Tl*the contact owns a 1998 ford f-150. The check engine light illuminated. The mechanic stated that the left lobe would not fire and caused the check engine light to illuminate. The failure mileage was 42,000 and current mileage was 46,000.
1998 Ford F-150 engine complaints
Page 3 of 7: complaints 41 to 70 of 187, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I own a 1998 ford f-150, which has a 5.4l engine. At 100,000 miles the #3 spark plug blew. Then on a trip back from idaho falls idaho this month to my home in lindon, ut the #1 plug blew. Based on research, I understand this is a serious issue. The second time my plug blew, I was driving on a very ice covered highway (I-15 just north of blackfoot, id). When #1 went the engine immediately began running extremely rough and my speed drastically decreased. This combination made me lose control on the freeway and almost slid off the side of the freeway possibly rolling my truck. Luck would have it, there were no other vehicles near me. Given the seriousness of this issue and the overwhelming incidents, I think it is time someone took action against ford. This could potentially cause a death! If nothing is done, then the government is as much to blame for not doing anything about a known safety hazard.
1998 ford f150- 66,000mi. Developed a serious oil leak from the head. I have found out that this is common and ford is well aware of it's recurrence. Besides costing $2000.00 to repair, it is leaking heavily onto an exhaust pipe causing smoke and potential fire.
Tl*the contact owns a 1998 ford f150. While driving 50 MPH, the engine failed without warning. When the vehicle was restarted, the check engine light illuminated. The dealer diagnosed the cause of the failure as the fifth and sixth cylinders. The repair has not yet been made. The purchase date was unknown. The current and failure mileages were 89,250.
I purchased a used 1998 ford f150 from car max in las vegas. I also purchased car max's extended warranty. I took the truck to jiffy lube for an oil change and drove it home, a distance of about 1 mile. Jiffy lube did not note any problems when they serviced the truck. The truck would not start the next time I went to use it. Jumping it did no good, the battery was not low. I had the truck towed to car max it was towed on a flat bed trailer, so the wheels never touched the ground. I called car max the next day and they said they had it scheduled to look at the following day. They called me that following day and asked if the truck was smoking when I last drove it. I told them it was not and that it drove fine. Then they told me the engine was blown and continued to act as though I had caused it. On my next day off, I rode my bicycle to car max and checked the truck's odometer against the mileage jiffy lube wrote on my receipt. There were 28 miles put on my truck since the oil change. Car max will not take responsibility, even though they blew the motor in my truck, but deny it. My son had done most of the oil changes on the truck, so I have no proof oil changes were done, so car max denied the extended warranty. I called ford and I was told there is no such issue on the truck, even though ford changed the head starting with later 1998 models, due to a faulty design. Their customer service agent was very frustrated with my asking how they can deny an issue, when they put out information to their dealers on steps to take when servicing the f150. She asked what I wanted them to do. I told her I was not asking ford to replace the motor because I am paying for an extended warranty. But I would like them to contact car max and tell them that the motor blowing up was not my fault, so car max would cover it, as they should anyway. She told me no, because there is no issue with the 1997 and 1998 ford f150's. Please help.
My 1998 ford f-150 only had 79,000 miles on it and was well-maintained. On 8/10-07, the coolant level light came on when I arrived home. I checked the coolant level immediately and there was no coolant in the reservoir. I filled the reservoir and planned to take the truck in to the mechanic when he was open during the week. I only drove the car about 20 miles that weekend and I monitored the coolant level and temperature. Everything was fine. That monday morning, loud knocking came from the engine and white smoke came out of the tail pipe. The truck was towed to my mechanic who informed me that I've thrown a rod and need a new engine. I have seen numerous complaints on the internet with the same exact symptoms for this year, make and model of truck. Apparently, there was a tsb regarding defects in the upper and lower intake manifold gasket causing coolant to leak into the engine (which would cause a thrown rod), but consumers were not notified, only dealers. Tsb99-20-7 why wasn't I notified as an owner? Now I need a new engine, but I would have had this repair done or the engine checked out if I had simply been notified by ford. Why wasn't there a recall notification, instead of a tsb? To dealerships. Unacceptable.
