The plug in my triton V10 blew

ED

Ed Camis

New Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2025
Posts
8
Location
Appleton
Last week while driving my 2015 Precept 29UR to Arkansas a spark plug blew, and I am now being told it will cost me $20,000.00 to replace the engine and my engine only has 39,000 miles on it. I was able to drive it 500 miles home and I am looking for an alternative to an engine replacement. I live in Northern Wisconsin.
 
Thank you, I think the plug damaged the piston which is beyond my ability to repair, I have started to look for someone local that can repair vs replace
 
If the piston is damaged, the engine is coming out. At that point it's rebuild or replace.
What makes you believe the piston is damaged?
 
In some cases I can agree with replacement of the engine if there becomes a problem with the head. But with 38k miles I certainly wouldn't do that automatically. If it had 138 I'd still probably pull the head for further inspection and then make the determination. Has anyone who wants to replace the whole thing actually checked anything out in it?
I would at a minimum get a bore scope in the spark plug hole and look around before I threw an engine at it. With that kind of miles I doubt the bottom part of the engine is hurt.
As has been said if it's just a bad set of spark plug threads often that can be fixed without pulling the head.
The reason many are hesitant to just do the top end of an engine is that sometimes as the engine wears your valves don't seal as well as they once did, and once you do a valve job and new head gaskets etc and restore the seal of the compression within the cylinders the also worn rings and cylinder wall surface is the next weakest link and you end up creating an oil burner. But with such low miles I wouldn't be afraid to just redo the heads. I would pull them both though.
I've redone just the heads on engines with a lot more miles than what you have and had no problems.
Especially since that V10 is certainly fuel injected not carbureted, that helps a lot with keeping engine wear down.
 
I suggest using a bore scope as well, they are fairly inexpensive now days. I highly suspect that the piston and cylinder is not damaged due to being able to run the engine for ~500 miles after the sparkplug blew out. ~CA
 
The problem you are describing was supposed to have been fixed in 2009. Ford has a "customer satisfaction program" and in some cases they will repair the engine. If the problem shows up on a customer's vehicle, they fix it for free. Sometimes, extending the warranty out on that particular problem beyond the standard drive train warranty. You need to research the "customer satisfaction program" on the spark plug problem, find as much information about others that got the engine taken care of and bring all your research to ford. If you just go to Ford without doing the research you will be denied free repair service. Search other sites beyond the Jayco owner's site.
 
I'd probably pull both heads and inspect and if every thing was OK I would insert all the sparkplug threads and have a competent automotive shop do the work and reassemble. That $20K quote is way high, I did a quick google search and re manufactured motors are in $5-6 dollar range, IIRC new long block was $7K
 
Old and soft said:
If the piston is damaged, the engine is coming out. At that point it's rebuild or replace.
What makes you believe the piston is damaged?
Click to expand...
the mechanic that got me back on the road near St louis pulled the plug and scoped it, the image looked like crumpled tin foil all beat up by the broken plug
 
It was a small shop in Bellville they were only able to scope the cylinder and change out the plug so I could drive home
 
Dodge trucker said:
In some cases I can agree with replacement of the engine if there becomes a problem with the head. But with 38k miles I certainly wouldn't do that automatically. If it had 138 I'd still probably pull the head for further inspection and then make the determination. Has anyone who wants to replace the whole thing actually checked anything out in it?
I would at a minimum get a bore scope in the spark plug hole and look around before I threw an engine at it. With that kind of miles I doubt the bottom part of the engine is hurt.
As has been said if it's just a bad set of spark plug threads often that can be fixed without pulling the head.
The reason many are hesitant to just do the top end of an engine is that sometimes as the engine wears your valves don't seal as well as they once did, and once you do a valve job and new head gaskets etc and restore the seal of the compression within the cylinders the also worn rings and cylinder wall surface is the next weakest link and you end up creating an oil burner. But with such low miles I wouldn't be afraid to just redo the heads. I would pull them both though.
I've redone just the heads on engines with a lot more miles than what you have and had no problems.
Especially since that V10 is certainly fuel injected not carbureted, that helps a lot with keeping engine wear down.
Click to expand...
I have been calling everyone to find a shop to repair it, if anyone knows about a shop that would do a repair within 200 miles of appleton wisconsin i would definitely drive it there for the repair
 
Something isn't all that clear regarding the issue, when a spark plug blows out it does so under pressure and none of it gets in the cylinder. The cause for this with Ford engines was that the threads holding the spark plug were not that many and the repair is to use a thread repair kit and when done properly a new spark plug can be installed and the repair is complete. However, you mentioned that the shop was able to scope the cylinder and change out the plug which implies that the spark plug hole was repaired or never damaged and some other issue is occurring? Knowing the details could help with determining options in regards to an alternative to replacing the engine.

Replacing an engine in an F53 motorhome is pretty tricky from what I have seen, as the engine has to be dropped out of the bottom and the motorhome raised off of it, something that most shops will not have the equipment to do. ~CA
 
The plug was broken inside the cylinder ot didn't blow out, the mechanic that pulled it and scoped the cylinder thought the piston actually hit the end of the plug and bent it and broke a piece of the plug inside the cylinder
 
It is hard to guess what the mechanic saw with his bore scope, if the piston, cylinder, heads, etc., are damaged then replacing the engine may certainly be required.

How is it running at this time with the replaced spark plug? Missing? Check engine light on? In any case, I would go for a second and third opinion prior to agreeing to spend 20k on a replacement engine. ~CA
 
I drove it 500 miles home the check engine light is on , the Ford dealership wants the 20k to replace it i have to call them to see what they did to diagnose damage. I am trying to find someone else to get me a second or 3rd quote
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

LI
Adding a motorcycle rack to my Precept
2
liketosee
LI

New posts

Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom