Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-54
This is the most expensive vehicle (in repairs) that I have ever owned. What you will find when you ask Ford truck owners about the quality of the vehicle is that they are either in denial or stupid. Most of the repairs are things that I have never had to replace, but from Ford truck owners, the answer is always "Oh yeah, that always goes"! They just won't tell you this until your truck has that problem. I have worked on my own vehicles for 25 years and I am sick of the intentional poor quality parts that Ford continues to use. My truck is used 90% of the time as a passenger vehicle and it currently has 103,000 miles.
It will begin at about 55,000 miles. The universals (3) will fail ($150). The dealer was surprised I got that many miles! The shop manual will tell you that if they have been replaced, they will have grease nipples (the originals did not). This is key to the reason they fail. I don't have a lift, so I had Ford replace them. The second set failed after 25,000 miles. I went to NAPA to buy universals that Ford does not use. The good ones were $3 a piece more. I installed them and they currently have 28,000 miles with no problems.
I have had 2 air conditioners fail ($600) - both during the winter. The air conditioning compressor comes on when the defroster is used so that it de-humidifies the air. Both compressors seized and damaged the electric clutch that engages the compressor. The first time, the clutch caught on fire and I had to put it out with snow. Fords' response was essentially "too bad".
The truck has dual fuel tanks with internal fuel pumps. The front fuel pump failed three years ago ($250). When it was replaced, the front tank began pumping gas to the rear tank. The service department told me that Ford used to have problems with the $25 external in line check valve so Ford "Had a Better Idea" and they moved it to the $250 fuel pump so it can fail as part of the integral unit. This past summer Ford issued a safety recall because of this problem and I have had to waste several trips since November as they have attempted cheap fixes. They have now concluded that they need to replace both fuel pumps (which should have been the original fix).
The rear gas tank ($350) has recently developed a leak because it has rotted out. When I told the service department, they told me which tank it was "because that always happens". Hasn't Ford heard that there are new materials out there yet so that a gas tank does not rot out?
From the second year I owned the truck, the vehicle inspection has told me that ball joints will fail before the truck is five years old. Both did ($350) about two years apart. From the service department, you guessed it, "they always fail in about that time".
The last one is almost laughable. A spot on the oil pan will rot out. It is a challenge to get something to rust out that is filled with oil, but Ford has found a way. There is a plug weld on one side of the pan. I am guessing that it has to do with another model. It appears that the weld filler is flawed as it is the source of the rust. The spot will eventually let go and empty your oil pan. The engine has to be lifted to get the oil pan out so I've used a fiberglass gas tank patch as the temporary fix. The service department says this a common problem and my truck is the most successful repair job that they have ever seen. The replacement cost is about $400.
I have had numerous other unusual oddball repairs (e.g. the ends corroded off of several spark plug wires after three years, the throttle position sensor failed, etc.) but I have never had a vehicle require the type of maintenance above. From what I have been told by other Ford truck owners, I can expect that the exhaust manifold will crack soon. The integral slave cylinder to the transmission for the clutch will also fail soon and the transmission will have to be dropped to repair it.
As I talk with other Ford truck owners, the above items are not unusual. People just don't want to admit that they are being ripped off. Ford means the same thing that it did 25 years ago - Fix Or Repair Daily. By comparison, in 110,000 miles on a 1987 Mazda B2000, the only unusual repair I had was a blown head gasket.
It had good acceleration for a truck when it was brand new, but it is not much now. The Flareside model looks good and I received a number of compliments on it when it was new.
Can't understand why you kept it for 10 years if you were so unhappy with it. Surely better to cut your losses and buy something else.
FORD also means Found On Road Dead. Had 3, I know!
I currently own a 92 F-150 Flareside purchased new in October 92. My truck has been a extremely reliable, although I did experience some of the same problems. Universal joints went at about 38,000 miles, fixed under extended warranty for $50 deductible. U-joints went again about a year later. Purchased heavy duty joints and installed myself for about a total cost of $35. Have yet to experience this problem again (current odometer reading 110,500). The ball joints were replaced at about 60,000 miles along with front brakes by independent mechanic for $250. No further problems. A couple of misc items were replaced under warranty: power door lock, sliding window latch, interior molding. The only "real" failures I've had were power steering pump and rear axle seals ($300 including new belt and $250 including new rear brakes respectively). There was a safety recall for a fuel related item, but experienced no problems before or after recall service was performed.
I have a 1991 F150 Extra cab which was bought second hand (or possibly third) three years ago. I have replaced everything you have and now both fuel pumps have given up on the same day. The receptionist at the Ford dealership knew what the problem was when I called her, just based on my description and the fact it was a hot day. I guess the fuel pumps on the Ford trucks start to overheat and then give up altogether on hot days. This is the last F150 I own and it will be gone as soon as I can afford to replace it.