I left my 1998 ford f150 pick-up truck in parking lot at work while I was away on business. I left on monday july 30. I was called tuesday night around 9:00pm and notified that my vehicle had caught on fire. Fire dept. Put out fire. Fire report suspected equipment failure in engine compartment causing electrical short and subsequent fire. Fire was put out, but vehicle was total loss and towed from property.
The 1998 ford f150 pick up truck 4.2 liter v6 engine threw a rod during startup one morning. The engine had 70,000 easy miles on it. No towing, racing or hard driving. I had the engine replaced at a cost of $4200.00 with a jasper engine at mr. Engine because ford would not help at all unless I paid them $7500.00 for a new ford engine. I had already replaced two automatic transmissions in this same vehicle. The first time it cost me $2200.00 at 50,000 miles to rebuild the original, and the second time $1800.00 to replace the original with a remanufactured jennings transmission at 160,000. From all I have heard ford knew about the engine gasket defect and still has done nothing about it. I have all documentation ,and believe this needed to be remedied by ford. We are talking about thousands of 4.2 liter 1997 through 1999 engine failures. I love my truck, but will never buy another ford product.
I have a 1998 ford f 150 white smoke came from exhaust , no warning truck wouldn't start finally started, but it was knocking you could smell anti freeze, called tow truck and the engine was gone, only had 79,000 miles.
Tl*the contact owns a 1998 ford f-150. The contact stated that the bolts that hold the exhaust manifold onto the heads and the bolts has rusted. The failure has resulted in an exhaust leak, which has begun to leak into the cap of her vehicle. The failure occurred while driving 5 MPH. The bolts must be drilled out in order to be removed. The current mileage is 88,000 and failure mileage was 84,000. Updated 02-01-08 *bf updated 02/01/08
Tl*the contact owns a 1998 ford f-150. The contact stated that the vehicle caught fire while parked after being driven for 20 minutes. The contact called the fire department, but was able to extinguish the fire himself. The insurance company stated that the vehicle was a total loss and was towed. The current and failure mileages were 17,000.
Engine failed due to poor quality parts. Coolant leaked into cylinder, causing engine to seize, causing a bent rod, meaning $3000. All could have been avoided if ford would have taken responsibility and issued a recall and fixed a simple gasket, $400 procedure maximum. Ford continues to deny there is a problem and will not help!
Head gasket failure.
1998 ford f-150 4.2l v-6 125,000 miles . No known events leading up to failure. Immediate catastrophic engine failure , broken connecting rod, due to hydraulic lock, where coolant leaks into the combustion chambers. It is my understanding that technical bulletins have been issued which indicated that an improper gasket was used to seal the intake manifold from coolant which allowed the coolant to leak into the combustion chambers, causing this failure . One known is aera technical committee and issued by jasper engines. *ak engine replacement was required. Engine was replaced
I bought used vehicle from the bo's autorama on 6/2004 and used it once or twice in the first year. I started to use it regularly in april 2005. First I had to replace the spark plugs/wires because of water getting into them, and causing a miss in the engine on 4/2005. Then I had them sealed on 9/2005, then, replaced on 12/2005 , and the problem to this day, has never been fixed, but I spent over $900 trying. The transmission and rear differential has had to be replaced 3 times on 5/2005, 6/2005, and 7/2005. The muffler was replaced in 8/2005, the battery died in 10/2005, the front brakes went out in 11/2005. So less than 14,000 miles from purchase I had spent over $5ooo in repairs, and still could not drive it. I took the truck to bo's beuckman ford and will never deal with them again. They over charged me for lousy work. Also, ford would not pay for the first faulty rear differential because I did not have ford install it. Why would I? They could not fix the engine miss after 2 tries, and charged me both times, and it took them 3 times to fix the transmission.
