1999 Ford F Series
Safety record from NHTSA: recalls, owner complaints, investigations and service bulletins.
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These records cover every 1999 Ford F Series. To see whether one car still needs a recall repair, decode its VIN or check it with NHTSA.
Owner complaints
36 complaints1 involved a crash3 involved a fire
What owners report most
Latest complaints
- Engine
Number 3 sparkplug and coil flew out of the engine
- Fuel/propulsion system
While inspecting my vehicle for fuel strap recall 11s21, it was noted that the frame of my F150 was rusted through at the location where the new strap would be installed. my ford dealer told me that they could not replace the recalled strap until the frame was repaired (at my expense). ford…
While inspecting my vehicle for fuel strap recall 11s21, it was noted that the frame of my F150 was rusted through at the location where the new strap would be installed. my ford dealer told me that they could not replace the recalled strap until the frame was repaired (at my expense). ford does not repair the frame under the recall, only replaces the strap. I feel that ford should do the frame repair as part of the recall, as the strap was less rusty than the frame. The straps, in my opinion, were of similar quality as the frame, only thinner metal. my truck has been very well maintained, but the undercarriage has been rusting excessively since new. I own much older ford vehicles with no such issue; my opinion IS that ford sourced poor quality materials when building these model year trucks. I also have rust holes in the transmission dipstick tube and exhaust manifolds. No reason for this excessive corrosion, since I have been diligent about maintaining this truck. My 1982 ford van has no such issues, and it has not been cared for as well as this truck. thanks for your help.
- Tires
Driver side rear tire suffered tread separation after apx 1 hour around 70 mph. tire pressure was checked / inflated to max cold prior to departure. air temperature was in the low 80S. I am providing this information in case you track such incidents. no response IS required. cooper discoverer h/t 255/70 R16 dot upcu C5U 2808. *tr
- Air bags · Suspension · Vehicle speed control
On july 28TH around 3:00 am there was a storm earlier in the night and a tree top fell into the road and I wentto apply the brakes they locked up causing me to fish tail and lose control spinning around twice making me strike a tree and spin back around and nose dive down and embankment and land on…
On july 28TH around 3:00 am there was a storm earlier in the night and a tree top fell into the road and I wentto apply the brakes they locked up causing me to fish tail and lose control spinning around twice making me strike a tree and spin back around and nose dive down and embankment and land on all four wheels messed up the front bumper left fender left door cracked windshield and completely wiped out the bed. *tr
- Fuel system, gasoline
I took my F-150 in for a recall on the fuel tank straps rusting, the dealership was nick nicholas ford in inverness, florida. They told me my fuel tank was leaking from rust. I am in the process of fixing it. My complaint IS if the straps rusted and caused the tank to rust and leak at the area…
I took my F-150 in for a recall on the fuel tank straps rusting, the dealership was nick nicholas ford in inverness, florida. They told me my fuel tank was leaking from rust. I am in the process of fixing it. My complaint IS if the straps rusted and caused the tank to rust and leak at the area where the straps touch the tank. Why isn't the tank included in the recall? The rusted tank leaking IS a clear danger to me, the environment, and other drivers. The gas never dripped on the ground so I never knew it was leaking until I took it in. *tr
- Fuel/propulsion system
Fuel tank now leaks after the ford dealer replaced the straps (11s21 recall). They said they will not cover the tank replacement even though the tank did not leak before they replaced the straps! *tr
- Service brakes
Brakes became mush, then lines burst in back over tank. Master cylinder was bone dry. *tr
- Tires
Inside of tire IS separating. Large bubble , 4" x 6" in size. No other leaks or punctures or patches/plugs in tire. Causes extreme vibrations. Had to remove and replace all four tires for safety reasons. 265 70R 17 wrangler AT/S *tr
- Fuel/propulsion system
Failure of gas tank strap causing fuel tank to fall. *tr
- Electrical system · Engine · Fuel/propulsion system
While driving, there was a loud explosion, then engine was running rough and loud. Mechanic stated that due to a faulty design, the #7 spark plug had been shot from the engine, damagine the ignition coil and allowing fuel to spray from the injectors onto the now loose spark plug. Mechanic stated I…
