[Mike Strickland]

I have a 2004 ford taurus ses with the duratech 3.0l 24v dohc, I was driving it yesterday and I hear a tick tick tick noise which quickly turned into a loud clank clank clank noise, I shut it off while going down the road to prevent it from damaging itself more. Once I got it towed to my job where I have full access to tools and a lift I pulled the valve cover and plugs on the front bank. There was no check engine light or anything so im thinking its a bent valve. The spark plug on cylinder 6 was missing its ground strap and the coil pack was torched. I could not find any play in the cam or lifters and I drained the oil only to find no sparkles. The cylinder was borescoped and only slight damage to the cylinder, I tried to just replace the spark plug and the coil pack and the noise was there with a rough idle, it's more of a quiet clank now, I do not want to just replace the motor because the whole vehicle only has 40,038 miles on it. And it's kinda sentimental, I am doing all of the work so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[javaleo]

Cam jurnals ???? Pull and oil pan and check the botten end. Just my thoughts.

 

[Mike Strickland]

Cam jurnals ???? Pull and oil pan and check the botten end. Just my thoughts.

So turns out the cams and the lifters all check out, it's not bottom end because I pulled the pan and there is no play in the crankshaft or the connecting rods, I have narrowed the issue down to the head for cylinders #4 #5 and #6, getting a new head to put on but I'm not sure if the piston is too damaged to use, I'm sure there is a bent valve. The easiest way for me to do the work is to just take the whole cradle out the bottom so I can take the timing cover off so I can remove the head. It will be a pain but I will update when I get more progress. By the way here is the coil pack and the spark plug.

 

[Mike Strickland]

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Cam jurnals ???? Pull and oil pan and check the botten end. Just my thoughts.

Oh and the oil was not sparkly either, I ran a magnet through and had nothing out of the norm.

 

[kekaye56]

Wow, how many miles on that plug?

 

[rjacket]

Wow, how many miles on that plug?

By looking at it, I would say no more than 40,038 miles.

I am wondering though whether it is a fine wire plug. Perhaps the OP can share all the numbers on the side. I have the exact same Taurus and all my spark plugs were the fat wire.

 

[javaleo]

Burned off the wire???? Damn.

 

[chartmaker]

I would do a compression check. All plugs our, Tbody open.
Check that cylinder, then put tablespoon of oil in the plug hole and do over.
If oil increases the compression, Likely the block is done.
If oil does not increase the compression the head is the issue.
Quick test. Crank the engine with a hot wire. Listen to the starter load pulses and all should be the same. If it skips one of six, you have low compression. This system does not flood the engine as the fuel & spark are not present. Pic is the location on '03.
-chart-

 

[Mike Strickland]

By looking at it, I would say no more than 40,038 miles.

I am wondering though whether it is a fine wire plug. Perhaps the OP can share all the numbers on the side. I have the exact same Taurus and all my spark plugs were the fat wire.

The wires are original and the plugs were replaced like 5k miles ago along with 3 of the coil packs

 

[Mike Strickland]

I'm in the middle of disconnecting everything to drop the cradle motor and trans so I can take the timing cover off to replace the head, the valve train looks okay from the outside but I am almost certain the grounding strap got stuck in a valve and kept it open bending the valve or worse, the head I am going to get has 100k on it and if possible I'm just going to swap the bad parts out hopefully fixing the issue.

 

[Mike Strickland]

By looking at it, I would say no more than 40,038 miles.

I am wondering though whether it is a fine wire plug. Perhaps the OP can share all the numbers on the side. I have the exact same Taurus and all my spark plugs were the fat wire.

 

[Mike Strickland]

And anyone who is reading this I severely recommend you DO NOT DISCONNECT YOUR COLLANT LIKE TO YOUR TRANSMISSIOB FROM UNDERNEATH THE CAR!!! I messed up and took a coolant shower just now then tripped over the oil pan and spilled oil everywhere

 

[helifino]

I would do a compression check. All plugs our, Tbody open.
[...]
Quick test. Crank the engine with a hot wire. Listen to the starter load pulses and all should be the same. If it skips one of six, you have low compression. This system does not flood the engine as the fuel & spark are not present. Pic is the location on '03.

