After starting the vehicle, at any time in under a minute the vehicle's engine will randomly shut off and display a message on the instrument cluster "Auto StartStop, Shift to P then Restart Engine". A photo of this message is included in this report. This issue can occur while in Park, Reverse, Neutral, or Drive. I have had it randomly occur to me upwards of 40 occasions over the past 3 years. A few times I have actually been driving at a slow speed (below 10 mph) when the engine stopped. So far for me, it seems to only happen when the engine RPM's are below 1500 or so. It feels like the engine shakes and then shuts off, then the dash chimes and displays the message mentioned above. I follow the instructions; I turn the ignition off, shift to Park, and restart the engine. Sometimes it starts back up fine and I am able to drive away. Other times the engine shuts off almost instantly and I have to try many, many times (10 to 20) to finally get the engine to stay on so I can drive it. If the engine were to stop while I was making a turn in a busy intersection or on a busy roadway, it would no doubt cause an accident and could be serious or even fatal since I would be unable to move. I have had this looked at by my local Ford Dealer Service shop and they have been unable to replicate the issue. I am not surprised by this since this appears to be random. They have told me to shut off my Auto Start/Stop feature and that is all they did. I have not had this issue looked at by Ford, police, or insurance since thankfully so far it has not occurred in an accident. The only warning message that appears is the "Auto StartStop, Shift to P then Restart Engine" on the cluster. I have not noticed and symptoms that result in this issue so far. This issue first appeared January 2020. Note: This has NOTHING to do with the Auto Start/Stop feature of the vehicle. I have had this issue occur when the Start/Stop feature is active and when it is disengaged.
2018 Ford F-150 engine complaints
Page 17 of 21: complaints 461 to 490 of 591, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the engine emitted abnormal knocking and rattling sounds. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to continue driving. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring while starting the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where an unknown software was updated under Ford Customer satisfaction Program Number: 21B10. The dealer informed the contact that an unknown part would be replaced in the event that the software update did not correct the issue. The failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer who informed him that the unknown part could no longer be replaced as Ford Service Campaign Number: 21N03 had expired in February 2022. However, the contact had not received a letter. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the federal safety agency. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle, the vehicle made an abnormal rattling noise. Additionally, the fuel efficiency had decreased. The contact related the failure to Customer Satisfaction Program: 21N03 (Cam Phaser Replacement) however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 66,000.
We took the truck in for a recall for the Camphase III. They stated it will take about three days to fix. The dealership called the next day a stated the truck was ready for pick up. They drove the truck about 120 miles. We notified the dealership the next morning that the truck was not change the gear correctly it was like we was driving a manual. We call and reported the matter to the dealership the said bring it back in two week because they said we had to have an appointment when we had just left the dealership. Took it back two weeks later they said they will have to keep it for another couple of days, call the next day truck is ready, picked up the truck they said drive it for a couple of days and it will stop , but it was worse than it was the last time . I took it back for the 4th time went on a drive with the service man to show him what the truck was doing. He said he will fix the truck it will run just like new he keep the truck for a week this time drove over 200 something odd miles . Got the truck back and they said drive it for another week and it is going to stop, but it is still doing the same thing only worse than it was doing in the begging .We are getting the run around on getting our truck fixed. That had no problems before we took it in for a recall. I do have the dates and names of the individuals that we spoke to over the past 3 months. The warranty is going to run out soon and that is what I think they want to happen they keep putting us off for two week at a time the is our means of transpiration all of this behind a recall
Auto StartStop feature shuts down engine when stopped but frequently does not restart when brake is released. Forced to shift to Park and manually restart engine. Sometimes a message is displayed in the dash telling you how to remedy but most often you need to know what is happening and how to remedy. There is an option in Advanced settings to turn off the Auto StartStop feature but that option does not work.
