Thursday morning the dreaded flying spark plug hit me. Yes, you heard me right, a flying spark plug. It seems that the Ford Triton engines from 1997 to 2003 had a problem where spark plugs would randomly fly out the cylinder head. This appears to be due to a few issues… First there are insufficient threads in the head to properly hold the spark plug. Second the threads in the head are not inserted, in other words the threads are in the aluminum and are not very strong. Many ford owners have had problems and the shop who repaired my head claimed to have done over 100 repair jobs on Ford Triton engines in the past 5 years. If you are faced with this problem here are your options…

1. Go to your dealer, bend over and pay up to 12 hours of labor to repair the hole (time quoted to me by my local dealer) or get two new heads with properly designed spark plug holes for $3500.

2. Buy the kit and do it yourself… from my research Timesert is your best option. This will cost you between $200 and $400 depending on which kit you buy. Lisle and Helicoil also make kits and are available online and from your favorite tool supplier.

3. Find a friend who already has the tool to do the job. I doubt a repair shop will lone you the tool, but you can check out this forum for some members who have bought the kit and will rent it out to other forum members.