While traveling on vacation 600 miles from home I experienced a well known failure to ford triton engine owners known as a spark plug ejection failure. I was traveling @ 65 MPH and up to the failure the engine was running normal there were no abnormal sounds. At the time of the failure it sounded as if the exhaust or the intake was coming apart. I pulled over on the side of the highway and removed the doghouse at the rear of the engine to discover the right bank and 2nd cylinder from the rear had ejected the spark plug and destroyed the ignition coil. I unplugged the ignition coil and the power cable from the fuel injector from that cylinder and nursed the van to a friends house 40 miles away which took over 3 hours. I called several ford dealers to explain what happened and they finished the story for me, they said they have seen this problem several hundred times and the fix would cost $1000.00 per cylinder needing repaired. This is a known ford triton flaw and should be addressed by ford with a recall. This could be a safety issue because when the spark plug let go there was a extreme loss of power if in heavy traffic this could cause a accident, and the raw fuel coming from the cylinder along with spark from a live ignition coil is a fire hazard.
1997 Ford E-150 engine problems
21 complaints (21% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 125,000.
- owner complaints
- 21
- of this car's complaints
- 21%
- typical mileage
- 125,000
- crashes
- 0
- recalls
- 0
Which part fails
- Engine: gasoline8
- Engine8
- Exhaust system: manifold/header/muffler/tail pipe2
- Exhaust system: emission control: catalytic convertor1
- Exhaust system: emission control1
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
Ford E-150 engine problems in other years
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Related investigations
Spark 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?s analysis showed, it is possible for a spark plug to detach from the engine cylinder threads in the subject vehicles.however, odi?s analysis of 474 complaints describing such incidents found only a very few alleged any safety-related consequences.none of these showed any evidence of a serious safety consequence.given the large population and relatively long exposure time of the subject vehicles, the complaint analysis indicates that the risk to motor vehicle safety from the alleged defect is very low.in view of the foregoing, it is unlikely that the federal safety agency would issue an order for the notification and remedy of the alleged defect at the conclusion of the investigation requested in the petition.therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize the federal safety agency?s limited resources to best accomplish the agency?s safety mission, the petition is denied.
DP05005
What 1997 Ford E-150 owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
Have 1997 f-150,went on vacation, truck ran fine. Came back and went to pick up dog from kennel, and boom, hydro-lock.
I experienced the same symptoms described in the camshaft position sensor recall which affects e-series vans. On 05nov07 my engine light came on and my engine began to hesitate, as if it would stall. I took the van to the ford dealer on 06nov07. They said they could not find anything wrong. They reset the codes and the engine light went off. On 09nov07 the engine light came on again and the engine began to run sluggishly. I did not drive the van over the weekend because I was afraid it would stall while I was driving. On 12nov07 the dealer replaced the dpfe sensor at a cost to me of $364.04. I contacted ford corporation on 06dec07 requesting reimbursement for the repair. My request was denied. Failure of dpfe sensor has the same results and the same safety implications as the failure of the camshaft position sensor. Ford should include this failure in the recall as well, or someone will be hurt eventually.
Engine hydro-lock. I own a 1997 e-150 conversion van. It has the 4.2l v-6 engine. I have had to have the intake manifold gasket replaced along with the water pump and gasket and also timing gear gasket. All due to a faulty intake manifold gasket. Ford replaced this in the v-8 model cars due to reading a lawsuit about it on their site. I have read in many forums that I'm not alone in this costly repair. I contacted ford to be told that the lawsuit did not pertain to my van. Since I'm not alone, I would like to know what if anything can I do? Http://www.fordmanifoldsettlement.com/index.html http://forums.treemedia.com/fb/archive/index.php/t-224.html
Spark plug blow out in a 1997 ford f 150 pick up truck with a 5.4 v8.
Engine coolant leaked into cylinder due to gasket failure causing piston rod to bend. I have learned that this is all to common problem with 1997 4.2 v6. I am unable to have my truck repaired at this time .the engine needs to be replaced $4,000.00.
My 97 ford e150 has the 5.4 motor in it. The problem I am having is spark plug blow outs. This is my second in a years time. This could cause a fire due to raw fuel coming out of the spark plug hole and the coil land on the head could case a spark and boom bad fire.
Ford motor co. Had knowledge of failure of the front cover gasket and lower intake manifold gasket in 97 & 98 e-150 and f-150 vehicles. Failure of any one of the above items will end the life of a engine. Ford will not ackknowledge this problem even though numerous tsb's have been put out. This is such a problem that a web site is dedicated to it. (leakingfords.com) another site that has many complaints about this is http://forums.treemedia.com/fb/showthread.php?t=224&page=4&pp=15 people that have this failure end up needing a engine replaced.
1) engine begins to runs rough. ) egr ports become clogged 3) intake has to be removed and ports cleaned and injectors flushed. Was told by the mechanic that this is a known design flaw with the ford 6 cyl. Engine, and that there is nothing that can be done to prevent it. It will have to be done again periodically.
I dropped a rod today in my 1997 ford-f150 with 77,000 miles. Check engine light seems to come on every 1000 miles. Highly unlikely that I would never purchase another ford product. Maybe 1997 model was a problem with ford acknowledging problem.
Questions about the 1997 Ford E-150 engine
Does the 1997 Ford E-150 have engine problems?
Owners have filed 21 complaints about the engine of the 1997 Ford E-150, 21% of all its complaints.
At what mileage do 1997 Ford E-150 engine problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 125,000 miles.
Was there a recall on the 1997 Ford E-150 engine?
There is no recall for this problem on this model year.
What year does the Ford E-150 have bad engine?
The Ford E-150 model years with the most engine complaints are 1997 (21 complaints), 1994 (17 complaints) and 1998 (15 complaints).
Other 1997 Ford E-150 problems
Fuel system 22Brakes 18Electrical 8Tires 8Steering 6Suspension 6Acceleration 5Transmission 5Visibility 4Airbags 3Body 3Lights 2Seats 2
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