2003 Mustang 4.6 Cylinder Head
11-03-2008, 04:43 PM
#1
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: NJ
Posts: 86
2003 Mustang 4.6 Cylinder Head
Hello everyone, I bought the car 30,000 miles ago in early 08 this year, and the other day I was coming back from a NJ Devils game in Newark when I heard the car make a pop corn sound, turns out it blew a cylinder. It's all covered under warranty. I knew there was a problem the week before when I was hearing a ticking sound. The place I'm having the car worked on is the dealership I bought the car at.
Now my question is, is there anything else I should have replaced being that I need a new cylinder head? I love my car, I wash it once a week and wax it once a month and I'm not too hard on it, I get on it a bit, but who doesn't, it's a mustang lol. Thanks for the help, and I hope that everyone else is having better luck with their mustangs!
Now my question is, is there anything else I should have replaced being that I need a new cylinder head? I love my car, I wash it once a week and wax it once a month and I'm not too hard on it, I get on it a bit, but who doesn't, it's a mustang lol. Thanks for the help, and I hope that everyone else is having better luck with their mustangs!
11-04-2008, 07:55 PM
#5
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: pa
Posts: 1,420
Sounds like the infamous blown spark plug. These engines like to puke their plugs every once in a while, because Ford (in their infinite wizdumb) saved a couple of cents per engine by not putting enough threads in the head to hold the plugs properly. You are lucky that they are going to replace the head under warranty. Just make sure that they check the plugs in the other head for tightness. I check mine once a month. Use a torque wrench set at 11-13 ft lbs.
) saved a couple of cents per engine by not putting enough threads in the head to hold the plugs properly. You are lucky that they are going to replace the head under warranty. Just make sure that they check the plugs in the other head for tightness. I check mine once a month. Use a torque wrench set at 11-13 ft lbs.
11-05-2008, 03:45 AM
#6
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Saint Augustine, FL
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Sounds like the infamous blown spark plug. These engines like to puke their plugs every once in a while, because Ford (in their infinite wizdumb) saved a couple of cents per engine by not putting enough threads in the head to hold the plugs properly. You are lucky that they are going to replace the head under warranty. Just make sure that they check the plugs in the other head for tightness. I check mine once a month. Use a torque wrench set at 11-13 ft lbs.
) saved a couple of cents per engine by not putting enough threads in the head to hold the plugs properly. You are lucky that they are going to replace the head under warranty. Just make sure that they check the plugs in the other head for tightness. I check mine once a month. Use a torque wrench set at 11-13 ft lbs.It was done (not unwisely, but probably unrealistically) to minimise the potential for the plugs seizing into the head--plugs that were scheduled to be changed 2, or maybe 3, times over the engine's useful life--every 100k miles.
Then along came enthusiasts (like me) who changed the plugs more often than every 100k miles, sometimes much more often, and those who don't believe in using properly sized torque wrenches for mundane tasks like changing spark plugs. I have installed literally hundreds of spark plugs in my life and often not used a torque wrench, on full-threaded gasketed plugs. Partial threaded tapered seat plugs are a whole different ballgame, use a torque wrench and you will not have problems...
11-05-2008, 03:40 PM
#8
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Maryland
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Actually it likely cost a tiny bit more to counter bore the spark plug holes.
It was done (not unwisely, but probably unrealistically) to minimise the potential for the plugs seizing into the head--plugs that were scheduled to be changed 2, or maybe 3, times over the engine's useful life--every 100k miles.
Then along came enthusiasts (like me) who changed the plugs more often than every 100k miles, sometimes much more often, and those who don't believe in using properly sized torque wrenches for mundane tasks like changing spark plugs. I have installed literally hundreds of spark plugs in my life and often not used a torque wrench, on full-threaded gasketed plugs. Partial threaded tapered seat plugs are a whole different ballgame, use a torque wrench and you will not have problems...
It was done (not unwisely, but probably unrealistically) to minimise the potential for the plugs seizing into the head--plugs that were scheduled to be changed 2, or maybe 3, times over the engine's useful life--every 100k miles.
Then along came enthusiasts (like me) who changed the plugs more often than every 100k miles, sometimes much more often, and those who don't believe in using properly sized torque wrenches for mundane tasks like changing spark plugs. I have installed literally hundreds of spark plugs in my life and often not used a torque wrench, on full-threaded gasketed plugs. Partial threaded tapered seat plugs are a whole different ballgame, use a torque wrench and you will not have problems...
11-06-2008, 11:53 AM
#9
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: NJ
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You're very lucky though!
11-07-2008, 07:57 AM
#10
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Eskimo Village, Indiana *No Igloo*
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I replaced a head on my passenger side for the exact same reason. Head cost me 200 (might have been 800 from a dealership) and then probably 120 in gaskets (so maybe 200-300 from a dealership) the rest is just time.