Bulletins


BulletinBulletin dateReplacement BulletinItem no.SummaryAdded
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - EXHAUST SYSTEM - EMISSION CONTROL - CATALYTIC CONVERTOR
CSP-08B0105/16/200810026389Ford: certain 1999-2001 model year vehicles up to 6000 lb gvwr registered in new york and certain 2001 vehicles up to 6000 lb gvwr registered in the state of maine, certified for sale in california-federal emission warranty refund. *pe10/23/2008

Investigations


NHTSA IDManufacturerDate openDate closeSubjectRecall campaign
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
DP05005FORD MOTOR COMPANY09/22/200501/04/2006SPARK PLUG EJECTION FROM CYLINDER HEAD
 On september 6, 2005, odi received a petition requesting that the agency investigate allegations of engine spark plug ejection in certain model year 1997 through 2004 ford vehicles with triton v-8 and v-10 engines.odi received a total of 474 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles where the complainant, or the dealer repairing the vehicle, reported that a spark plug detached from the cylinder and/or ejected from the engine.as of december 8, 2005, odi is not aware of any allegations where the alleged defect resulted in a loss of vehicle control, a crash, an injury, or a fatality in any of the 10,319,810 subject vehicles.in addition, odi is aware of only two incidents where the vehicle stalled without restart.information contained in the odi consumer complaints and obtained from 72 telephone interviews with complainants showed the following:(1) 99% of the complaints were on my 1997 to 2002 subject vehicles.(2) most the complainants reported hearing a loud pop while driving or upon starting up the vehicle followed by a loud, repetitive clicking or popping sound.(3) many of the complainants reported that the popping sound was accompanied by some loss of vehicle power; however, in 99% of the incidents reported, the vehicle did not stall.in the very few incidents where the vehicle did stall, most vehicles could be restarted.(4) only a small percentage of the complainants cited that they smelled gas or a slight burning smell when the incident occurred.(5) in all but a very few incidents, vehicle damage was limited to the engine.in one incident, the complaint reported that the fuel rail was damaged and replaced after one of the spark plugs ejected from the engine; however, the complainant reported that the damage did not result in any type of fuel leak or fire.in another incident, the only incident where a fire was alleged, the complainant reported that no fluid leak was observed, but that a fire resulted after the spark plug had ejected from the engine and he had restarted the vehicle and driven to another location.none of the complainants reported any damage to the vehicle hood.(6) only two complainants reported that they observed what appeared to be some drops of fuel coming from the cylinder where the spark plug had failed or on the spark plug itself; however, each of these complainants reported that there was no smoke or flames as a result of his incident.as the petitioner noted, and odi
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE
DP05005FORD MOTOR COMPANY09/22/200501/04/2006SPARK PLUG EJECTION FROM CYLINDER HEAD
 On september 6, 2005, odi received a petition requesting that the agency investigate allegations of engine spark plug ejection in certain model year 1997 through 2004 ford vehicles with triton v-8 and v-10 engines.odi received a total of 474 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles where the complainant, or the dealer repairing the vehicle, reported that a spark plug detached from the cylinder and/or ejected from the engine.as of december 8, 2005, odi is not aware of any allegations where the alleged defect resulted in a loss of vehicle control, a crash, an injury, or a fatality in any of the 10,319,810 subject vehicles.in addition, odi is aware of only two incidents where the vehicle stalled without restart.information contained in the odi consumer complaints and obtained from 72 telephone interviews with complainants showed the following:(1) 99% of the complaints were on my 1997 to 2002 subject vehicles.