Issue with cam phasers going bad over time. Makes loud clacking sound on start up
At 9,000 miles the oil ran dry in the engine. No warning lights came on. The vehicle had routine oil change at 5,000 miles. I was stranded on the road with no transportation. After several oil consumption test Ford agreed to replace the motor with a long block. After 1,000 miles on the second motor the oils was over 2 quarts low on oil. Ford remedy was a longer dipstick with wider oil range. After two oil consumption tests Ford change the motor again with short block. After 20 miles the one of the heads went bad. Ford replaced one head. After 75 miles the vehicle stopped running and is in the shop again. The vehicle has been in the shop for over 6 weeks at a time. I have requested a buy back twice.
While traveling on a straight and level interstate freeway with the cruise-control set to 75mph. A huge loss of power followed by a hard downshift from 10th to 7th, up to 9th and attempting to shift back into 10th before I decided to reduce speeds and pull over because it was very dangerous surging/uncontrollable for moments for myself and those driving around me. I noted smoke pouring out from behind the vehicle and that the transmission temp was at 226F. NO WARNING LAMPS/MESSAGES OR OTHER SYSMPTOMS NOTED. Once pulled over, I inspected the underside of the vehicle and noted the whole underside coated in automatic transmission fluid (Red in color). The fluid seemed to trace back to just before the engine/transmission interface. Transmission was serviced 7k miles prior. Dealer advised (through email correspondence) that I let the vehicle/transmission cool down and can then continue to drive the vehicle as the ATF foams up/ expanding and spills out of the transmission vent tube. If problems persist to bring in the vehicle for inspection.
I purchased a new Ford F150 with the 5.0 L V8 engine in April 2018. After the third oil change, I recognized what seemed to me to be an excessive oil consumption problem. After checking my dipstick every 300-400 miles, it appeared the consumption was about 1 quart of oil per 1000 miles. I reported this to the dealer and they applied TSB 18-2354 in April 2020. This included a reprogramming of the PCM and a new dip stick. Initially this TSB appeared to reduce some consumption. However, now in May 2022, it appears that my consumption is around 24 ounces per 1000 miles, which I feel is still excessive. My use of the vehicle is for local transportation and I have only towed 3 small trailers over the last 4 years. Therefore, the vehicle has always been operated well within the manufacturers specifications. I always use Ford motor oil 5W-20. I know there is a Class Action lawsuit against Ford over this issue. There are numerous complaints on the internet. I submit this complaint to document my problem before the 5 year engine warranty expires. I can also report the "decelleration rattle" that occurs when the engine is at low RPM, generally when cold. This rattle is not always present but I have seen it described in other complaints. To date, it does not seem to affect engine performance.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated while checking the oil level, he noticed that there was no oil on the dipstick. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact had added oil several weeks ago. The contact drove the vehicle to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000.
The contact owns 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was an abnormal knocking coming from the engine. The contact stated that the failure recurred while accelerating at high speeds. The contact stated that there were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that camshaft phasers needed to be replaced. The contact was also notified of an unknown recall on the vehicle. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure but offered no assistance. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.
The F150 will stall when auto start/stop activates. This is a critical safety issue due to the vehicle becoming inoperable at intersections while stopped. The issue was reviewed several times by the dealership and issue persisted. The issue is still not repaired and mitigated by deactivating the system. This resulted in a lemon law lawsuit from me to ford with me winning a settlement for 8K dollars. However, this dangerous issue must be properly repaired. I am able to demonstrate this issue upon request. I have also have video of the incident with warning lights that activate.
Vehicle was inspected by the dealership and Ford inspector. VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL RELATED PROBLEMS OF THE 2018 Ford F-150. Backing up to an elevated driveway on a residential street. Braking at 0 mph and the vehicle accelerated at a speed which crashed the front end of the neighbor’s car parked at the top of the driveway. Those neighbors have two small children which play on that driveway and would have been killed. The neighbor heard the brakes screeching. I did not have my foot on the accelerator. This incident was reported to the police, the dealership and Ford which inspected the vehicle. They claim they did not find a problem, but there are a multitude of similar issues online. I received an recall email from the federal safety agency today, March 22, 2022 which I was convinced was FORD and the federal safety agency resolving this issue because the federal safety agency information (in its brevity) seemed similar to what happened with our F-150. However, the federal safety agency Campaign number 22V150000, recall number 22S11. However, our F-150 is a 5.0L engine.
