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Engine & cooling

Ford F-250 Engine problems by year

71 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Ford F-250's engine & cooling. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.

Engine complaints by model year

YearEngine complaintsCrashesInjuriesRecalls
20190001
20180001
20170001
200337000
200234100
19920001

Engine recalls

Latest F-250 engine complaints

2002 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

The contact owns a 2002 Ford F-150. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the engine seized. No warning light was illuminated. The contact attempted to start the vehicle; however, the vehicle failed to start. The contact stated that the vehicle started after several attempts. The contact stated the vehicle sat for a while before starting the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the dealer; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed. The contact was informed that the repair was not covered under recall....

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The vehicle was then towed to an independent mechanic; however, the failure was not officially diagnosed. The contact was informed that the failure was possibly caused by an unknown sensor. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or the dealer. The contact stated that the failure started in 2013; however, the vehicle had been parked and undriveable since 2017. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 109,000.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11664276
2003 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

The contact owned a 2003 Ford F-250. The contact stated that while her husband was driving home, there was black smoke coming from the exhaust, with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the residence and turned off. The contact stated that while attempting to restart the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where the vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the engine was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 171,000.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11658268
2002 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

The contact owns a 2002 Ford F-250. The contact initially discovered patches of fluid on the garage floor. The vehicle was then taken to a dealer where a diagnostic test was performed. The dealer discovered a leak in the engine oil pan due to a faulty silicone gasket. The contact stated that the oil pan was replaced by the same dealer a year prior to the recent failure. The contact was provided an estimate for the repair. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and informed the contact that there was no recall on the VIN related to the failure. The contact was referred to the NHTSA Hotline to report the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 138,683.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11656066
2003 Ford F-250Electrical systemBrakesEngine & coolingFire

Truck had no check engine light then caught on fire going down the road and burned to ground within seconds Incident report 46-24-05039 08_30-74 US-30 - PA 74 30 W

Filed Incident Electrical system · Service brakes · EngineNHTSA 11618329
2002 Ford F-250Body, doors & structureEngine & coolingFire

As soon as the truck started, it popped out one of its spark plug. The truck started shaking and made a hollow noise and began to smoke and quickly caught on fire. The fire burned the entire truck.

Filed Incident Structure · Unknown or other · EngineNHTSA 11458738
2003 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

I have been trying to get the exhaust manifold bolts replaced by several machine shops and did my own checking on the Ford F-250 Web site and everyone tells me the same thing! Ford knows about the problem but is doing nothing to correct! I have finally found a shop that will fix the broken exhaust manifold blots ! But I would like to know what ford truly knows about this problem . To get it fixed they have to replace all the bolts do to the bolts being so rusted ! Now I only have 121, + miles on my2003 and with the...

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bolts broken it starts admitting gas fumes into the cab . I did check your site and could only find but 1 complaint , so if this is an issue with the exhaust manifold bolts braking and all the ford forums are full of complaints where are they being filed at on your site ? And I do believe it is an issue because I have spoken to 5 different shoppes and 1 ford dealer , they all say the same thing SORRY but it is your problem ! ford knows but will not do anything about it ! I am having mine put in the shop for repairs on the week of 7 Feb 2022 , now that I found someone I could afford! I had quotes from I will not do the work because it is a V10 to $1000.00 per bolt please address this ! It won't help me but maybe it will hold ford accountable for the product !

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11450126
2002 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-250. The contact stated that while the vehicle was stationary at a traffic light, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was restarted and driven to his destination. The contact stated that the failure was experienced on three separate occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 300,000.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11390640
2003 Ford F-250Engine & coolingFuel system

I have paid over $6.000 Dollars to my local ford dealer to fix my truck just to have them tell me there is no way to fix the problem, its a design flaw from ford that can not be fixed. I have been back and forth with ford motor company, I have been lied to, strong along, calls not returned and so on. The design flaw has to do with the egr. And today its seems the 3rd new turbo stopped working and the motor has started to have a bad vibration. This has been a nightmare and even though ford kept telling me they will...

