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2004 Ford F-250 problems

The most common problem on the 2004 Ford F-250 is engine and cooling, typically around 27,645 miles. Its complaint count is close to a typical F-250 model year.

Typical yearClose to a typical year
Year score
75/100
Owner complaints
154
Recalls
2
Service bulletins
72
Worst area
Engine

The worst 2004 Ford F-250 problems

Ranked by number of owner complaints. Mileage and cost come from what owners wrote.

Problems by type

Tap a problem to see which part fails, at what mileage and in which other years.

Specific symptoms reported on the 2004 Ford F-250

Stalling 54Loss of power 13Power steering loss 11Adaptive cruise 7Sudden acceleration 7Brake failure 6Check engine light 6Hesitation 5Jerking 5Won't start 5

Recalls 2

Exterior lighting: brake lightsReported July 13, 2011 · 26,715 vehicles affected
What is wrong
Ford is recalling certain model year 2011 ranger trucks built from january 25, 2011, through april 25, 2011 at the twin cities assembly plant, and service parts distributed to dealers for certain 2004 through 2011 model year ranger trucks, 2002 through 2005 model year excursion vehicles, and 2002 through 2007 model year f-250, f-350, f-450, and f-550 trucks for failing to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 108, "lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment." the multi-function switch was shipped with a subcomponent (slider) that may experience deformation. A multi-function switch with a deformed slider may malfunction causing the turn signal, tail lights, hazard warning signal flashers and/or brake lights not to activate.
Risk
Non-functioning lights could increase the risk of a crash.
Remedy
Dealers will replace the switches free of charge. The safety recall began on august 15, 2011. Owners may contact ford motor company customer relationship center at 1‑866‑436‑7332.

Recall number 11V352000 · Recall details

TiresReported May 17, 2004 · 6,415 vehicles affected
What is wrong
Certain lariat and king ranch model pickup trucks fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 120, "tire selection and rims for motor vehicles other than passenger cars." some trucks were inadvertently equipped with an incorrect load range tire. This would result in incorrect tire load ratings for the stated vehicle axle gross axle weight rating. Also, the tire may be inflated above the dot listed inflation pressure.
Risk
If a tire was operated in an over-loaded or over-inflated condition, the tire may rupture resulting in a rapid air loss, which can cause a crash without warning.
Remedy
Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace any incorrect load range tires. Additionally, if any tire required replacement, it is recommended that the wheel lug nut torque be checked within 500 miles after any tire replacement. Owner notification began on may 21, 2004. Owners should contact. Ford at 1‑800‑392‑3673.

Recall number 04V229000 · Recall details

See all 2 recalls for the 2004 Ford F-250

Defect investigations

Spark plug ejection from cylinder headOpened September 22, 2005, closed January 4, 2006

On september 6, 2005, odi received a petition requesting that the agency investigate allegations of engine spark plug ejection in certain model year 1997 through 2004 ford vehicles with triton v-8 and v-10 engines.odi received a total of 474 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles where the complainant, or the dealer repairing the vehicle, reported that a spark plug detached from the cylinder and/or ejected from the engine.as of december 8, 2005, odi is not aware of any allegations where the alleged defect resulted in a loss of vehicle control, a crash, an injury, or a fatality in any of the 10,319,810 subject vehicles.in addition, odi is aware of only two incidents where the vehicle stalled without restart.information contained in the odi consumer complaints and obtained from 72 telephone interviews with complainants showed the following:(1) 99% of the complaints were on my 1997 to 2002 subject vehicles.(2) most the complainants reported hearing a loud pop while driving or upon starting up the vehicle followed by a loud, repetitive clicking or popping sound.(3) many of the complainants reported that the popping sound was accompanied by some loss of vehicle power; however, in 99% of the incidents reported, the vehicle did not stall.in the very few incidents where the vehicle did stall, most vehicles could be restarted.(4) only a small percentage of the complainants cited that they smelled gas or a slight burning smell when the incident occurred.(5) in all but a very few incidents, vehicle damage was limited to the engine.in one incident, the complaint reported that the fuel rail was damaged and replaced after one of the spark plugs ejected from the engine; however, the complainant reported that the damage did not result in any type of fuel leak or fire.in another incident, the only incident where a fire was alleged, the complainant reported that no fluid leak was observed, but that a fire resulted after the spark plug had ejected from the engine and he had restarted the vehicle and driven to another location.none of the complainants reported any damage to the vehicle hood.(6) only two complainants reported that they observed what appeared to be some drops of fuel coming from the cylinder where the spark plug had failed or on the spark plug itself; however, each of these complainants reported that there was no smoke or flames as a result of his incident.as the petitioner noted, and odi?s analysis showed, it is possible for a spark plug to detach from the engine cylinder threads in the subject vehicles.however, odi?s analysis of 474 complaints describing such incidents found only a very few alleged any safety-related consequences.none of these showed any evidence of a serious safety consequence.given the large population and relatively long exposure time of the subject vehicles, the complaint analysis indicates that the risk to motor vehicle safety from the alleged defect is very low.in view of the foregoing, it is unlikely that the federal safety agency would issue an order for the notification and remedy of the alleged defect at the conclusion of the investigation requested in the petition.therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize the federal safety agency?s limited resources to best accomplish the agency?s safety mission, the petition is denied.