While driving, there was a loud explosion, then engine was running rough and loud. Mechanic stated that due to a faulty design, the #7 spark plug had been shot from the engine, damagine the ignition coil and allowing fuel to spray from the injectors onto the now loose spark plug. Mechanic stated I was lucky this did not result in an engine fire. Engine IS ford 5.4L V8. Mechanic explained that the design of the engine means that the aluminum heads have approx. Half as many threads as a normal spark plug, meaning that this IS a frequent occurrence and ford IS aware of the fire risk but has chosen not to address. *tr
- Engine and engine cooling
I've had two plugs blow out on my 99 F150. It has less than 100,000 on it. If they know its a defect why not step up and fix the problem? It cost $300 a plug!!!! Left me stranded at night with my family along the road!! Makes me wonder if I want to stay with ford or go elsewhere. *tr
- Tires
My left rear tire blew out. *Tr
- Engine and engine cooling
I had just got off work and was leaving the parking area and blew out the number 4 sparkplug on the right side head. I shut off the my truck and parked it. I called a friend that lives close for a ride home. The next morning I drove back to the plant and took my truck to the local ford dealership.…
I had just got off work and was leaving the parking area and blew out the number 4 sparkplug on the right side head. I shut off the my truck and parked it. I called a friend that lives close for a ride home. The next morning I drove back to the plant and took my truck to the local ford dealership. They said that I should replace the head or install a helicoil and also replace the spark plug and coil pack. So I had them install the helicoil and replace the damaged parts. Less then a month later I was driving to work on the I 90 and I blow out the number 5 cylinder spark plug and this time it took out the plastic shield and ripped the spark plug and the coil pack off he truck. I have not done any thing but contact ford motor company about this at this time. There suggestion was to replace the heads my self at a cost of 6,000 dollars. *Tr
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
I was driving my 1999 ford F150 4X4 with 5.4L engine home from work and stopped at traffic light. The light turned green and I proceeded to go and then "pow" the truck began to make a loud "popping" noise and lost all engine power. I was in the middle of the intersection and somehow managed to keep…
I was driving my 1999 ford F150 4X4 with 5.4L engine home from work and stopped at traffic light. The light turned green and I proceeded to go and then "pow" the truck began to make a loud "popping" noise and lost all engine power. I was in the middle of the intersection and somehow managed to keep it running long enough to get through the intersection and on a side road. I hesitated to open the hood because of the strong gasoline smell but it wasn't on fire "yet" so I opened it and found one of my ignition coils (coil packs) loose on top of the intake manifold. Upon further inspection I realized the spark plug had blown out of the aluminum cylinder head. I was able to catch a ride to the auto parts store with coil and plug in hand. The salesman at the store immediately knew what had happened and even knew the engine was a 5.4L before being told. He said that if I was lucky I would probably just have to install a helicoil or threaded insert in it. The other option was to replace the cylinder head. I purchased new coil and plug then drove back to my truck. I tried to clean the threads with a spark plug thread chaser but there were no threads left to clean. I searched the web and found numerous complaints of the same issue. Some people said they had multiple spark plugs blow out or "spit out" on the same vehicle. Why doesn't ford have a recall on this? The gasoline smell was due to the fuel injector still spraying while the plug was blown out of the head. What if it had caught on fire? I haven't repaired it yet but will try the "repair kit" that was handed to me when I bought the coil and plug. I think ford should recall all the 5.4L engines that have this problem and install the helicoil or insert to prevent a customer breakdown or a potential vehicle fire. *Tr
- Service brakes, hydraulic
ABS failure on a ford 1999 F-150. I have had the ABS fail twice and this time it has been in the ford dealers shop for over 30 days. It IS at morristown ford in morristown,tn.37814. Each time my brakes have failed and almost caused a serious accident. This time this repair was not at my fault…
ABS failure on a ford 1999 F-150. I have had the ABS fail twice and this time it has been in the ford dealers shop for over 30 days. It IS at morristown ford in morristown,tn.37814. Each time my brakes have failed and almost caused a serious accident. This time this repair was not at my fault, service writer stated it had moisture in the module and needs to be replaced? Morristown replaced this module in aug. 2007, I feel I was sold a defective part and now the ABS module needs to be replaced at a cost of over $600.00. I feel ford should be responsible for this repair since the part that was replace must have been defective since service writer told me it was missing grease that should have prevented moisture. Please help! *Tr