The vehicle I am writing about is 2018 F150 equipped with the 2.7L eco boost and the 10 speed transmission. The vehicle came standard with the auto-stop start feature. I however do not like the system to I press the “stop/start button” to turn off the system. The vehicle has appx 53,000 miles on it I had been driving for approximately 10 minutes and had made several stops without incident. I however came to approximately the 6th stop and the engine of the truck shit off completely, oil pressure indicated zero with a battery discharge light. The center screen displayed the message “auto stop start, shift to P, then restart engine”. I shifted to park and was able to restart. Although I was at a stop I worry if the vehicle is capable of shutting down randomly like this while in motion. This was not a routine shut down of the auto stop start system. I understand that this is anecdotal, but Ford F-150 owner forums online are filled with similar complaints of 2018-2020 F150s with the auto stop start system displaying the same message and having similar shut downs. I will be taking the vehicle to a Ford dealership for evaluation. However this is an issue that warrants attention and a TSB by Ford needs to be developed.
On Jan 1st-I was returning to SE Michigan from Cincinnati and driving thru rain most of the way back that has turned to snow shortly after I crossed into Michigan. I was on M23 doing about 70MPH just south of I96 interchange (Brighton, MI) when my vehicle shuddered three different times in about a minute for maybe 2-3 seconds. Then a warning light flashed on my dashboard and went off before I could read it. Then it appeared again and flashed off again. Then vehicle shuddered again and my entire dashboard lit up with every warning light seemingly possible and all type of warning/error messages started circling thru main dash info center. My engine turned off and I had no power steering, brakes, etc. I pulled off to the side of the road safely but in a very congested area with left & right merging lanes. I shut engine off and waited 5 minutes and turned it back on and proceeded the test of the 30 minutes home w/o incident. I haven't had the issue since. However, I went online and saw numerous reports of other situations from F150 owners-most seemed to be a one time occurrence. Others, it was constant or would happen at specific speeds. Unfortunately, most don't report these incidences. I had an appt scheduled to run codes but had to reschedule and had it in this morning for a tailgate issue (separate recall issue). While I was able to get it to the side of the road, had my 17 year old daughter been driving this, it could have been a very unfortunate incident (new driver, petite girl with limited strength to turn or compress brakes with no power assist to either or panicking with no experience in such a situation). This needs to be investigated due to numerous complaints/reports on online forums.
I own a 2018 RWD Ford F-150 3.5L ecoboost engine. Over the last few months I’ve noticed increased engine noise, particularly with cold start ups (in the morning) and more recently every time I start the engine, which may be a result of the cam phaser CSA/FSA recall currently out for my model truck/engine. Along with this, a couple weeks ago the cold start rattling is accompanied with a low whistle. Now, my primary complaint and major safety concern is with the transmission/engine. Roughly 6-7 weeks ago the engine start upshifting quite hard, I learned that the RPMs will skyrocket to 4.5-6.5k to let me know it’s about to hardshift, with a lack of gear shift or gain of speed regardless of gas-pedal pressure until the engine suddenly upshifts to the 5th or 6th gear. This usually ends up with a squealing of my rear tires. Now, over the last 3-4 weeks it has now progressed to poor gear shifting in general; it feels like I’m in a stick shift vehicle with someone who can’t drive a stick shift properly. Also, been gears 1-3 the upshift and downshift will be accompanied with abnormal shift and a “shuddering” of the engine felt throughout the truck. The one, and hopefully last, and reason for my complaint was a scary experience with this poor, extremely hard/aggressive, upshifting nearly causing me to have an accident. I was first in line to turn left at an arrow; the turn would end with my forward direction being near true westbound. It turned green, pressed the gas pedal, and the engine remained in 2nd gear for roughly 8-10 seconds before it vehemently upshifted to 6th gear causing my tires to burn out and actually turned my truck so that the tailgate was nearly facing the southbound traffic/direction…the entire scenario took long enough for the southbound light to turn green. I’ve never had such horrendous malfunctioning of a vehicles engine/transmission before and I know my complaint(s) are one of near thousands of similar Ford models. This needs to be a major Ford recall
