2002 Ford F-150: gas smell in the cabin

Filed Apr 8, 2026 · Fuel system · MO

Cruise control kicked on and won't go off. Gas fumes come from the AC unit. When driving the truck started speeding up. Now the truck is parked.

Filed Aug 21, 2015 · Fuel system · 135,000 miles · PA

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. The contact stated that there was a fuel odor coming from the fuel tank. The contact noticed a strap hanging under the fuel tank and that fuel leaked onto the driveway. The vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The technician stated that there was rust and holes underneath the tank that came from corrosion and that the straps on the tank needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 135,000.

Filed Dec 4, 2012 · Engine · 138,000 miles · NY

While driving 60 MPH I heard a loud pop followed by deceleration and engine misfire. Examined engine compartment and observed compression air from #4 spark plug. Overhead coil broke off and still attached to #4 spark plug. Gas fumes and still sparking plug was a disaster waiting to happen so I had the truck towed 150.00. And 300.00 repair to rethread cylinder head. Mechanic said it was original sparkplugs and examined all remaining plugs. # 1 plug seating was damaged upon inspection and appeared that it was about to pop out also.

Filed Mar 20, 2012 · Engine · 140,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150. The contact stated that while driving 65 MPH, he heard a loud bang from the engine and started to smell an abnormal fuel odor. The vehicle taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that one of the spark plugs was fractured. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 140,000. Updated 05/07/12

Filed Aug 30, 2011 · Fuel system · 144,000 miles · NY

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-150 super cab. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the smell of fuel emitted from the fuel tank. The contact then discovered there was fuel leaking from the fuel tank. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for repairs or diagnosis. The manufacturer was contacted made aware of the failure and advised the contact that the vehicle was previously repaired under the federal safety agency campaign id number: 11v385000 (fuel system, gasoline:storage:tank assembly:mounting) but the repair did not include the fuel tank only the straps that held the tank in place. The failure mileage was 144,000 and the current mileage was 145,000. Updated 10/18/11*lj the consumer took the vehicle to the dealer, where they placed temporary straps on the vehicle until the permanent straps became available. The gas tank straps corroded and weakened to the point where fuel was leaking. The consumer was informed the gas tank was not covered in the recall, because it did not fall to the ground. The consumer stated that since the gas tank and strap were made from different material, and the salt created a chemical reaction and destroyed the strap and the tank, the tank should be included in the recall. Updated 02/10/12

Filed Jun 13, 2011 · Fuel system · 130,000 miles · MA

I smelled gas fumes near my 2002 f150 truck. Looked underneath to inspect where smell was coming from and found the back brace on the gas tank broken off and rusted out hole in the tank where the brace was supposed to be.

Filed Nov 23, 2010 · Engine · 117,500 miles · KY

My 2002 ford f150 with a 5.4 l triton v8 engine spit out a spark plug for no apparent reason. My f150 has 117,000 miles on it and has had no mechanical problems over it's life. It is serviced regularly and is used for routine driving. I happened to be 30 miles from home when I heard a loud tapping coming from the engine compartment. Knowing a little about engines I checked to see what had happened and noticed that the spark plug had been pushed out of the cylinder head, causing the compression to cause it and the coil pack to continually strike the fuel rail. Fortunately I knew a mechanic in the area 1/4 mile from my location and slowly drove to his shop. He said that it was a common problem with ford 4.6, 5.4 and 6.8 triton engines. He added that the aluminum used for the heads was too soft causing the spark plugs to spit out. There was no way of preventing this from happening or predicting when it would happen. The hole for this spark plug had all the treads blown out when the plug came out so I had to leave my truck at the garage for repair. The repair consisted of having to put a steel threaded insert into the head in order to secure the new spark plug / coil pack. The mechanic stated that I should definitely not drive it since it could cause a fire. I could smell the gas fumes from the engine compartment and fully believe this to be a good possibility. I can only imagine if someone was unfamiliar with engines and continued to drive with this condition with the possible result of a fire in the vehicle while their family is aboard. I think ford needs to do a recall on these engines to have them repaired in a safe fashion to prevent a tragedy of a fire while in operation. Upon a google search of this topic it looks as though there are a multitude of the same type of incidents with these engines. Thank you for your consideration.

Filed Jun 7, 2010 · Engine, Fuel system · 95,555 miles · CA

On a 2002 ford f-150 harley davidson edition truck, the # 2 spark plug was ejected from the engine while driving 65 MPH, causing my vehicle to slow down, and the gasoline and exhaust fumes were filing the drivers compartment. This is the second truck I have owned previous a (2003 same vehicle model) where the sparkplug has been ejected from the engine while driving. Why is there no recall or study on this problem from ford?? Engine still had original plugs from factory!! Their torque specs!!

Filed Jan 30, 2010 · Engine · TX

2002 ford f150 blew the spark plug out of the head when starting engine. Gasoline fumes in cab very strong, had to exit vehicle, disable sparkplug coil to keep from having a serious gasoling fire on my hands......

Filed Nov 5, 2009 · Engine · 82,578 miles · WI

2002 ford f150 5.4l,spark plug blew out of engine while driving, gas smell and sparks in engine compartment. This has happened twice to me, 11-25-08 at 70k mi with original factory plugs cly #3 passenger side and 11-03-09 at 82k mi with the replacement ngk plugs cly #4 drivers side. This should be a recall very high risk of under hood fire.

Filed Sep 8, 2009 · Fuel system · 69,044 miles · WY

Truck stopped and idling at stop sign followed by loud bang and thumping noise. Shut off truck, and looked under hood to find spark plug had blown out of cylinder head along with coil. The smell of fuel was evident from the open hole in the cylinder head. Lucky there was no fire when the plug was discharged. Ford will not do anything to remedy the problem even though this is very common in these vehicles even with the original spark plugs. I was told that this was my mistake for overtightening the plugs. I have never changed the plugs nor does ford recommend this until 100,000 miles. I believe that the issue is widespread enough to warrant a recall, but this has not happened yet. Average people cannot afford the $1,000 - $3,500 repair that is necessary to fix this problem nor should they be required to when it is a problem that ford has known about and refused to fix. Ford is providing an inferior product and will not take responsibility for it.

Filed May 25, 2009 · Engine · 69,756 miles · ID

Driving along a river road at 35 miles per hour, after a short highway drive of about 70mph, a spark plug blew out of the #3 cylinder. We were going camping with our 2 young boys, so decided to drive the truck home. During the drive the smell of gasoline vapor was overpowering. We had only a 45 mile drive to home. On getting the truck home I popped the hood and to my horror the ejected plug was still firing on top of the valve cover. This is an extreme fire hazard!