DP05005

Engine stallingOpened October 7, 2004, closed February 15, 2005

Twenty five of the odi failure reports are duplicative of ford complaints.twenty odi reports do not contain a VIN (and may or may not be duplicative of ford reports).the 14 alleged crashes and 2 alleged injuries were all minor.submitted during preliminary evaluation (pe) 04-070, ford's response to odi's information request (ir) letter contained about 5,000 consumer reports (mors) and 8,700 field reports (cqis).ford reviewed the complaints and categorized them.the manufacturer reports shown above represent a count of unique vehicles that ford categorized as allegedly stalling due to a subject engine component ('a' category, see ford's ir response letter for further detail); some of these vehicles received multiple reports.odi has not yet confirmed ford's categorization of these reports, nor has odi confirmed ford's categorization of the remaining reports (which ford states do not pertain to the alleged defect).ford submitted nearly 19,000 warranty claims, many of which involved claims for a technical service bulletin (tsb 04-13-08) and field service action (fsa 03b05) which ford identified as potential remedies for stalling complaints.odi has not confirmed that either of these are a remedy for engine stalling complaints.several other dealer communications related to engine stall were also submitted as well as over 50 product modifications, 15 of which involve revisions to the software for the electronic engine control unit.further investigation is required and odi is upgrading pe04-070 to an engineering analysis (ea).during the ea, odi will establish and update manufacturer failure report counts, further investigate the frequency and trend of stalling complaints, and determine the scope and safety implication of stalling events.odi will also investigate ford's remedies, their effectiveness, and whether further action is required.

PE04070

Technical service bulletins for the 2004 Ford F-250 72

Bulletins tell dealers how to fix known problems. A warranty extension means the manufacturer pays for that repair for longer.

See all 72 bulletins for the 2004 Ford F-250

What 2004 Ford F-250 owners say

Most recent owner complaints, unedited.

Filed Sep 15, 2026 · Tires · TX

The contact owns 2004 Ford F-250 equipped with Maxwrx Tires, Tire Line: Rcveita, Tire Size: 33x12.50 R20. The contact stated that approximately one month after the tires were purchased from Dutchman's Tire Warehouse #2 , the tires started bouncing significantly while driving over 60 MPH, causing the vehicle to shudder. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who discovered that the tires were not DOT certified and advised the contact to discard the tires due to safety concerns. The contact verified that the tires did not have a DOT number. The contact recalled that Dutchman's Tire Warehouse #2 had informed him that the tires were coming from Vietnam and were a great deal. The contact attempted to research the tires online but could not find any information on the tires. The tires failure mileage was approximately 3,000.

Filed Jul 16, 2025 · Steering, Suspension · VA

My 2004 F250 has developed the "Death Wobble" that is normally associated with newer models, but the shudder at or around 40-45mph is identical to the described problems of the newer models in the class action lawsuit and tech bulletins published by Ford. Older models need to be considered in the tech bulletins, customer satisfaction programs, and fixed by ford despite being 1 year older than the current guidelines.

