Fix Or Repair Daily?

[RUTHLESS]

Rant on...Good god this car is killing me. So far I have fixed an outer CV boot (had to call all over the country for it and then had to buy a used one). Then I noticed a chirping clutch noise that seems to be a known problem on alot of these cars. Oh and today I get a big exhaust leak from the rear passangers side of the engine that I have not even looked at yet. All this in under 2k miles. WTF...I swear I am going trade this thing in on a Z06!

UPDATE: I found a screw in my tire Tuesday! I forgot about that one. LOL

Rant off... So today I and driving to work and cross a set of railroad tracks at a low speed and when I get on the gass, I get a loud exhaust pop and the car starts popping when I hit the gass. No engine lights of any kind and it still has power. I limp the car up the road 1/4 mile and pull into my grandmothers drive way. The car has a loud exhaust leak from the rear of the passangers side but I cant feel any thing with my hand. There is no metal on metal noise or knocking at all so I dont think its anything bad. I pulled the coil cover and didnt feel any loose spark plugs so thats another good sign. I also never heard an exhaust leak prior to this so I dont think is a header gasket on the Bassani mids. That and I dont think a seal would go from dead silent to major leak all at once. The only thing I can think of is that the shop didn't tighten the bolt in the bung after the dyno day event and it came out?!? Well I guess I will see when I get home after the nice drive in my grandmothers 04 GT. lol

[03 OW SVT]

Glad i bought my white one instead of that one. :laughing1: :balls1:

[scott5]

i hope i dont run into little problems with mine..

Dont trade it on a Z06 trade it on a 95GT.. lol.. let us know what the conclusion is.

[J-rod]

be glad you dont have a fox

[RUTHLESS]

Glad i bought my white one instead of that one. I dont think the extra 50hp are worth it either.:duh: I hope the bolt just fell out from where the A/F sensor was installed at the dyno day or I am going to freak out.

I hope I get it fixed so I can make it to the FLD so I can get some payback for that comment. lol


be glad you dont have a fox I have a thirdgen f-body so that close enough. lol

[SonofaBish]

Once upon a time I was a Camaro guy but then I saw the light! LS what? lol

ah ha see... z06 ftw...

i'll show you LS what....

haha, but on a serious note ... good luck finding your problems... that's the only problem with buying off a dealer... you can't really have any clue who the prev. owner was and how well he/she took care of it....

[RUTHLESS]

I pulled the coil cover and didnt feel any loose spark plugs so thats another good sign.
I might have over looked the one under the TB because I was a little upset and in a hurry. Anyone want to bet that its not screwed into the head anymore? I just hope it didnt take any threads with it.

[Viper_ed]

I might have over looked the one under the TB because I was a little upset and in a hurry. Anyone want to bet that its not screwed into the head anymore? I just hope it didnt take any threads with it.

Good luck seeing it, especially if the stock K-member is still on the car. You'll have to see by the feel of your hands.

[03 OW SVT]

I dont think the extra 50hp are worth it either.:duh: I hope the bolt just fell out from where the A/F sensor was installed at the dyno day or I am going to freak out.

I hope I get it fixed so I can make it to the FLD so I can get some payback for that comment. lol

I have a thirdgen f-body so that close enough. lol

Bring it on boy. :biglaugh: :pepper:

[RUTHLESS]

Bring it on boy. :biglaugh: :pepper: Sorry I can't because I blew the plug, directly under the TB, out of the head and all 4 threads are gone. Damn you FORD! :awsome: Lol I guess laughing is better than being ticket off.

I will bring the noise in Grandma's GT tomorrow so look out!

BTW Everyone run out and make sure your spark plugs are in right.:laughing:

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that this had nothing to do with detination from what I can tell because all of the other plugs looked great. The one that blew out had a bit of carbon around the bottem and the last 4 threads were rounded off.

[99 GT Coupe]

Holy shit! that sucks man

[2001GTTT]

Thats weird....my buddies 2000 GT did the same thing the other day...blew plug 4 right out of the head....its currently at Ford as it suffered internal damage....shit happens.

[realitycheck]

Sorry I can't because I blew the plug, directly under the TB, out of the head and all 4 threads are gone. Damn you FORD! :awsome: Lol I guess laughing is better than being ticket off.





Any ideas why these things do this? Mine did the same exact thing. it was just sittin there idling and started makin that distinct poppin sound and the plug looks like someone peened it over. Shredded to coil pack. If you have any info on what caused it to do this please let me know.

[RUTHLESS]

It seems that the spark plugs like to back out because FORD only put 4 threads in the heads. The best part is that the coil packs hold the plugs in just enough to allow the engine to force the plug out taking a few threads with it.

I have found a kit made by time-sert (kit #5553) that will repair the threads back to factory but with SS threads. Some guys say it will cause a cooler plug but from what I can tell these guys never gave it a try and replaced the head only to have it happen again down the road. lol The guys that used the time-sert fix are all very happy and running some big power. I think this is more common with the Lighting guys.

