2003 Ford F-250 SD: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Dec 5, 2010 · Engine · 141,000 miles · MN

I was at a stop sign on 12/3/2010 and when I stepped on the gas to go, I heard a extremely loud popping noise. I pulled off to the side of the road and discovered that one of my spark plugs and the coil was flopping around in my engine. I call a friend of mine who is a mechanic at a ford dealership and explained what had happened. He knew exactly what it was and which plug had blown out, without even looking at it. After getting my truck home and taking a closer look, it seems that these were the original spark plugs installed at the factory. This was not a case of over torquing or not tightening. This is a case of faulty design and poor quality by a company that apparently does not care if someone is hurt or killed by there poor design. What if this had caused a accident with my kids in the car??? What if this started my vehicle on fire????? After researching this problem it seems it is quite common on ford vehicles. When is enough enough???? I am currently unemployed and am barely able to keep up with my monthly obligations. I have no idea how I am going to pay for this repair now. Please, it is time to hold ford motor company responsible for not fixing a known problem and potentially getting some one killed.

Filed Nov 2, 2010 · Acceleration · 59,000 miles · OH · fire

Ford f250 diesel parked in driveway next to house spontaneously caught fire during the night. Truck totally destroyed, (other property also damaged/destroyed). Had issues with cruise control not working, was fixed twice, after second time fixed and stopped working, did not have fixed again. Had no other issues with vehicle, no reason for it to catch fire.

Filed Jul 3, 2010 · Engine · 86,121 miles · OK · fire

While driving down the road, a spark plug blew out of the engine on my 2003 v10 triton f250 truck. It has 86,000 mi. And still has the factory spark plugs in it at the factory torque settings. The spark plug exploded out of the engine and could have potentially caught the engine on fire (I read in some cases where it did catch the engine on fire with the same incident). It caused some internal damage when blowing out of the engine, but the plug was no where to be found. I have noticed that ford has a problem, with this particular vehicle and others, with the spark plugs ejecting out of the head, but has done nothing to fix the problem with their engineering defect. I noticed that the head only has three threads holding the spark plug in place and that is not enough to hold one in place with an aluminum head. The potential safety hazard with this problem is high and very severe. I feel like I need to replace all threads and spark plugs before this incident happens again and again. If one spark blew out than it is just a matter of time before another one blows out potentially catching fire and/or causing injury or death.

Filed Feb 28, 2005 · Electrical · AL · fire

F250 ford diesel caught fire while parked. I contacted the ford dealership and have not heard back from them as of date. The vehicle was taken to the ford dealership in tuscaloosa, al in january for repair. The dealership checked for a burning smell and said it was the fuel filter. They replaced fuel filter and a month later the truck caught fire.

Filed Jan 6, 2004 · Electrical · 20,000 miles · SD · fire

My ford f-250 6.0 diesel failed to start and made a funny noise. Minutes later it was on fire and destroyed the vehicle completely.

Filed Nov 22, 2003 · Electrical · 6,500 miles · KY · fire

I went to start the ford 250 diesel at 0515 with a temperature of 50 degrees (fahrenheit). The starter was turning slow, to slow to start a diesel. I tried one more time and it got slower. I got in an another car and went to work. About 10 minutes later my wife heard some popping and looked out the window and the truck was on fire. She called the fire department and me. I got their in about 5 minutes and it was in flames. It was totaled.

Filed Oct 12, 2003 · Brakes, Electrical · 14,296 miles · KS · fire

After towing my trailer several blocks I pulled over at my destination and realized my trailer lights had gone out. This is unusual because the trailer just made a 2500 mile trip with no problems. After checking the connections and opening up the fuse box to look for blown fuses I went back to check the lights again. Upon returning to the truck several minutes later I found the fuse box and a portion of the dashboard in flames. I smothered the fire and found all the electronics to work with the exception of the passenger power seat and the trailer lights and brakes. The vehicle is a 2003 ford superduty lariat f-250 5.4l