2003 Ford F-150: engine failure

Filed Apr 20, 2017 · Acceleration · 130,000 miles · LA

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford f-150. When the accelerator pedal was depressed the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The contact stated that the accelerator pedal had not seized. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000. 06/01/17updated *lj

Filed Nov 2, 2012 · Acceleration · 125,000 miles · TN

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford f-150. The contact stated that while traveling 70 MPH, the accelerator pedal seized causing the vehicle to erroneously accelerate. The contact was able to slow the vehicle down and continued to his destination. The vehicle was not taken for inspection or repairs. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted about the issue. The failure and current mileages were 125,000.

Filed Oct 28, 2009 · Engine · 128,800 miles · ID

1. Normal operation 2. Spark plugs are blown out of the engine head; this is the second occurrence; engine failure. Had the occurrence been 200 miles earlier, I would have been in the middle of peak traffic conditions on i405 near bellvue washington state, heavy rain with poor visibility - consequences would have been dire. 3. Ford acknowledges that they know of the problem. The service manager at the local dealership indicated that they have had a "ton" of these repair jobs. At $400+ per occurrence, I question why they haven't done anything to protect the consumer? Why no notification of the problem. I'm told there have been service advisory's issued, but shops and service counters share none of this with me. Now that my vehicle is 5 yrs old with 129k miles, what will the frequency of this problem be. As the f150 fleet ages, how many more occurrence will there be prior to food issuing a solution? I'm told by dealerships that the spark plug seat only consists of a few thread to hold the spark plug in. Plugs do not have a seat ring (compression ring) to assist in the plug to stay seated. As the plug loosens, blow by occurs and eventually blowing the plug out through the treads in the engine head. I've never heard of such a problem, let alone having this occur to my twice. Parts houses had concurred that the problem is prevalent and they laugh about it. Who is going to laugh when this known unsafe engineering flaw causes death or injury? Their repair has not resolved the problem, nor did they give up this information without me first seeking factual information. The public is being deceived!

Filed Aug 29, 2009 · Engine · 178,000 miles · CA

The spark plug in me ford f-150 5.4ltr engine blew out of the #2 cylinder. All engine rebuilding shops and repair centers say this is common in fords. They finished my sentence when describing the problem. Please enact a recall on this problem. As I read this is an issue. Cost me 500.00 dollars to fix and I worry about the other 7 plugs...$3,500 to repair.

Filed Oct 13, 2008 · Engine · 69,583 miles · CA

On 10/1/08 I was coming out of a parking lot and heard a loud popping sound. Loss of power and ran rough . It was almost dark so I could not see what was wrong so I drove it the two miles home, along the side of the road. Next morning I took the truck to holder ford in lakeport, california and they said I had blown out the rear plug on the passenger side of the engine. They repaired it for $715.00 and I got it back on monday 10/6/08. Again on 10/11/08 saturday the same plug blew out. This time I was in the fast lane of the freeway in san rafael heading for san francisco. The truck lost power and every time I backed off the gas the engine died. I fought with the truck to get it started and keep it running to get it across three lanes of bumper to bumper traffic to an off ramp. When I stopped and raised the hood I saw it was the same plug that was just repaired. I called holder ford and they said service was closed and there was nothing they could do for me until monday. I drove the car to a toyota dealer only to find the ford dealer had gone out of business there so I called a tow truck and rented a car. I was 150 miles from holder ford and my towing would only allow 100 miles. Besides this blown spark plug almost causing an accident it cost me $400.00 for the tow and I don't know how much for a rental car. Now I find out there are only three threads in the head to hold the plugs in, and the heads are aluminum. The truck is a 2003 ford f150 lightning 5.4 triton v8 with 70,000 miles.

Filed Sep 9, 2007 · Engine · 71,976 miles · TX

In between oil changes, the sender assembly in my ford f150 failed to send a message to the gauge that the engine was overheating. Because of that failure, both head gaskets were blown allowing water to go inside the engine. The sender assembly was not working so it did not send a signal to the oil gauge that the pressure was low. This caused a complete engine failure. Cost to replace the engine was $5,405.12 + 20 days of a rent car $672. All of this out of my pocket and ford refuses to reimburse me as does the dealership who did the repair.

Filed Oct 23, 2006 · Engine · 64,532 miles · CA

While driving to work, my f-150, 5.4 liter engine blew out a spark plug. The repair cost is in excess of $4000. The affected aluminum cylinder needs to be replaced. The manufacture does not cover the routine tightening / inspection of spark plugs during the periodic 30k, 60k services even though they (the dealer) knows that there is a design problem with this particular engine. The design problem stems from a minimum amount of threads to hold the spark plug in place. The 5.4 liter engine is a powerful engine that necessitates a thicker and longer well to torque and hold the spark plugs in place. The internet is filled complaints made by ford consumers that have experienced this same type of problems on ford engines.

Filed Sep 19, 2006 · Engine · 56,000 miles · IL

Drove my truck home from work yesterday and at 30 MPH my engine blew a spark plug. The estimate for repair is $3000+. I researched on line and found out this is a known problem. I contacted ford at their customer service department in dearborn, mi and they refuse to pay for the costs of this known issue.

Filed Jan 5, 2005 · Wheels · 25,500 miles · AL

In may, 2004 I was traveling out of state with my mother and mother in law and friend when we began experiencing problems with the front tires on my truck. After finding a garage that was open, we were shocked to find out that the lugs: nuts on both front wheels had loosened to the point of almost falling off. The garage corrected the problem temporarily, and then I contacted my local dealership where I purchased the vehicle. Giving that the vehicle had only 17,000 miles I felt like some sort of restitution was in order for the time and trouble I had undergone. After much argument, I was able to get the wheels replaced, but never quite felt safe in this vehicle. In november, 2004, while getting ready to leave for church, my husband attempted to start the same vehicle and the engine began experiencing trouble. We had it towed to the nearest dealership and were shocked to learn that the engine had blown up in this truck. It only had 25,500 miles on it. I was forced to upgrade to a newer vehicle and incurred more payments with this newer vehicle. I have made many complaints to ford motor company, but to no avail. I feel like I am due some sort of restitution for the vehicle that I had to trade. I had made 15 payments on this vehicle and really had no choice. The answer I received from the dealership was that no one would offer me a trade in on a vehicle with a blown engine. I disagree. The time and trouble that I have had to undergo is worth something. Teresa limbaugh.