Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 01/17/2007 | 86000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 1997 ford f-150. the contact stated that the gear lever would not shift into park. to prevent the vehicle from rolling away, the parking brake was engaged in combination with a wheel block being placed in the front and rear of the vehicle. the vehicle had been repaired twice by a specialized transmission center at the owner's expense. on january 21, 2012, the failure recurred. the vehicle had not been repaired for the most recent failure. there was a recall associated with nhtsa campaign id number 97v171000 (power train) however, the recall campaign expired. the manufacturer was notified of the problem. the approximate failure mileage was 86,000. | |||
| 01/17/2007 | 86000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 1997 ford f-150. the contact stated that the gear lever would not shift into park. to prevent the vehicle from rolling away, the parking brake was engaged in combination with a wheel block being placed in the front and rear of the vehicle. the vehicle had been repaired twice by a specialized transmission center at the owner's expense. on january 21, 2012, the failure recurred. the vehicle had not been repaired for the most recent failure. there was a recall associated with nhtsa campaign id number 97v171000 (power train) however, the recall campaign expired. the manufacturer was notified of the problem. the approximate failure mileage was 86,000. kmj | |||
| 01/17/2007 | 86000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 1997 ford f-150. the contact stated the gear lever would not shift into the park position. to prevent the vehicle form rolling the parking brake was engaged in combination with a wheel block being placed in the front and rear of the vehicle. the vehicle had been repaired twice by a specialized transmission center at the owner's expense. on january 21, 2012, the failure recurred. the vehicle had not been repaired for the most recent failure. there was a recall associated with nhtsa campaign id number 97v171000 (power train). the recall defect expired. the manufacturer was notified of the problem. the approximate failure mileage was 86,000. js | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION | |||
| 08/10/2009 | 72000 | 1 | |
| Pull gear shifter down to d1 and smoke and fire came out of the steering column: all of the instrument lights went out and the truck was unable to use the overdrive function. replaced several fuses and tried again with the same results. i dismantled the steering column and noticed that the wiring harness is two short and routed around the steering column causing it to break everytime the truck is put into d1. ford motor company nor any auto store have any parts to repair the problem. the truck is still available for inspection. i took my truck to a ford dealer and they did not have a fix for the problem. they recommend that i not use d2/d1/overdrive. *tr | |||
| 03/16/2007 | 59747 | 1 | 05/15/1997 |
| My non-commercial two wheel drive, 1997 f-150 with 59747 miles with 4.2 v-6 engine blew its 4r70w automatic transmission . i was not able to go forward but could go in reverse. there was no sign of failure and the tranny filter and fluid had been serviced two times. it cost $ 2121.52 to rebuild the tranny at a transmission repair shop. ford's customer service center said there is nothing they can do and did not want to discuss anything with me or the tranny shop to find out more. also the timing case cover gasket,brake calipers and speedometer have been replaced also. *jb | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - GEAR POSITION INDICATION (PRNDL) | |||
| 02/28/2008 | 200000 | 1 | 11/01/2006 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 1997 ford f-150. while the vehicle was in park with the key in the ignition, it began to roll backwards. there were no occupants in the vehicle at the time. the vehicle crashed into a tree and a mailbox, but was not taken to the dealer. the manufacturer stated that the vin was not included in nhtsa campaign id number 97v171000 (power train:automatic transmission:gear position indication (prndl)). the current and failure mileages were 200,000. | |||
| 08/06/2003 | 1 | ||
| Consumer stated that the gear shift level broke off. there were wires hanging all over. consume rcalled the dealership mechanic, and was told that there was suppose to be a button on the level to let one know that something was wrong, but no light came on. he was charged for the repair, but he had it repaired. he never saw any light come on.*ak | |||
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - LEVER AND LINKAGE - COLUMN SHIFT | |||
| 06/05/2007 | 112500 | 1 | 07/07/1997 |
| After stopping in driveway my 1997 f150, 4.6 l would not shift into park and the gear shift seemed to be looser than normal. as i tried several times to shift into park a 1 inch, brass, star head machined screw fell out from under the steering column. also, the gear shift indicator came to rest between park and reverse. the engine would not start in this position, but did start in neutral. i had a difficult time finding reverse and drive, but once in gear the transmission sounds and runs normally. the safety implication of this problem is the unintended movement of the truck if the emergency brake is not set or defective. my research of the problem disclosed two related recalls of 1997 ford vehicles; campaign number 97v147000, september 9, 1997 and campaign number 97v171000, october 7, 1997. both these recalls involved some facet of the transmission linkage between the steering column and the trasmission housing, just as mine did. on my truck there are two bolts securing the transmission selector lever arm and support to the steering column tube. the shift cable is attached to this arm. the top bolt came loose and fell out, while the second bolt was very loose, in fact, the whole arm was ready to fall out. this was the cause of my problem. the solution was to realign the selector lever arm and support to the shift tube and reinsert the two screws, after using a loctite compound. *tr | |||
| POWER TRAIN - TRANSFER CASE (4-WHEEL DRIVE) | |||
| 01/10/2009 | 53000 | 1 | 05/01/1997 |
| Tl*the contact owns a 1997 ford f-150. the contact stated that the vehicle would kick in and out of 4-wheel drive. while driving less than 55 mph, the steering wheel became stiff and the 4-wheel drive became inoperable. the 4-wheel drive warning indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. the dealer could not duplicate the failures. on a separate occasion, the failure recurred. the dealer advised the contact not to shut off the engine. they replaced unknown modules in the transmission at the cost of $607. the dealer also installed a new dashboard switch at no cost due to the fact that the vehicle had been there four times with the exact same failures. the current and failure mileages were less than 53,000. updated 04-24-09 *bf updated 04/27/09.*jb | |||