Tl* the contact owns a 1998 ford f150. The contact heard a loud noise coming from the vehicle. The mechanic stated that the bolts holding the exhaust manifold rusted, causing the manifold to separate from the engine. The vehicle was not repaired. The current and failure mileage were 115,000.*ak update 04/30/07
Upon starting vehicle on my driveway a loud bang and subsequent knocking sound emitted from engine. Had a mechanic look at engine found water in intake chamber and broken rod and piston. Mechanic advises an engine rebuild will be required and is familiar with a hydro lock problem with the 4.2 l ford v6 engines.
My 1998 ford f150 as soon as it got to 100,000 miles the oil pump goes out and it starts to loose coolant but not leaking it any where. As I have found out these engines between 80,000 and 100,000 do this. Many forums read the same problem for every 4.2l does this. I believe ford should do a recall on these engines. Please let me know what to do.
Premature engine failure (68,000 miles) on 1998 ford f150 with 4.2l engine. Was told by dealer that failure was due to oil leaking into the intake manifold which resulted in bent rod. Through research, I have found that ford has known about this issue since 1998-1999 but did not notify customers. Now they want $4000-5000 for new engine.
Tl*- the contact stated that the 1998 for f-150 engine seized. The contact stated that in the morning of 02/09/07 he had no indication that there was a problem with the engine. After a day of driving he tried to start the vehicle and it wouldn't start. The contact had the vehicle towed to westerly tire, and they informed the contact that the engine seized. The current and failure mileage were 76000.
1) around may 2004, I noticed I was needing to add water to my 1998, ford f150, 4.2l v6 quite frequently. 2) water entered the block of the engine, long story short, my motor slung a rod through the oil pan, in turn, costing around $4,000.00 out of pocket to fix. 3) ford knows of the many, many failures of this particular motor which was manufactured during the years of 1997, 1998, and part of 1999. I, like many others, never received any type of notice concerning this situation. I wound up rebuilding the entire motor due to an intake gasket malfunction that ford could have and should have prevented by way of a recall notice.
Spitting out spark plugs.
1998 4.2l v6 ford engine coolant leak in engine causing hyperlock and blow a rod need to replace engine.
Dt*: the contact stated a loud pop sound was heard and a piston or rod started knocking loudly. The contact removed the radiator belt, inspected the water pump, checked the plugs, then noticed liquid coming from the exhaust including anti-freeze. A local parts store informed the contact of hydro lock problems with that engine. The service dealer and manufacturer were notified and the contact was referred to the federal safety agency.
Fire, total loss to ford f150 pickup. Pickup sat in driveway for 4 hours since driven and caught fire. Fire department came and said it was either electrical or engine related.
Engine hard to start,smoked after it did, gasket failure cylinder filled with coolant causing connecting rod to bend or break. Engine needs to be replaced.
1998 ford f-150 4.2l v6 engine, engine has burned coolant for several months, engine recently started making a loud knocking noise, two mechanics have diagnosed the problem as a bad piston and the engine needs to be replaced.
Vehicle blew out the #3 passenger side spark plug. Repair option is to replace cylinder head $3500 or use helicoil repair to the individual cylinder. Blown spark plugs on th 5.4 trition is a very well known problem and I'm shocked that ford is not covering this problem. I too believe that they have covered up this problem by a re-design that corrected the design flaw in later vehicles.
Rod through engine wall. Mileage 102m.
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle was taken in for body work, it sat for 2 weeks. When the vehicle was started following the 2 weeks, the engine noise was louder than normal, and there was a coolant leak. A private mechanic was consulted, who determined the head gasket was blown. Also, the doors had cracked one half inch from the corner of the window seal. A private mechanic informed the contact the cracks were due to the weight of the door.
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