GEN 1 Premature spark plug failure

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bryanb

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I have a 2013 with only 20K miles and had an ignition system failure that seemed really premature. Was wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has any ideas what could have led to it.

I noticed the problem when I got out of the truck with the engine running and heard the sound of a spark arcing to ground. I looked for the source of the problem both above and below the engine and couldn't find it. I took the truck to my mechanic and he said said several misfire codes had been stored, but the check engine light never came on.

Turns out the sparking was caused by a coil that had started to fail (melt). The mechanic replaced all the spark plugs and the bad coil. After getting the repairs done I could tell that the truck had more power, but it wasn't like it was running poorly before the repair. So it appears the problem slowly built up and I didn't notice the reduction in power over time.

It appears a number of spark plugs failed prematurely. The increased resistance probably caused the coil to overheat and begin to fail. See the picture. Any insights?

2017-08_Spark_Plug_Problem.jpg
 
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bryanb

bryanb

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It gets driven almost every day, albeit for short trips (I am about 3 miles from work) and then 3-4 longer road trips and off-roading each year. 5K miles per year.

Are you guessing or have you seen spark plug failures like that from "only" 5K miles per year?

Bryan
 

SZDZMTR

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I just guessed. But I guess if you had a coil that started to go bad and you did not know but still drove the truck it would cause damage to the plugs, cat converter (the worst case scenario) in the long run.
 

rmschaver

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Interesting I have never seen that kind of failure in a spark plug. I have a 2005 5.4 f150 and have went thru 2 spark plug changes on that vehicle. What kind of plugs are those? On second hand I took a closer look at those plugs, OEM? Unusual the electrode would fail that way. Almost looks like a heat issue.
 
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bryanb

bryanb

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What kind of plugs are those? On second hand I took a closer look at those plugs, OEM? Unusual the electrode would fail that way. Almost looks like a heat issue.

Yeah, the plugs that failed were the OEM plugs. There was some kind of heat issue as one of the coils had started to melt, but I don't know what started to go wrong first (failing plug probably caused the coil to fail). Not knowing what triggered the failure is a little unsettling for a truck we like to think of as being so badass. One premature plug failure would just be bad luck, but why did several fail the same way? I posted to this forum to test out the "bad batch" theory... to see if anyone would chime in with a "me too" but no such luck.
 

rmschaver

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how about tune? Advancing timing causes heat issues, and do I have to say one of which is detonation.
 

mike0378

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would a bad spark plug cause a coil to arch? I have a 2011 raptor with 133,000 on it. plugs are still from the factory

---------- Post added at 11:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 AM ----------

I have a 2011 ford raptor with 133,000 miles. one of my spark plug coils started arching, im going to replace the plug wire to see if that fixes the problem.
 

saratoga2011

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I have a 2013 with only 20K miles and had an ignition system failure that seemed really premature. Was wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has any ideas what could have led to it.

I noticed the problem when I got out of the truck with the engine running and heard the sound of a spark arcing to ground. I looked for the source of the problem both above and below the engine and couldn't find it. I took the truck to my mechanic and he said said several misfire codes had been stored, but the check engine light never came on.

Turns out the sparking was caused by a coil that had started to fail (melt). The mechanic replaced all the spark plugs and the bad coil. After getting the repairs done I could tell that the truck had more power, but it wasn't like it was running poorly before the repair. So it appears the problem slowly built up and I didn't notice the reduction in power over time.

It appears a number of spark plugs failed prematurely. The increased resistance probably caused the coil to overheat and begin to fail. See the picture. Any insights?

2017-08_Spark_Plug_Problem.jpg

This is an old thread but thought I'd check to see if this fixed your problem for good.

I've got a 13 6.2 super duty with 85k and I'm having the exact same issue you did. Found this thread by accident when trying to search for similar issues and yours was the only one I came across. I heard a faint ticktick.....tickticktick.....tickticktickticktick when walking by the driver's side with the truck running one day and sure enough, saw where the lower plug on #6 was arcing like it had a bad wire or damaged boot.

I replaced the wires, and it still kept arcing around the plug. Swapped wires with its neighbor and it still does it. Now I'm at the point where I suspect it's either a bad coil or a bad plug and will be changing both.

Not super impressed with Motorcraft SP526 plugs to begin with and your pics confirm it. I changed them at 80k and one of the factory lower plugs broke at the weld where it appeared to be rusted and hanging on by a thread...I got it out with a bolt extractor but still, I'm in FL and this truck has never seen salt or winter roads.

-YV89cw3e5p3xQwz0PdFFplHx8o4FGtRlOJg=w337-h449-no?.jpg

NubxfClNkYvHK6e1ELySdWNiDbP9hvD7WqiQ=w337-h449-no?.jpg
 
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