Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE | |||||
| 041910 | 10/04/2004 | 10010719 | Oil leak from oil filter adapter - 4.0l sohc engine built before 4/1/2004. *tt | 12/07/2004 | |
| 17544 | 02/01/2004 | 10008115 | Generator noise in cold ambient temperatures. *mj | 07/22/2004 | |
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - EXHAUST SYSTEM - EMISSION CONTROL | |||||
| 03L17 | 12/01/2003 | 10008284 | Demonstration/delivery hold - special field action 03l17. revised smog emissions information. *tt | 07/26/2004 | |
Investigations
| NHTSA ID | Manufacturer | Date open | Date close | Subject | Recall campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | ||||||
| DP05005 | FORD MOTOR COMPANY | 09/22/2005 | 01/04/2006 | 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 | ||||||
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE | ||||||
| DP05005 | FORD MOTOR COMPANY | 09/22/2005 | 01/04/2006 | 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 | ||||||
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE - GASOLINE | ||||||
| DP05005 | FORD MOTOR COMPANY | 09/22/2005 | 01/04/2006 | 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 | ||||||
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING | |||
| 07/31/2009 | 83500 | 1 | |
| Started hearing a squeal like a slipping fan belt, checked it out and found the crankshaft pulley separated from the damper, the belt came off the pulley and was riding on the damper. it is now costing me $500 to have the pulley replaced, i have noticed others having this same issue, it seams that this is a defective part and ford should be required to fix this at their cost. if i had continued to drive without getting it fixed it would have broken the crankshaft timing sensor causing engine shut down and maybe loss of vehicle control. *tr | |||
| 07/15/2007 | 35203 | 1 | |
| My truck began making loud whinning noises june 2007, the steering was very tight when using the a/c and check engine light came on, a/c did not cool or get a tight seal for air flow, front tire wear has accelerated causing shaky steering, power steering got worse, although all fluids were new and belts look worn out and with all this i only had 52,120 miles. i had wreck in 07 because of the steering and reported it to my insurance for payment. when all the problems continued to pile up and regular maintenance didn't solve anything, i took it to 3 mechanics and all said ac compressor or power steering needed replacing and other components looked prematurely worn. finally had ac compressor repaired on 7/26/08 only to find out that the harmonic balancer was the cause of all my problems and had to be replaced as well. the mechanic gave me the parts and said it looked like a weak lego block. i have all the old parts in my trunk and even though my vehicle was repaired, it still runs bad, but the mechanic stated that the harmonic balancer is the initiator, due to poor manufacturing. *tr | |||
| 08/22/2006 | 59544 | 3 | 02/02/2004 |
| Dt*: the contact stated when the vehicle was started, the check engine light illuminated constantly. the vehicle was taken to a service dealer where the speed control switch, turn signal switch, and oxygen sensor were all replaced. | |||
| ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING - ENGINE | |||
| 03/12/2011 | 100000 | ||
| 2004 ford sport trac xlt gas efi 4.0 harmonic balancer failure with less than 100,000 miles. | |||
| 01/21/2010 | 22000 | 1 | |
| Harmonic balancer went bad may 2009, just under 19,000 miles on my 2004 st! left my family and i stranded on i-95 in philadelphia. ford has sold a lot of replacements but won't issue recall or tsb. the serpentine jumped off the balancer pulley and landed on the rubber mount of the balancer then ate through the sensor. jan 21, 2010: started up the st, no problem. drove one block, stopped at stop sign. made right turn and accelerated, then the st died; 22,000 miles. just before it lost all power in the engine, i heard what sounded like a turbine quickly decelerating. now i turn the key, hear the starter clicking, and nothing happens with the engine. towed to ford dealership. there was a rattle just before this happened. ford service dept. rep called me late yesterday and said it may be attributed to poor installation of harmonic balancer, possibly not torqued correctly; sounded like passing the buck. he needed permission to pull the front of the engine apart to look inside, i gave him a green light to do so. he just called today and said the key way and sprocket are bad. he said they come in a kit with a new timing chain; parts and labor after a friendly discount: $925. the truck is already there and apart, so i gave them the go ahead to fix it. normal price would have been about $1100. strange, they have a repair kit to fix this particular issue, but ford says there is no problem with the engine! harmonic balancer goes bad, fix it with new and improved one. then this happens, fix it with new and improved parts from a repair kit! ford says there are no known problems with this engine! *tr | |||
| 03/03/2007 | 30000 | 1 | 01/15/2004 |
| Tl*- the contact stated that while pulling the 2004 ford explorer sport trak withn 30000 failure mileage into the driveway the contact put the vehicle into park and began to hear a tapping from the front of the engine. the vehicle was taken to a dealer, who determined that the valve spring was worn. the vehicle has not been repaired. the current mileage was 33000.*aki | |||
| 02/16/2006 | 200 | 1 | 07/02/2004 |
| Dt*: the contact stated while driving 20mph and below, the engine intermittently stalled. this occurred primarily when the vehicle attempted to slow down or stop. the vehicle was taken to the local dealership numerous times for inspection. the dealer was unable to duplicate the problem, therefore no repairs were made. | |||