After 2 1/2 hours of highway driving, stopped at fast food restaurant. Came out after 20 min and started engine. There was a loud explosion similar to backfire. Truck ran extremely rough, smell of fuel. Turns out it had blown out # 5 spark plug. Inspection of spark plugs (replaced 5 weeks before) showed the plug threads intact. Repair shop confirmed that aluminum head had given way. Unable to repair with helicoil, would need to pull engine and replace entire head. Only 160,000 miles on truck. Multiple repair shops confirmed that this is "known problem with this model and year"

Decided to junk this. Design problem: use of aluminum head to save weight. I am done with Ford. Gave them a fair chance for 23 years. No more Fords, no more American vehicles, its only Japanese from here on out. Go whine to Congress for bailouts and protection from foreign (and more competent) competition.

Driving my 2001 F150 extended cab truck with ONLY 81,400 miles on it driving back home and blew a plug. I was traveling about 50 mph. Yes, 50. I'm over the hill and don't drive fast. The truck has zero rust, zero accidents, and looks like new. No kidding. Had fords for years, never had anything like this happen to one. For that matter, never had any other make of Ford vehicle do this either. Most of my vehicles have low mileage. This is the first time I ever posted on here. I was just trying to figure out what to do next. I have a farm operation with several Fords of various years, going back to 1948. Ford, you have changed. Do you really want us loyal Ford BUYERS to take it up the poop shoot on this BLATANTLY obvious design flaw? Take some pictures of your research and design department personnel and board of directors. Now you will have a picture of the REAL problem.

Tell you what I'm going to do: that's fine. I'm going to trade this marvel of engineering in on anything but a Ford. I Average about one or two new trucks a year for our farm. No, not a big buyer, just bought your products for decades over others. You and your selfish share holders can go sit and get constipated on all your piles of money and bull poop.

It looks like Ford denies the problem and its not their fault. Then they want to put a band-aid on it. Spark plugs blowing out of cylinder heads is not normal. It's poor engineering!!! Ford should be held accountable!! There are thousands and thousands of complaints on this. Class action lawsuit! Make Ford pay for this!! I replace the first motor and now I've had the second motor blow a plug out. Different cylinder from the first. What the hell!!!? I'm not dogging it out, and I take good care of my truck. I can't understand why no class action lawsuit. Look at the numbers for this problem over multiple Ford models and motors. Did Ford pay someone off in the government to look the other way??!!

My Husband and I bought a house in Coeur d Alene, Idaho. While on our way up there, another plug blew out(for the second time), stripping the threads in the heads, causing it to be undrivable. we were told by a mechanic, that it needs a new head on that side. Will cost at least $1,500 to repair. Since we were on the road, we had to have it towed to Coeur d Alene, ID, from Biggs Junction, OR, costing almost $1,000. It has happened a few times before, causing us to pay to have it towed to a shop, and pay for repairs. Now that we are in our new home, we can't even use our truck to get furniture or bring things home from our storage here. It really pisses me off, and has turned what should be a wonderful thing, like moving into our new home, a major pain!

This is the 2nd 01 Harley I have had. The first one I did not have any problems, however I only had it for about a year. My 2nd one has been nothing but problems. I have had the spark plug blow out of the engine 4 times!!! Yes, I said 4 times. It is always in 3 or 4 (back passenger side). Twice I had it fixed at an engine shop with an average cost of $250.00.

Last January it blew out while on vacation in FL. I had it towed to a dealer and paid $978.00 to have it fixed. I was sure that this would be the fix. However it blew out again, now I am stuck paying another $618.00 fixing the problem again! I don't understand how Ford does not think this is a problem. I have been a very loyal Ford customer for years, however after this experience I will not be purchasing another Ford product! Own up Ford!

What a piece of crap this truck is turning out to be. I started driving Toyota's a long time ago but with the cost difference between an old Toyota truck and a Ford and the fact that I used to own a T100 and could never get the AC fixed properly because Toyota wanted a small fortune for the parts, I chose the F150, and maybe I saw that damned commercial too many times and actually started to think the trucks were "Built Ford Tough".

Anyway, I'm glad it doesn't require pulling the head but I'm ready for the endless stream of stupid repairs to stop already. I should have just bought a new crate engine but each time it's another $500 to $1000 and I just gamble that nothing new will happen.

I only bought that truck to tow my damn boat and barely drive the thing and I don't even drive it hard or abuse it in any way. These Ford engines are one step forward and 2 steps backwards. You would think that something as simple as keeping the spark plugs in place wouldn't be a problem, well think again.

I did a quick search on the internet to assess what I was looking at in terms of the extent of the problem and a search on "Blown Spark Plug" turned up a page full of Ford hits. I didn't even type in the word Ford. I am astounded that this is a common problem. I'll bet blowing a spark plug on any other brand of truck or vehicle is nearly unheard of and only happens when the engine has been messed with. I own a Toyota minivan and you know the damn thing just runs and never needs major engine work and it has more miles than my Ford truck.

So once again I'm forking over big bucks and hoping the truck will just run a while longer without blowing up because at this point I can't afford to do anything but keep it and pray.

This particular problem has occurred twice. Once - January 2015 - in the middle of nowhere (I had no idea what it was but the tow truck driver knew immediately!) and another time in October of 2015. Truck started running rough this past month and was repaired before it blew out another one. Shop recommends replacing the head for almost $6,000. I'm checking around with other shops but I am beyond disgusted. I love this truck and was planning to give it to my older daughter, but there's no way that I will entrust her safety to this truck anymore while it has this engine. I have been a "Ford man" practically my whole life, and I have a 1970 F100 in addition to the 2001 F150. The F100 is apparently better made and more dependable, and my next truck might be a Dodge or GMC if Ford doesn't own up to this mess with the spark plugs. I just couldn't stomach a Chevrolet, even though the GMC is from the same company. I looked at new Fords, and the problems with my current truck and the cost of new ones has me outraged.

This is the first time this happened. And I had just got the truck out of the repair shop for an unrelated repair. What i find significant about this is that it couldn't be detected by a professional several hours before it blew out! When it did blow, it was the most awful sound I have ever heard an engine make, I thought a belt must have broken and it was flopping around under the hood. No way could it be driven. Had to use another AAA tow just to my house less than 3 miles away. And wait an hour and half for the tow truck. The shop I use was already closed for the day so I had to use another AAA tow back to the shop the next day. I was told this is a common occurrence for this make and model....???? I am no mechanic, however, my father owned and operated a truck repair shop, towing business and then a full service auto wrecking yard. As a result, I spent many hours at these places of business and drove an extensive variety of vehicles he obtained throughout the years. I have NEVER heard of, let alone experienced a problem like this. So this is common??? Something is wrong here.

Here we go again. Spark plug blow out number 3. In less than two months. Different area this time. This is not right. There is a design defect somewhere. This is not normal and I guess it's time to dump the crappy ford. I have spent quite a bit of money on it it, buying it a year ago for 6500 at 140,000 miles. I should have known. I've never had a ford make 175,0000.

When this happens, the vehicle is not drivable. I have AAA AND HAVE ALREADY USED ALL TOWS FOR THE YEAR, This should be a recall of some sort. I'm sure the previous owner experienced this too.