The wires for the camshaft position sensor are failing just like they have in others models of the f series and cause the truck to suddenly die while driving. There was already a recall in place but it doesn't cover this vin and so I would like to request the recall be extended to this trucks vin
2003 Ford F-350 engine problems
26 complaints (29% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 25,000.
- owner complaints
- 26
- of this car's complaints
- 29%
- typical mileage
- 25,000
- crashes
- 0
- recalls
- 0
Which part fails
- Engine: diesel6
- Engine3
- Exhaust system: emission control: gas recirculation valve (EGR valve)1
- Exhaust system: emission control1
- Exhaust system1
- Engine: gasoline: turbo/supercharger1
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
0k-25k
25k-50k
50k-75k
75k-100k
100k-125k
125k-150k
150k-175k
175k-200k
200k+
Ford F-350 engine problems in other years
Specific symptoms reported on the 2003 Ford F-350 engine
Phrases found in the owners' own descriptions, so one complaint can mention several symptoms.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Related investigations
Spark plug ejection from cylinder head
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 stalling
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
What 2003 Ford F-350 owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
As I am sure you must be aware of this issue: I purchased used a 2003 ford -f350. I had many issues and had worked most of them out. There were many issues that were possible I was clearly unaware of. One being of utmost safety to myself and others. My high pressure oil pump located inside the engine of my 2003 ford f-350 6.0 diesel failed. When that happens the engine stops. The high pressure oil pump provides needed pressure to the injectors in order to have a running engine. Being parked and the hpop failing is one thing however driving 55mph on a 2 lane highway against oncoming traffic on a turn is a very bad situation. I am fortunate that I am still very strong at the age of 54. My hpop failed going 55mph on a long left hand turn. As the engine shuts down by brakes are limited to a small amount of storage and then they fail. The steering however fails immediately. I was heading strait head on I to a tracktor trailer rig. It took every ounce of strength to attempt to steer this vehicle out of the other land and brake getting it off the road asap. If the big rig had not made an attempt to miss me, I wouldnt be sending this letter. I wonder how many other people had not the strength to steer out of a situation or have time to stop and were killed. The report most likely said" driver fell asleep." or something to that affect. There is no way this engine should be allowed to continue operation on the road period. Ford should honor all current owners of this vehicle with a very reasonable settlement not to mention having a formal investigation into this matter. I know of no other vehicles on the road that have such an issue. Complete failure of steering and brakes due to an unforeseen internal mechanical issue is a very poor design. Running out of fuel is one thing, however running out of control is absurd. Had I know who to write too sooner I would have.
Just driving on highway 41 and it just stopped. Engine went dead. Pulled over to side of road and tried starting again and it wouldnt start. Had to get it towed. Its been in shop for 20 days. Needs a new fuel tank because the inner lining is peeling and particles are going through engine! Need help I purchased this truck in 2015 and its been in shop 7 different times.
Driving along loud noise pulled over to find a spark plug blew out of the engine block taking the threads with it. No fire thank goodness!
I was driving down the road and I heard a loud pop. The engine had a very abrupt loss in power and began shaking as I tried to accelerate. I was on a 2 lane road and had no choice but to try and maintain my speed to prevent causing an accident from being rear ended. After driving several miles to a place I could safely stop, I checked under the hood an a spark plug had been shot from the engine. After reviewing this on the web, there are many complaints like mine where spark plugs were shot out of engines. The federal safety agency needs to evaluate this as review. Had the engine caught fire I would not have known and I had no where to pull off the road. This is a result of an cylinder head with inadequate threads for spark plugs to thread into and take hold over time the aluminum weakens and this happens. If this wasn't a problem why did ford redesign cylinder heads after these model engines to accommodate more threading to hold the spark plugs in the engine?
I called ford motor company my 2003 ford f350 sd. Sc. 4x4 5.4 eng. With the problem with both exhaust manifolds rotting away & the studs & nuts that hold the exhaust manifolds to engine heads that they were all rotting away , they told me we won't fix the problems for free . I would like for to investigate this problem before many people will get injury or many fatality will happen when the exhaust manifolds fall off and catch on fire & burn up because fire comes out of the engine to the exhaust manifolds . I talked to many ford dealers they told me that they have replaced many of these exhaust manifolds with the same problems I have & had to charge the owner of these trucks & many other years of these ford trucks . Please help me & many other owners of these ford trucks to make ford motor company recall this problems before people will die & fix this problem for free . Thanks
Cracked "y" pipe is leaking diesel exhaust fumes into cab of truck. This occurred previously when the truck was under warranty back in 2004 but now it is not under warranty nor is there a recall. I have brought this up to several dealers in the area but unless it is under warranty they won't cover the repair. However, I feel it is a major safety hazard which I feel should be addressed immediately, as diesel fumes are linked to cancer or could leak to an accident if someone is overcome by the fumes, which could lead to a death. Please look into this hazard and let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer. I do know from talking to mechanics that this does occur often in these trucks.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford f-350. The contact stated that the engine coolant level was found to be prematurely low. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection, who advised the contact that the head gasket head bolts were defective. The manufacture was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 130,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford f350 diesel. The contact stated that the vehicle could not be started in cold weather. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times for the failure. The dealer performed a diagnostic which located the failure at the egr exhaust system valve but the dealer did not replace the egr valve. The vehicle was then taken to a local mechanic for a second diagnostic which located the failure at the fuel injection control module box and the glow plugs module. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and denied assistance with the repairs due to the age of the vehicle. The failure mileage was 10,000 and the current mileage was 111,000. Updated 03/05/12*lj the engine glow plug was replaced. Updated 03/08/12
Tl*the contact owns a 2003 ford f-350. The contact stated that while driving 45 MPH, a spark plug flew out of the engine compartment and hit the hood of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop where a coil and the spark plug were replaced. The failure occurred two additional times after. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was approximately 98,000 and the current mileage was approximately 101,000.
Questions about the 2003 Ford F-350 engine
Does the 2003 Ford F-350 have engine problems?
Owners have filed 26 complaints about the engine of the 2003 Ford F-350, 29% of all its complaints, more than any other problem.
At what mileage do 2003 Ford F-350 engine problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 25,000 miles.
Was there a recall on the 2003 Ford F-350 engine?
There is no recall for this problem on this model year.
What year does the Ford F-350 have bad engine?
The Ford F-350 model years with the most engine complaints are 2004 (80 complaints), 2008 (47 complaints) and 2005 (35 complaints).
Other 2003 Ford F-350 problems
Acceleration 13Electrical 11Fuel system 10Brakes 8Tires 7Steering 6Airbags 4Transmission 4Body 2Seat belts 2Suspension 2Lights 1Locks 1Seats 1Wheels 1
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