You can do it from the drivers seat as well with "clear flood mode" - holding the pedal to the floor while cranking.

 

[Mike Strickland]

You can do it from the drivers seat as well with "clear flood mode" - holding the pedal to the floor while cranking.

I have everything done to drop the cradle except the ac compressor and the steering shaft. I also have the intake off and battery out, I will link photos to all of it to help anyone else facing this issue

 

[chartmaker]

I have everything done to drop the cradle except the ac compressor and the steering shaft. I also have the intake off and battery out, I will link photos to all of it to help anyone else facing this issue

These DOHC are highly reliable. Local JY gets $230 for engine. My '03 went to the JY for rust at 199K and the engine was solid as they get. Sold my '03 wagon with 170K and engine was solid. Present '03 sedan 153K and '04 wagon at 163 solid engine.
I am sure there are others here with more miles and solid engine.
Loosing a ground electrode on a plug is very, very rare. I have seen only one with a missing ground right out of the box.
But things happen.
Please share pics of your work.
-chart-

 

[rjacket]

View attachment 222499

From my understanding, AGSF32WM is the correct plug and is fat wire.

FM would be Platinum Finewire which yours looks like.

Pic of original installed in 2004 and replacement purchased in 2022.

 

[rjacket]

The wires are original and the plugs were replaced like 5k miles ago along with 3 of the coil packs

All 6 spark plugs were changed? Presumably it was from a trusted source? (There is a problem with fakes and your "finewire" looking tip is odd for a plug labelled WM which should be a "fat wire")

Which cylinders got the new coil packs and why? A little surprising they needed changing at 35k miles.

Which brand coil on plug did you use?

 

[Mike Strickland]

These DOHC are highly reliable. Local JY gets $230 for engine. My '03 went to the JY for rust at 199K and the engine was solid as they get. Sold my '03 wagon with 170K and engine was solid. Present '03 sedan 153K and '04 wagon at 163 solid engine.
I am sure there are others here with more miles and solid engine.
Loosing a ground electrode on a plug is very, very rare. I have seen only one with a missing ground right out of the box.
But things happen.
Please share pics of your work.
-chart-

I have the motor out and I just want to replace the head but I'm getting chewed out by my coworkers, they say I should spend 400 on a JY motor and put that in because it'd call for less work, but I found the procedure for putting the head back on. It's really well detailed. Here are the pictures of how far I am.

 

[Mike Strickland]

All 6 spark plugs were changed? Presumably it was from a trusted source? (There is a problem with fakes and your "finewire" looking tip is odd for a plug labelled WM which should be a "fat wire")

Which cylinders got the new coil packs and why? A little surprising they needed changing at 35k miles.

Which brand coil on plug did you use?

I did the spark plugs and coil packs, it had a full misfire because of a bad coil pack last summer so I just replaced the one for the time being, then I had a code for a possible missfire beginning of January, so I replaced 2 more and put the 3 new ones in the back bank and replaced the plugs because the car did sit for 2 years before I got it. I left the 3 old ones in front where I could easily get to them.

 

[eastwildlife]

I did the spark plugs and coil packs, it had a full misfire because of a bad coil pack last summer so I just replaced the one for the time being, then I had a code for a possible missfire beginning of January, so I replaced 2 more and put the 3 new ones in the back bank and replaced the plugs because the car did sit for 2 years before I got it. I left the 3 old ones in front where I could easily get to them.

Just something to think about, restricted fuel injector on that cylinder? I had a 00 Ranger 3.0, vulcan that melted a hole in cylinder 3 piston. Computer didn't catch the misfire until damage was done. Slight pinging under light load was the only symptom. When I replaced the shortblock, after having the heads checked out, I did replace the injector. 30k later she's still on the road.