(2) most the complainants reported hearing a loud pop while driving or upon starting up the vehicle followed by a loud, repetitive clicking or popping sound.(3) many of the complainants reported that the popping sound was accompanied by some loss of vehicle power; however, in 99% of the incidents reported, the vehicle did not stall.in the very few incidents where the vehicle did stall, most vehicles could be restarted.(4) only a small percentage of the complainants cited that they smelled gas or a slight burning smell when the incident occurred.(5) in all but a very few incidents, vehicle damage was limited to the engine.in one incident, the complaint reported that the fuel rail was damaged and replaced after one of the spark plugs ejected from the engine; however, the complainant reported that the damage did not result in any type of fuel leak or fire.in another incident, the only incident where a fire was alleged, the complainant reported that no fluid leak was observed, but that a fire resulted after the spark plug had ejected from the engine and he had restarted the vehicle and driven to another location.none of the complainants reported any damage to the vehicle hood.(6) only two complainants reported that they observed what appeared to be some drops of fuel coming from the cylinder where the spark plug had failed or on the spark plug itself; however, each of these complainants reported that there was no smoke or flames as a result of his incident.as the petitioner noted, and odi
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE - GASOLINE
DP05005FORD MOTOR COMPANY09/22/200501/04/2006SPARK PLUG EJECTION FROM CYLINDER HEAD
 On september 6, 2005, odi received a petition requesting that the agency investigate allegations of engine spark plug ejection in certain model year 1997 through 2004 ford vehicles with triton v-8 and v-10 engines.odi received a total of 474 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles where the complainant, or the dealer repairing the vehicle, reported that a spark plug detached from the cylinder and/or ejected from the engine.as of december 8, 2005, odi is not aware of any allegations where the alleged defect resulted in a loss of vehicle control, a crash, an injury, or a fatality in any of the 10,319,810 subject vehicles.in addition, odi is aware of only two incidents where the vehicle stalled without restart.information contained in the odi consumer complaints and obtained from 72 telephone interviews with complainants showed the following:(1) 99% of the complaints were on my 1997 to 2002 subject vehicles.(2) most the complainants reported hearing a loud pop while driving or upon starting up the vehicle followed by a loud, repetitive clicking or popping sound.(3) many of the complainants reported that the popping sound was accompanied by some loss of vehicle power; however, in 99% of the incidents reported, the vehicle did not stall.in the very few incidents where the vehicle did stall, most vehicles could be restarted.(4) only a small percentage of the complainants cited that they smelled gas or a slight burning smell when the incident occurred.(5) in all but a very few incidents, vehicle damage was limited to the engine.in one incident, the complaint reported that the fuel rail was damaged and replaced after one of the spark plugs ejected from the engine; however, the complainant reported that the damage did not result in any type of fuel leak or fire.in another incident, the only incident where a fire was alleged, the complainant reported that no fluid leak was observed, but that a fire resulted after the spark plug had ejected from the engine and he had restarted the vehicle and driven to another location.none of the complainants reported any damage to the vehicle hood.(6) only two complainants reported that they observed what appeared to be some drops of fuel coming from the cylinder where the spark plug had failed or on the spark plug itself; however, each of these complainants reported that there was no smoke or flames as a result of his incident.as the petitioner noted, and odi

