Spark Plug Stripped In Ford F-150 Cylinder Head

Live Chat

My 2005 F-150 had a check engine light. I took it to get the computer and emission checked. Autozone scanned it and said it was an engine misfire on cylinder #3. I went to change the spark plugs and the treads came out of the engine with the plug. What do do now? Do I need a new engine or cylinder head?

Well, good news and bad news. The good news is that Ford is aware of spark plug issues on your truck and I do believe they will fix it for free, but you will have to check with a Ford dealer to be sure. The bad news is that you would now either have to have it towed to a dealer for repair, or drive it with cylinder 3 completely dead.

Ok. If ford does not take care of that for me under warranty, what do you expect will be the cost to be for repairs on my truck? My Ford has been running great for the longest time but I do  not want to spend a lot of money on repairing the engine, unless the fix will last a long time. I need to get many more miles out of my vehicle.

Well, they would be checking all the cylinders for the same problem. If they were only to fix the number 3 cylinder spark plug hole and charge your for it, it would depend on the severity of the problem. If the spark plug hole is easily accessible, the technician can usually re-tap the hole or use what is called a heli-coil which is a thread repair device. That labor can run you a couple of hours, so it could be a couple hundred dollars. If it is very bad, or others needs fixed as well, you can see how the price would rise. It all depends on the time to fix it, the more time, the more money.

Thank you very much ! This free live chat is the best thing I have ever seen to help people fix cars. You are a great online mechanic !