Help!!!!!!!!!
05-28-2009, 08:05 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2009
Location: virginia
Posts: 1
Help!!!!!!!!!
hi how is it going? well i'm new in the forum and i need some help with a problem i have with my car, i have a 99 mustang gt mostly stock the only things i got in it are a BBK intake and steeda pulleys but any ways my probles is that my engine started to make some ticking noises after i drove it from VA to NY and on my way back i lost a spark plug it came off the engine dameging the thred for it, well i got a mechanic fix the tred and put the spark plug in but i would like to know why is this happening, the mechanic told me it could be the timing does that sound orrect to you? or could there be something else wrong with it?
05-28-2009, 08:21 PM
#2
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: SC
Posts: 621
Well the spark plug blew out b/c it is a design flaw in the head but if you torque them correctly when you put new plugs in it will decrease the risk of blowing but there is still a chance of it blowing 1 even if it was torqued correctly welcome to the forums as for the ticking noise im not sure but i dont think that the timing itself would cause but a timing component could
05-28-2009, 08:26 PM
#3
TECH SAVANT
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Saint Augustine, FL
Posts: 10,938
The plug was not torqued properly when last installed...
By design the plugs on a 4.6L SOHC would only be changed every 100k miles. So, to minimise that the steel plugs would seize up in the aluminum head they only tapped 4-5 threads (later 8) into the plug bores--and when out of there way to make it clear, in all factory service manuals, that the plugs HAD to be properly torqued to 11-13 lb/ft on installation.
However in the field it turned out that "real" mechanics "don't need no damned torque wrench" to install spark plugs. This lead to plugs being under-torqued and backing out, or over-torqued and weakening or stripping the threads. This is all very similar to the early ('90 to early '91) Miata crankshaft bolt "defect".
The "defect", as it is, is that Ford's engineers assumed that a much higher level of skill and precision existed in the field than is really the case...
By design the plugs on a 4.6L SOHC would only be changed every 100k miles. So, to minimise that the steel plugs would seize up in the aluminum head they only tapped 4-5 threads (later 8) into the plug bores--and when out of there way to make it clear, in all factory service manuals, that the plugs HAD to be properly torqued to 11-13 lb/ft on installation.
However in the field it turned out that "real" mechanics "don't need no damned torque wrench" to install spark plugs. This lead to plugs being under-torqued and backing out, or over-torqued and weakening or stripping the threads. This is all very similar to the early ('90 to early '91) Miata crankshaft bolt "defect".
The "defect", as it is, is that Ford's engineers assumed that a much higher level of skill and precision existed in the field than is really the case...