I’ve been having whistling/rattling in my truck for the last couple of weeks. Tried to make an appointment with my local dealer for the Cam phaser CSP out by Ford for 2018, and other, year models with this issue among other transmission/powertrain issues/problems/defects. I was at a stop light with a red light and waiting for my green left turn arrow. Left turn arrow turned green and I stepped on the gas; my RPMs skyrocketed, stayed in gear 2, and was traveling between 5-10 mph. After roughly 100ft, the transmission switched gears from 2 to 6th gear and the turbos kicked in and I ended up slamming my head in to my steering wheel. This was the last/final straw. The engine has been questionable at best the last couple months and this was the first time I’ve felt like I am no longer driving the safe, reliable vehicle I thought I had purchase. I have a service appointment scheduled with one of my local dealerships. I hope they fix this issue because if they don’t/these life endangering transmission/powertrain issues persist I will be hiring a lawyer and fighting for lemon law.
When accelerating to pass another vehicle the truck started shaking violently engine rpms were erratic and I lost almost all forward momentum. This incident almost caused a head on collision. Truck has shifted erratic since purchased and has undergone the lastest ford updates/repairs to no avail. Four-wheel drive is also engaging randomly and has also been repaired to no avail. It would be great if something would be done about these issues before someone gets killed. You just never know how the truck is going to drive on any given day...
2018 F-150 King Ranch started noticing a rattle at start up. Took the truck to Ford Dealership and they tried Field Service Action (FSA) PCM REPROGRAM DUE TO ENGINE SHUDDER FIELD SERVICE ACTION NUMBER 21N08 I was told I needed to drive the truck for at least 500 miles, but the rattling only got worse as it sounds like a diesel on start up. I then took it back to Ford after researching and determining this a cam phaser issue that is very common. In fact Ford issued (FSA) - 21N03 FSA TITLE CAM PHASERS FIELD SERVICE ACTION NUMBER - 21N03 However, since this is a FSA and not a recall, and if your power train warranty has expired, you the owner, are required to pay for a portion of the repairs based on the number of miles on your vehicle. I've also found out that the repair is like 15 labor hours which points to the reason why Ford won't issue a full recall. Ford is not standing behind their product as this cam phaser issue a very wide spread and Ford should step up and issue a recall, and pay for all the repairs just like other manufactures have done. Finally, from my understanding, Ford has not truly remedied the issue as they are making the repairs with new parts, but they've made no change to the parts. In fact, the Serivce Manager told me that the rattling could very well come back. Ford needs to step up, make the appropriate repairs with corrected parts and pay for all of the repairs because they are definitely not standing by this verbiage that is posted under the FSA: Ford Motor Company is committed not only to building high quality, dependable products, but also to building a community of happy, satisfied customers. To demonstrate that commitment. Ford Motor Company is providing a Customer Satisfaction Program for your vehicle. It may require you to return your vehicle to the dealer for service. This program may be subject to certain terms and limitations. I guess the terms and limitations are Ford requiring its customers to pay??
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150 used for towing a 2016 Rockwood Ultra Lite Travel Trailer. The contact stated while driving, turning, or at a complete stop, the vehicle would stall. While at a gas pump the vehicle stalled however, restarted after 15 minutes. After, traveling for an hour the vehicle stalled again. The police were on the scene to direct traffic. Another vehicle towed the vehicle out of the roadway. The driver attempted to restart the vehicle approximately 10 times before the vehicle finally restarted. The message to SHIFT to PARK was displayed. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where they were unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted but, no further assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 44,000.
