car will probably be gone this week

FWIW…there’s no need to ask Jeff…it was my truck that launched the spark plug. I’m going to give you the best advice about Ford Modular motors I can possibly offer.

Go look at the threads in the forums on

http://www.f150online.com about spark plug blowout.

Then, don’t even think of changing the spark plugs yourself. Let a dealership do it.

When the spark plugs blow out, make Ford replace the head(s).

If they won’t do that, or they offer a different type of repair, contact Donald W. Ricketts Esq. (IIRC he’s an atty. in the state of California) and seek remediation based on the class action law suit that was filed against FoMoCo for their shitty spark plug thread depth and material choices.

Ford claims the “PI head redesign in 2003” fixed the problem, but the new heads and plugs are made of the same materials and are easily cross-threaded or contaminated with dirt due to the wierd location Ford engineers decided to jam the plugs down into.