went by Boyette's this morning, and got the tools to do the helicoil. Did it, changed out the rest of the plugs, changed the PCV valve, (which is a job for people with little hands), and cranked it. It runs like it did before when it's cold, which ain't sayin much. I'm going to change the oil tommorow, and try replacing one crusty hose. Then to the Service department Monday morning.

[Mach351]

See the carnage!

http://bsoles.com/images/sparkplug.jpg
http://bsoles.com/images/coilpack.jpg

[Mach351]

This morning, I did the oil change. I had left the negative ground cable of the battery overnight. I put a clamp on the PVC hose at the intake. I also discovered I forgot to reconnect 1 vacuum hose. Started it up and ran better than ever!

[Paulman]

Sorry that happened, Bri. These 3.0L V6's are pretty reliable though - 150K miles is not bad.
Do you have the part numbers on the intake gaskets? I'm doing the plugs soon too on my Tribute. I'm hearing you should also do the PCV and one other part while you have the intake off.

[Mach351]

Paul, just get the intake gaskets from Crossroads parts dept, they are cheaper than my distributor. The PCV is a ***** to get at even with the upper intake off. I had to use really long pliers. It screws into the oil seperator at the base of the cylinder banks right underneath the fuel injector rails. Man, I could do the whole operation with my eyes closed now. It was so much faster this time. Also, the torque specs were in inch-lbs for the plugs. I couldn't find a inch-lbs torque wrench, I just snugged the plugs and intake bolts.

The escape drove great today. I drove it up to Carmax and got it appraised while we looked newer cars. They didn't think too much of my future beater.

[Paulman]

Thanks Brian - I'm really glad to hear you could re-thread the head to get that plug in there. :wink:
I'm surprised that happened - I'm hearing that aluminum heads don't have detonation as much as iron headed cars since they dissipate the heat better.
What are you going to replace the Escape with ?

[The Terminator]

Carmax is a good car company to buy from, but they don't give you much on your trade. Good luck on the search.

[Mach351]

Thanks Brian - I'm really glad to hear you could re-thread the head to get that plug in there. :wink:
I'm surprised that happened - I'm hearing that aluminum heads don't have detonation as much as iron headed cars since they dissipate the heat better.
What are you going to replace the Escape with ?

We're gonna look at the 08 escape, Rav4, CRV, and Santa Fe. She really likes the Honduh Pilot, and we were really impressed with the Freestyle. We might revisit it when it gets the 3.5L and becomes the Taurus X.

[mustang1369]

My wife really liked the Edge when we were buying the Sport Trac. If you need a great guy at Xroads let me know.

[Mach351]

UPDATE
I had a Ford Head engineer email me after seeing my post on escape-central.com. He offered ideas as to what it could have been and explained those heads were not prone to this kind of failure. I thought it was cool he took the time to respond.

[Paulman]

Wow that's great Brian - glad to hear these guys pay attention in some fashion to what the customers are saying. That site was very useful to me also. What kinds of things did he say about it ?