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take care of me, nothing has happened. When the turbo failed as I was trying to get onto the freeway I had no power and nearly was rear ended by an 18 wheeler who was extremely angry. I had to stay off the freeway on other roads till I could get home. The truck developed a bad vibration and I was not sure I would get it home. If I would had been told by ford the first time I took it in of the design flaw and there is no way to fix it, I would have never poured so much money into it. It is a lemon and should have been recalled. I have talked to many people and researched this truck. I found out ford new of this design flaw and that their customers would have these problems but released the truck to us anyway. I now can't afford to put any more money into this truck, I can't fix it, I can't sell it, and ford will not do anything to help me. When I found out I was lied to and caught them and said, I now you have been lying to me and I do not trust you, I was labeled a hostel customer. I ask you, who likes to be lied to? This has been going on into 2 years now. Now I have no truck. I am interning where it asks "when this happened" today's date. Please help. Thank you.

Filed Incident Engine · Fuel / propulsion systemNHTSA 11271727
2002 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

2002 F-250 7.3L diesel. Driving down the highway pulling a horse trailer engine just completely stalled without warning. I lost all steering and brakes. I put it in neutral and restarted while coasting. Drove another few miles and it stalled again. Would not start again after that. This happened on a remote highway at night. Had a wrecker tow us to a diesel shop who reported truck started fine next day. Went and picked it up and it stuttered a few times on the way home but did not stall. A few months later, engine...

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stalled at a red light in heavy traffic but started back up. Took it to my mechanic who read a cam position sensor circuit fault on the computer. Replaced cam position sensor. A few months later, stalled again at an intersection. I coasted to the side of the road and had it towed to my mechanic. Upon arriving and unloading from wrecker. Truck started up. Started to drive it home and stalled again halfway there on a busy rural road with no shoulder. Called wrecker again and towed to different diesel shop. Replaced cps again and truck started fine. Took it home and ran it at idle until engine temp was normal. Engine stalled again and would not start. Waited about 2 hours and it started up just fine and ran at idle for one hour without stalling. Current cps was from ford dealer (the grey one) but apparently the same problem as the one involved in nhtsa id: ea06012 recall from 2006 is still a problem. It could stall without warning in the middle of an intersection and cause a serious crash. This is a serious safety issue!!

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11271348
2003 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 2003 ford f-250. While driving 65 mph, the vehicle began to stall without warning. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the turbo needed to be replaced. The vehicle was taken to penske ford (located at 8970 la mesa blvd, la mesa, ca 91942, (619) 464-7777), but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 72,000.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11265693
2002 Ford F-250Engine & coolingFire

Tl* the contact owned a 2002 ford f-250. While the vehicle was parked for a couple of hours in cold temperatures and connected to the block heater, the vehicle caught fire. The fire was extinguished by the fire department. The vehicle was destroyed. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The cause of the failure was not determined. The failure mileage was 177,700.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11172110
2003 Ford F-250BrakesEngine & coolingVisibility & wipers

The check engine light came on and we pulled over then when I put the truck into drive to pull out it barely moved. We were almost hit bc the truck wouldn't move so I put in in reverse to get out of the road and it did fine. So I tried to pull out again n drive and again it wouldn't go no matter how much gas I gave it. It sounds like something is drownding out or it isn't getting gas. But like I said. It won't go forward in drive or 1st or 2nd. Only in reverse will it move normally. This is major!!! I can't have my kids at risk bc there's something wrong with the truck. I have only had the truck about 3 weeks so it's very frustrating.

Filed Incident Service brakes · Engine · Visibility / wiperNHTSA 11092593
2002 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

On november 26th 2017, my truck started having a significant mis-fire in cylinder #4. Travelling at about 30 mph on city streets; this particular incident was not a safety issue although difficult to limp the vehicle home as it did not accelerate well. Upon removing the spark plug; it was determined that the cylinder head threads in the spark plug port have been damaged. This would have resulted in an ejected spark plug had the vehicle been continued to be operated. Since this is the 3rd different cylinder...

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this has occurred on with numerous reports from multiple owners of the same engine design by ford; I have decided to file this report. This is the 2nd report I have filed with the nhtsa. The first report I filed was because the 2nd time this occurred; a spark plug ejected from the #3 cylinder at highway speeds with a significant reduction in speed in traffic on the highway. That occurrence also caused a significant vibration and had to be pulled over immediately. Even though there have been significant reports to ford and documented occurrences dating back to 1997; ford continues to say that because no "safety issues" have risen or been proven to be caused by this issue that it is not there problem. I will also be filing reports with bbb, consumer affairs and consumer reports.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11051574
2002 Ford F-250Engine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford f-250. While driving 40 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was able to restart on the second attempt; however, the failure recurred. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vin was not included in nhtsa campaign number: 07v553000 (engine). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 117,000.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 10970059

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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