If anyone else with a cobra runs into this here is a list of parts and tools I ordered.
1. ProVision borescope (Not needed but I want to have a look inside) $150
2. Advance auto parts sells a Coil on Plug Boot kit that comes with 2 boots and the internal spring. (My coil was ok but a few other places I stopped at didnt sell just the boots and wanted $45 for a new coil.) $19
3. Time-Sert kit 5553 $400
4. New spark plugs. lol (I guess you should know this since its beat to hell from its trip.)

I will let everyone know if this works or not. Wish me luck!!

[RUTHLESS]

On a side note...My car made 472 rwhp with one plug that was not fully inserted. Maybe with all eight in correctly I can get that 500 mark! :rotflol:

[blkp42e]

welcome to FORD. ive been dealing with this shit for 3 yrs now

[bgblockelcamino]

think there is a cheaper kit. thought i just bought a heli coil kit. i had this happen ona customers truck. thye have been blowing plugs out since the MOD motor came out

[JETHRO]

Thats why I got rid of my 01 F-150. They shouldve never got rid of the 302 and 351.

[burntire]

Glad i bought my white one instead of that one. :laughing1: :balls1:

Yep white is fast:biglaugh:

[burntire]

I am glad I have an 04 with 9 threads.

[RUTHLESS]

I am glad I have an 04 with 9 threads.
I was told not all 04s had the 9 thread heads. I was also told that the only way to get them was after the 4 threads blew out and the dealership replaced them. The internet is full of crap if you ask me! lol Oh well... Mine will be SS and I will never have this problem again! :goodidea:

[03 OW SVT]

Yep white is fast:biglaugh:

Yepper's :highfive:

[burntire]

I was told not all 04s had the 9 thread heads. I was also told that the only way to get them was after the 4 threads blew out and the dealership replaced them. The internet is full of crap if you ask me! lol Oh well... Mine will be SS and I will never have this problem again! :goodidea:


We had this big debate out west on the threads. It appears that Ford switched to the 9 threads heads in 11/03. So a few 04's have 04 threads, but the majority have 9.
http://www.highperformancestangs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1512&page=5

[realitycheck]

Yeah i had my mechanic heli coil it. turns out the f*ckin shank on the plug was too long and thats why it smashed it out. why it took so long for it to happen i dunno cuz i've had the car a little over a year. so i def hafta get 7 more new plugs just to be safe. cuz my luck ill be down in myrtle and another one will pop out. so go figure. and Kenny "f@%# everyone they can in the (f@%# everyone they can in the ass)ass" Ross wanted $600 to fix it. Thats why you gotta love local mechanics. But yeah, thanks for your input ruthless, i appreciate it man.

[RUTHLESS]

turns out the f*ckin shank on the plug was too long
So the threads on the plug look like they were just pushed straight out and the end of the plug is smashed? My threads are rounded on the top two and the last two look like they were pushed out. This means the plug came loose and wore the threads down causing them to weaking enough to give out. The end of my plug doesn't have a mark on it so it was not forced out by the piston.

All of my parts and new tools arrived! The Time-Sert kit (FORD Triton Big-Sert 5553) is sweet and I would never go with a heli coil after seeing these inserts. In my opinion the heads should have these inserts installed at the factory!
I am taking Friday off of work (Because its my birthday!!) and I will have the car back on the road soon. Oh and this plug will never blow out again! BTW I asked the tech about putting them in all the spark plug holes to prevent the one plug from acting colder than the rest. He said not to worry about it because it wouldnt cause a difference and I would be safe only time-serting the holes that become a problem. I also asked about a fully threaded insert and was told that the 4 threads are stainless and are more than 3 times stronger than factory. I then asked about removing an insert if something happened and was told to get a back out tap to unthread the bad insert and just put another one in.
I only mention this because some of the threads that I read on the net have more than a few people talking like they know what they are doing but in truth they have never used/tried this product and are talk out their butts. I spoke with two performance shops that use the time-serts and was told the Lightning guys run these all the time. I was told I was lucky because I didnt have to deal with the dents and even holes the spark plugs leave in the lightning hoods when they blow out. :rolleyes:

Sorry about the book!! lol

[RUTHLESS]

The car is fixed and running better than ever! I want to get it on a dyno again because it feels alot stronger now. When I pulled the TB to get more room to work on the spark plug hole, I found that the inlet had a leaking seal where it bolts the the eaton. If I ever find out what shop worked on this car before I bought I am going to kick so butt!!

The inlet side of the blower is ported so my guess is the seal leak and the loose spark plug was the cause for the low numbers on the dyno. I can't wait to run it again and see how close I can get to 500rwhp. :awsome:

Thanks to everyone for the help!!

[03 OW SVT]

The car is fixed and running better than ever! I want to get it on a dyno again because it feels alot stronger now. When I pulled the TB to get more room to work on the spark plug hole, I found that the inlet had a leaking seal where it bolts the the eaton. If I ever find out what shop worked on this car before I bought I am going to kick so butt!!

The inlet side of the blower is ported so my guess is the seal leak and the loose spark plug was the cause for the low numbers on the dyno. I can't wait to run it again and see how close I can get to 500rwhp. :awsome:

Thanks to everyone for the help!!

Glad to hear ya got it fixed. :thmbsup: