1998 Ford F Series (light)

Owner complaints

Latest complaints

• Jul 29, 2004NC76,000 mi
  Tires › Tread/belt
  I have a 19'98 ford F150 that came equipped with firestone 235/70r16 wilderness ht tires. One of those tires started to separate about two weeks ago. I have replaced the tires so the safety issue has been dealt with. However, I've tried talking to firestone about the tire separation & they aren't…

  I have a 19'98 ford F150 that came equipped with firestone 235/70r16 wilderness ht tires. One of those tires started to separate about two weeks ago. I have replaced the tires so the safety issue has been dealt with. However, I've tried talking to firestone about the tire separation & they aren't the least bit interested. Their district mgr ( bob ) said the tires are six years old and I should be happy that I've gotten that much service out of the tires. Their store mgr ( mike hemel ) in charlotte nc said tires separate when then get old. After a 30 second analysis of the tire he said my vehicle was out of alignment which conforms to the first rule of bad customer service => blame someone else. I offered to kathy smith ( firestone corporate) to take the vehicle to my normal mechanic and have the alignment checked under the scenario that if it IS misaligned, I would pay the bill & if it IS in alignment, firestone would pay the bill. She declined my offer, again suggesting firestone really IS not interesting in getting to the root cause of the problem. I do not know anything about the reliability record of this type of tire or the process to get one of your specialist to analyize the failure mode of this particular tire. I have all five of the oem tires, one of which IS the spare ( new condition ) I'm more than happy to make these tires available to you for analysis; but, I'D rather not keep these tires around for very long if this IS something that you believe does not warrant an investigation please advise me how to proceed as soon as practical. *Ak

Defect investigations

NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened these reviews into vehicles including this one.

• Spark plug ejection from cylinder head

  DP05005Opened Sep 22, 2005Closed Jan 4, 2006
  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.

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.

• 6090213Information on removing and / or replacing the generic electronic module (gem).
• 630043Subject regarding exaggerated engine braking on deceleration.
• 615488For all vehicles with generic electronic module (gem) concerns that require a module replacement, the technician must call for approval before removing and / or replacing the module.
• 613040Information regarding a new service part that has been released for the license plate light circiut which will reduce the cost of repair. *Mjs
• 609050Information on replacing and removing the generic electronic module (gem).
• 607489Concerns with ticking noise on initial cold start-up in park and neutral position.
• 607002Information regarding steering wheel leather repair.

Every Ford F Series (light) model year

Bars are owner complaints, dots mark years with recalls. Select a year to open its report.