Consumer Complaints


Fail datemilesoccurencesPurchase date
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
03/10/2004
 Tl* the contact owns 2001 ford mustang gt. the contact stated that while driving 20 mph, the spark plugs shot out of the engine. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the failure. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was not available. the failure mileage was unknown and the current mileage was 100,000.
03/10/2004100000
 Tl - the contact owns 2001 ford mustang gt. the contact stated that while driving 20 mph the spark plugs were shot out of the engine. the vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to diagnosed the failure. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. the vehicle was not repaired. the vin was not available. the failure mileage was unknown and current mileage was 100,000. pm
12/05/201169000
 While driving at 30 mph, the vehicle spark plug exploted out of the engine.
05/20/201183000
 S # 1 sparkplug ejected from head upon engine start-up.
03/16/201085000
 Spark plug blow out
05/15/2006560001
 Blown ford spark plug! i drive a 2001 ford mustang gt, 4.6l v8, and one night i was sitting at a red light and as soon as it turned green i stepped on the gas like any other light and i blew a spark plug. i bought the car used with 10k on it and it blew at 56k. i never replaced the plugs so im guessing they were factory installed. as of today i have replaced both heads but the damage from the blown spark plug seems to have affected my engine block itself. my guess is from driving the car off the road into a parking lot. not having money to rebuild the engine i have since parked the car hoping ford take responsibility for its mistake. i have read more and more how many ford v8s tend to do this yet ford acts like it doesn't exist. i called ford about ordering new heads and they insisted there is no problem. i was raised on fords but don't see me buying one ever again. *tr
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE
01/31/20064800020
 2 weeks after i bought the car, i had reported problems with engine and trans and rear-end. they knew about it, but said they did not have the knowledge to work on a seleen, which that is what i was told i was buying at the time. come to find out it is no. big difference in price. on or about feb 15th 2006 the engine blew, i had parked it in their parking lot. they had my car for a total of 45 days. still no trans work or rear-end, they said to bring it back in 30 days. adding on the linkage was damaged when they had it. i had to pay other shop to fix. along with engine problems, engine light was on. since june of 2006 my car has been in the shop 10 times , totaling 55 more days. rental car cost over 2500.00 and time and mental anguish . luzzi refused me the 2nd time engine blew because the fact i am married to david harding. he is not on any contract with me. they refuse to do any warranty work on the engine they installed 9 months ago. i paid for a warranty with them for 1800.00 and i was cancelled because of the money already paid for the car. 10 months , where's the other 2 year prorated fees? the list goes on and on. *nm
11/10/200670000210/06/2006
 I don't know much about the mechanics of cars, but a spark plug blew out of my 2001 mustang gt causing a loud repetitive noise and a notable loss of power. it was still under the 30 day/3000 miles used vehicle warranty and it was fixed at no charge to myself. the same thing happened again a week later and i was told (in the best words that i can describe it) the threading in the hole of the part of the engine that the spark plug screws into, would no longer hold the spark plug and that the engine needed to be sent to a machine shop to bore the hole in deeper costing a around $3000.00. *nm
12/01/2003550003
 I started my vehicle in the morning and i heard a loud noise in the engine. i left the car like that and called my mechanic. when he checked the car, he found out that the spark plug was loose, he just put back. a couple of months later, i heard the noise in the engine again, i knew what the poblem was so i put the plug back in. some months later (12/04) i had the same problem, but this time the plug wouldn't tighten, so i called my mechanic again. he checked the car and found out that the thread in the spark plug hole had stripped. i bought a spark plug thread kit and he was able to fix the engine, but the engine didn't perform the same. *nm
07/02/200434857103/15/2004
 Started hearing a ticking noise coming from top part of the engine very next day the spark plug blew out of the cylinder head number 3, resulting in a cylinder head replacement .after reading all of the forum complaints that this is a defect, thank god mine was covered under warranty, still left with out a car for a week , no loaner or ental provided by dealer and i couldnt afford one. *ak
07/25/200342898110/10/2001
 I gave my car a tune up at a family friends shop spark plug broke so replaced it with a bosh platinum 4 which was all the local auto part had 6 months latter my car blows a plug out of the opposite side of the engine which had the original plug and i tow it back to the dealership the warranty refuses to fix it because after market plug on the other side and ford knows they have defective head and 4.6lt engines built fr:01-03 but refuse to fix it or even test it to see if it was defective since the after market plag was on the other side and the engine failed due to unknown reasons on the side with the original plugs this applies to all vehicle from ford with 4.6lt 2v engines more info found here http://www.blueovalnews.com/2003/powertrain/4.6l.enginetick.t31604.htm *la (per consumer call (no smoke or flames); changed fire from yes to no - c. rose 11/16/05
08/01/20027853102/10/2001
 At 7,853 miles, the engine started making a knocking noise. upon checking the dip stick, the stock was twisted out of shape, giving a reading of more oil than needed. the first service center that i took the car to stated that the car had 1 quart of oil, and could burn 1 quart of oil per 1,000 miles when new (nowhere was this noted in owner's manual, which recommends oil changes every 5,000 miles). oil change was performed, which did not remedy the situation. the next dealer that the car was taken to identified that the #8 bearing was worn, which required the engine to be replaced. ford would not honor their warranty, nor would the dealer or the customer service center in michigan answer any of the owner's questions, except that they would not cover the engine. owner was left purchasing a new engine on their own.*jb
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - EXHAUST SYSTEM
02/28/2008125000
 Tl*the contact owns a 2001 ford mustang gt. while driving various speeds, the vehicle idled roughly, overheated, and hesitated. the dealer stated that coolant was leaking from the intake manifold crossover channel. the technician also stated that there was a ford safety campaign that pertained to the failures he was experiencing. however, the stipulation of the safety campaign state that the vehicle must be within seven years of the original purchase date. the vehicle exceeds this stipulation by six weeks. the vehicle has not been repaired. the failure mileage was 125,000 and current mileage was 131,000.