Filed Jun 2, 2025 · Electrical · 100,000 miles · WA

The contact owns a 2004 Ford F-250. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and attempting to accelerate, the vehicle jerked and briefly lost motive power before the vehicle stalled. No warning lights were illuminated. After several attempts, the vehicle restarted. The vehicle returned to normal functionality, but the failure became a regular occurrence. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic; however, no cause for the failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number 05V270000 (ELECTRICAL SYSTEM); however, the VIN was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

Filed Jan 23, 2025 · Steering, Transmission · WA · crash

The tie rod broke while the vehicle was in motion. This caused the vehicle to lose control and crash into another vehicle, causing damage to both vehicles. There was no warning and no sign of any issues. Vehicle has been very well maintained, in fact, it has been in the shop at least once per month for the past year due to a number of mechanical issues unrelated to the tie rod.

Filed Jul 24, 2024 · Engine · 140,000 miles · NC

The contact owns a 2004 Ford F-250. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power and stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was able to be restarted; however, the failure recurred. The dealer was not contacted, and the vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 140,000.

Filed Aug 6, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · WA

I purchased this truck in January 2023. Drove just fine for 2 months and started having this issue. While driving my 2004 f250 sd 6.0l turbodiesel 4x4, (egr deleted, bulletproofed and studded engine, cold air intake, oil cooler, sct x4 tuner) a "fizzle" noise was heard more on passenger side; acting like fuel wasn't reaching engine; and truck stalled right after noise was heard. Wouldn't restart on a hot engine. Crank-no start. Drained both batteries attempting to restart. Restarted after cold engine but would stalled out and not be able to restart while hot engine. Replaced both fuel filters, fuel pump, some module in front bumper relating to fuel system. A friend that knows diesel engines has been trying to find out why its operating the way it is. I treated the gas tank to (2) SEAFOAM for trucks and had valvoline in Ferndale, WA do an oil change after purchasing it. Recalls say that they've been done, but could this issue be caused by the FICM recall?

Filed Mar 22, 2022 · Electrical, Fuel system · ID

I was driving in nampa around 5pm when my truck lost power my fuel peddle had 0 response tried to pull off the road almost had an accident because truck died losing steering power and brakes was hard to push truck had lost the voltage board in the ficm. Upon going over forums this is a major common issue amongst many ford owners. I also have a ground short from unknown location not sure as to what has caused this but assuming it has to do with the wiring harnesses to the ficm. I feel Ford should be in repair of this due to the large amount of issues across the nation of 6.0 owners but this is a very dangerous situation for owners. Not having steering control in such a large truck is extremely dangers. Previous owner had same issue and replaced the ficm and said it shouldn’t ever be an issue I feel there is a wiring issue that needs to be addressed.

Filed Jan 12, 2021 · Electrical, Fuel system · 200,000 miles · AZ

Vehicle loses all power-stalls and loses function when idling. Has occurred when exiting freeway way and in a regular neighborhood streets. Need to restart after stall.

Filed Jan 11, 2021 · Transmission · 130,000 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 ford f-250. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle stalled with several unknown warning lights displayed on the instrument panel. Recently, the contact stated that after experiencing the failure, the vehicle failed to restart. Due to the failure, the contact had the vehicle towed to his residence. The contact then called an independent mechanic to his home who informed him that the fuel injection control module needed to be replaced. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer were notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.

Filed Dec 16, 2020 · Engine · 227,600 miles · OH

Spark plug blew out. Repair estimate $1300. Ford apparently knew about the issue and settled in a class action lawsuit. They did not inform owners of the potential problem, so I feel they are still culpable for the damages.

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Questions about the 2004 Ford F-250

Is the 2004 Ford F-250 reliable?

Owners have filed 154 complaints about the 2004 Ford F-250, close to a typical F-250 model year.

What is the 2004 Ford F-250 year score?

The 2004 Ford F-250 scores 75 out of 100 (average). The score compares it with the other model years of the Ford F-250: 75 is a typical year, 50 means twice the usual complaints, and serious complaints and recalls lower it.

What is the most common problem with the 2004 Ford F-250?

Engine and cooling, with 63 complaints, typically around 27,645 miles. Next is electrical (36).

How many recalls does the 2004 Ford F-250 have?

2 recalls, covering exterior lighting and tires.

What year does the Ford F-250 have bad engine?

The Ford F-250 model years with the most engine complaints are 1999 (82 complaints), 2004 (63 complaints) and 2000 (44 complaints).

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