- Visibility
The blend door that separates the cold air from the hot air breaks causing no hot air to be released. therefore not letting you defrost your windshield. the whole dash has to be completely removed to replace this frequently breaking part. Aprox $1100 in dealer repairs. I have found in numerous forums and asking dealer tech's that this IS a common problem if ford products. *Tr
- Engine and engine cooling · Structure
Blew out sparkplugs and broke bracket on the side of coil packs. Don't like paying $85 a pop for ford's poor design. Plus the healy coils or maybe that's the motive. This happened three different times. *tr
- Visibility › Defroster/defogger/hvac system › Heater core
My concern IS the temperature blend door on the 1999 ford expedition. there are numerous reports of the plastic on the door cracking, causing the door not to open or close properly. last winter I could not get my heat on to defrost the windshield, and was almost in a wreck because I had to wipe…
My concern IS the temperature blend door on the 1999 ford expedition. there are numerous reports of the plastic on the door cracking, causing the door not to open or close properly. last winter I could not get my heat on to defrost the windshield, and was almost in a wreck because I had to wipe the winshield myself with a paper towel. the whole purpose of this door was to separate the cold from the hot air. ford quoted about $1100.00 to fix this part since the whole dashboard has to be removed to get access to the part. I have not had time or the money to get this part fixed. *ak
- Electrical system
1999 ford F-150 caught fire and burt to the ground in a parking lot. Fire started under the engine compartmant stated by a witness. The vehicle was sitting about 2 hours before it caught fire. Found numerous recall articles on the web about a switch catching fire. *nm
- Interior lighting
Dash lights don't always work mileage light mostly. *nm
- Structure › Frame and members
Rear slider window develops cracks in plastic frame, causing the window to leak into the cab. Dealer and manufacture refuse to compensate for replacement. *nm
- Electrical system · Engine and engine cooling › Engine
My family and I were 25 miles from home in our 1999 ford F-250 when a spark plug blew out of the head. I had the truck towed to the ford dealership and was told that even though the truck had less than 75,000 miles. I had to pay for the repair. This repair cost us over $3,000. *Jb
- Engine and engine cooling
1999 ford expedition first blew out a spark plug in 2003 due to too few threads in cylinder head. Mechanic was able to repair for around $500. The problem occurred again on another spark plug in 2004 which destroyed the whole engine. I contacted ford and was told they could do nothing about it. The…
1999 ford expedition first blew out a spark plug in 2003 due to too few threads in cylinder head. Mechanic was able to repair for around $500. The problem occurred again on another spark plug in 2004 which destroyed the whole engine. I contacted ford and was told they could do nothing about it. The refurbished jasper engine ended up being around $5400. The old engine was turned in to avoid a core charge. I have all of the paperwork from the mechanic stating the problem. *nm
- Electrical system
August 24 my F150 truck caught fire nearly killing me and destroying my house. I notified ford they said they would get back to me when they did the letter states that I owned a windstar van and there was nothing they could do for me because the windstar has no investigations..i do not a windstar…
August 24 my F150 truck caught fire nearly killing me and destroying my house. I notified ford they said they would get back to me when they did the letter states that I owned a windstar van and there was nothing they could do for me because the windstar has no investigations..i do not a windstar they had the correct vin number and this did dot get reported to you in the investigations truck IS 100% loss and I need correct compensation for my loss. *nm
- Engine and engine cooling › Engine
I blew a plug on my ford F150. engine has had proper maintenance. it has about 80,000 miles on it. 5.4 V8 year IS 1999. called ford and they will no acknowledge a problem and will do nothing to reimburse any of the repair costs. I think it IS a faulty head on the triton engines.
Defect investigations
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.
- 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…
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 nhtsa 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 nhtsa?s limited resources to best accomplish the agency?s safety mission, the petition IS denied.
- Tire valve stem
There is no summary currently available
- Pulls under hard braking
There is no summary currently available
Service bulletins
Technical service bulletins and other communications the manufacturer sent dealers about this vehicle. Ask a dealer for the full document by its number.
