Ford's Eco-Boost 3.5L V6 Twin Turbo

[Netpackrat]

Other than the "spitting spark plug" problem which was due to folks not reading the manual, the 5.4 was a very solid engine.

Spark plugs are a 150 year old, proven technology. Designing an engine where the spark plug threads are adequate to retain the plugs in the head is similarly known science. At this stage in the game, if a particular engine design or brand has a history of problems with either of these elements, it is because of bad design and/or manufacturing defects, period. It should not be blamed on the equipment's operators.

[AlaskaTRX]

Other than the "spitting spark plug" problem which was due to folks not reading the manual, the 5.4 was a very solid engine.

Yeah, screw you buddy, I had to order a special spark plug extraction tool due to the head eating one of my plugs. I have a manual and read it, and it didn't do anything to stop the shitty design from coming apart.

[NVGdude]

The "limp mode problem" is probably overstated but it's all over the F-150 forums.

Self selection sample bias

Obviously.

[Netpackrat]

Yeah, screw you buddy, I had to order a special spark plug extraction tool due to the head eating one of my plugs. I have a manual and read it, and it didn't do anything to stop the shitty design from coming apart.

It's two different problems. The truck you had with the self disassembling plugs, was apparently the "improved" design, that was created to solve the "spitting spark plugs" problem.

[NVGdude]

The improved 5.4 came out on the 2005 model year. Ford basically "solved" the problem by changing to spark plugs with about 2.5 times the number of threads and threading the new heads to match.

The majority of spark plug spitting problems were caused by using anti-seize on the threads.