2018 F-150 10-speed FX4. Hard shifting, erratic shifting, and failure to accelerate at times. Vehicle is dangerous to drive. Problem can occur from stop to initial acceleration. I have take the vehicle to the Ford Dealership three times for the same issue without resolution.
I was driving and as I came to a stop I lost all power and engine shut off. Received an error message to put vehicle in park and restart engine.
Came to a rolling stop at stop sign, brake off and pressed on accelerator. Truck stalled and warning light " auto startstop shift to P, then restart engine. There were oncoming cars but was able to put in park and restart. Happen twice within 2 years.
I'm not sure what category to place this in. The under cover for the oil pan transmission is dragging . I did not hit anything or tear it lose in anyway. It seemed to get wet and just started dropping. This is made of a ''felt'' type material instead of plastic or metal. It is is a huge safety hazard. The piece dragging could cause heat and a friction fire. Or it could fall off and cause a traffic accident or damage to vehicles on the road behind. I looked on line and found this is very common in these trucks and seems to be occurring more than not. not. There is an entire forum dedicated to this. I have temporarily zip tied the cover up but it is still dropping bad. I do not think an owner should be out over $200.00 to fix this when it is a obviously a manufacturer defect.
excessive oil consumption. vehicle is loosing 4 qts of oil in 3 week period. Vehicle goes into safety mode while driving and shuts off while driving under 30 miles an hour. Dealership acknowledged this is an with the ford F-150 models from 2015 to 2020.
My 2018 Ford F150 truck has cold start rattle from the phasers. Started occurring 1k miles after my warranty ran out. This is a well known issue with this year of Ford F150 based on the 100s of videos and articles on this topic online. There are several thousand people across many online sites stating they have the same issue. They have created a service bulletin to fix the issue and sent out letters to some and not all owners. Never received the service bulletin and they should include mine in the fix since it is an obvious issue of their trucks.
Vehicle stalls when coming to a stop after towing then will continue to stall after the engine is started back up. The temp gauge did not indicate it was overheating and no warning lights or engine codes came on. This only seems to happen while towing after we have been driving for over an hour. We are towing around 4,500 lbs so it is well under the limits of the truck.
At approximately 18:30 hours on July 27,2021. While backing from alley into my driveway, I coast into driveway since alley is on steep hill, so no gas is needed. Just incline is needed to get movement of truck into driveway. As truck was about five feet from closed garage door. Engine revved up without foot being on gas pedal. Since truck was in reverse gear, so backup camera was engaged to assist in stopping when I get close to door. The rear tires started spinning and burning rubber, my foot had been on brake pedal entire time I was coasting into driveway. I had to press hard on brake pedal to keep from accelerating into and through garage door. Engine finally stopped revving up after a few seconds. I quickly put transmission into park and shut off engine. My son was a passenger in truck and he said what the [XXX] just happened. Got out of truck and there were black tread marks on concrete driveway approximately 2 feet long in front of tires. Next morning July 28, 2021, I started truck up and it acted normal. Took son to work and drove out to Ford dealership to have them take a look at truck. They could not look at truck. Earliest they could get it in to look at it was August 13, They did ask if there were any warning lights on dash. Told them I didn’t see any engine lights indicating a problem is occurring. I have driven truck daily since incident without any further problems. I called Ford dealership today August 12, and canceled appointment to have truck looked at. I doubt they’d find anything, it was an intermittent issue, but it does need to be reported. I have photos of tire marks in front of tire s the next morning before I started truck back up. INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the oil pan was leaking. The vehicle was diagnosed but not yet repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 86,000.
The contact owns a 2018 Ford F-150. The contact stated that after the vehicle was serviced at the dealer for a manufacturer's power train control module reprogramming, the vehicle would shudder when switching lane, accelerating, or decelerating. The check engine light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to another dealer Bob Swope Ford, Inc. (1307 N Dixie Hwy, Elizabethtown, KY 42701) and an engine oil leakage was repaired. However, the failure recurred. The dealer Bob Swope Ford, Inc. informed the contact that there was no remedy but it was safe to drive the vehicle. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 42,865.
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