- 10029029Jerr-dan: anti stall feature for ford f series light duty chassis with V10 gas engine and an engine drive clutch pump. Model years unknown.
- 10026389Ford: certain 1999-2001 model year vehicles up to 6000 lb gvwr registered in new york and certain 2001 vehicles up to 6000 lb gvwr registered in the state of maine, certified for sale in california-federal emission warranty refund.
- 10014086General (pcm) power train control module programming procedures.
- 10013369General power train control module (pcm) programming procedures.
- 10008279New service part - number 5 needle bearing and race kit - 4r70w transmission - service tip.
- 10004874Rough idle, miss and various other driveability concerns on vehicles with 7.3L dit engine. This may be related to injector bore scuffing caused by fuel quality issues.
- 100048737.3L dit turbocharger replacement under warranty. Ford special service message.
- 10004871Correct fuel pressure test adapter. Ford special service message.
- 10004027Remote keyless entry (rke) - service tips.
- 10002606Clear gel-like substance in the hydraulic brake master cylinder reservoir. This substance IS a silicone base lubricant used during assembly of the master cylinder.
- 10001937False failure of the vapor management valve (vmv).
- 6092152Some vehicles equipped with engines produced by windsor engine plant may exhibit an engine knock at initial cold startup.
- 6092100Some vehicles may exhibit a cd changer with a cd magazine that jams / will not eject.
- 6091980Subject regarding a new anti-lock brake system (ABS) indicator strategy.
- 6091810Subject regarding proper operation and interpretation of dual air pressure gauge readings.
- 6091800Subject regarding technical hotline assistance for bi-fuel vehicles.
- 6090801Some vehicles may exhibit a cd changer with a cd magazine that jams / will not eject.
- 6090791Vehicles equipped with windsor engines only may exhibit an engine knock at initial cold startup.
- 6090709Experiencing engine knock at initial cold startup.
- 6090544Information regarding e40d/4r100 transmission fluid cooler flow test specification. *Mjs
- 6090538Information regarding camshaft position (cmp) sensor alignment tool chart. *Mjs
- 6090312Subject regarding E40D / 4r100 transmission fluid cooler flow test specification.
- 6090310Some service manuals may list the incorrect camshaft position sensor alignment tool for vehicles with various engine sizes.
- 6090279Subject regarding new anti-lock brake system (ABS) indicator stragety.
- 6090184Information on replacing and / or repairing malfunctioning (door, ignition and decklid) locks.
- 6090087Information on identifying non-approved / alternate refrigerants which could cause safety, and performance concerns if installed in ford a/c systems.
- 6089681Subject on a wire harness terminal repair kit available for repairing electrical wiring harnesses.
- 6089616Emission recall for vehicles that were built with a fuel filler-valve which could leak while the vehicle IS being operated which can exceed evaporative emissions standards.
- 637696Some 5.4L windsor power improved engines may exhibit a slight oil leak or weep at the cylinder head to block joint.
- 636408Some dedicated CNG vehicles may exhibit driveability conditions of hard start / no start / rough running.
- 636399Subject regarding vehicles exhibiting cold start rolling idle.
- 636344Some vehicles may exhibit wheels that seize to the hubs and are difficult to remove during service.
- 630653Some vehicles may exhibit driveability conditions and / or check engine lamp illuminated with a diagnostic trouble p0455 (gross leak detected).
- 630642Subject regarding field service action 02l08 for missing important engine information label.
- 630412Some vehicles may exhibit a condition of oil contamination in cooling system.
- 630354Some vehicles may run rough at cruise or momentarily after stopping, a check engine light,and p030x codes.
- 630273Some vehicles equipped with 7.3L di engine may exhibit false diagnostic trouble codes p1105, p1106 (upper and lower alternator faults).
- 630026Some vehicles may exhibit driveabilty conditions and/or check engine lamp illuminated with a diagnostic trouble code p0455 (gross leak detected).
- 625773Some vehicles may exhibit a difficult to remove wheel rim condition.
- 620394Some vehicles equpped with a 5.4L or 6.8L engine may exhibit a rolling / rough idle.
Every Ford F Series model year
Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.