I also own a 1992 Ford F150. At 2050 miles the speedometer died and had to be replaced, brought the truck to the dealer to have the work done. After waiting an hour and a half they informed me that after dashboard and original speedometer had been removed they opened the new speedometer box they found it to be stuck at 60 MPH. Over an hour later I had my truck returned with a greasy steering wheel and shifter only to be informed I could have the privlage to come back in a week or so go through this exercise again. That was my introduction to Ford Quality. Since that day the clutch has failed first at 12,500 miles and again at 96,445 miles. The universals failed once and had to be replaced. The radiator has failed twice and the replacement leaked after several years. The second radiator leak was stopped with a fair amount of Prestone Heavy Duty stop leak. Have had two break jobs on this truck (rotors, pads etc). I believe I am on the third muffler. The front ball joints and tie rods have also failed. Two factory recalls one for the starter and another for the gas tank switch. The paint is peeling off the front hood and fenders, the parking break used to let go every now and then till I fixed the locking mechanism.
Last week the truck died on my son and had to be towed home. Looks like the spark is gone and the truck only has 110,123 miles on it. Oh yes I forgot the ignition key is not needed you can turn the switch without a key and even start the truck.
This is my last Ford!
Hi Guys.
Don't know what's different, but my 1992 Flareside is dead solid reliable. I bought it second hand in Portland Texas with in '95 with 44k miles and looking new. It has a 305 EFI with 5 speed stick. Got 65k miles from the original tires. Replaced those and have 70k on the second set and still looking good. Had the original brakes replaced at 95k glazed, but not too worn, clutch was 50% worn - no replacement yet. Noticed a little huffing from the exhaust manifold so replaced those too.
First tune up at 100k. Will do another at 150k. Gas mileage is not bad.
No body rust, no AC problems, no interior problems. Notice a little noise from the front gas pump and a little noise from the steering pump. Both have been noisy since about 70k, but no problems.
I change the oil every 4500 miles and wash it every Sunday including the underbody. I expect this truck to run to at least 300k before I tire of it.
A wonderful truck. I love it.
Hmmmm..., from reading the comments it appears that there are a lot of unhappy Ford owners. I have 4 Fords, all of which I purchased new and I am the original owner. I have a 1983 F150 4x4 (I drive this one), a 1988 Bronco (used for hunting and camping), a 1992 F150 4x4 (my son drives) and a 2001 F150 4x4 (my wife's). I have not had the continual major headaches that I am reading about from other comments. My 1983 F150 4x4 currently has 546,000 miles (I rebuilt the engine once about 220,000 miles ago). I looked through my records and it appears that over the last 20 years I have spent +/- $9,500 for repairs (including the engine rebuild), tires and maintenance. I purchased the vehicle new for $4,800 so I have invested, including maintenance, a total of $14,300 which is $715 per year (including the vehicle purchase) or $0.0262 cents per mile. hmmmm... maybe I have been lucky? The 1988 Bronco only has 95,000 miles, but I have had no problems whatsoever. My sons 1992 F150 4x4 has 150,000 miles and we did have to change the computer recently, but no other major problems. My wifes 2001 F150 4x4 currently has 25,000 miles and I have not done anything except change the oil every 3,000 miles. I put a quart of DURALUBE in all my vehicles every 30,000 miles which must help the wear and tear and less engine maintenance. Also, I believe in getting the bigger engines as they seem to last longer (the engines I have in all 4 Fords are 5.8L or 5.4L). Anyway, no complaints here.
Tony from Northern Virginia.
I have a 92 f-150 2-wheel drive and a 92 f-150 4x4 both with 200,000 miles or more. have used on construction sites almost everyday. the only thing I have replaced is the universal joints, alt. and brakes. I also have a 91 f-250 4x4 with 80,000 miles have only replaced brakes on it. I guess I got the only 3 good trucks ford made. Bert from MD.
I am responsible for much of the vehicle maintenance on the fleet of vehicles owned by my company. When I first started, the fleet consisted completely of Ford 1/2 ton trucks and 1 ton vans. We experienced most all of the described problems on almost every one of our vehicles. At the most we were able to get about 115K miles out of these before they were literally thrown in the trash. Many of them were on their 3rd to even their 5th transmission!!! Most had been through 3 radiators, 3 starters, a heater core or two, engine re-builds, etc! I was finaly able to convince management to slowly phase over to Chevy's which have had problems also, but nothing compared to the Fords! As I have done much of the work myself I also know that the Fords are not only high maintenance, but they are also VERY hard to work on. I will never own one of these vehicles personally.
I have a 1992 ford flareside and I recently damaged the right rear fenger on my truck and its fiberglass anyone know where I can get a new fender thanks mail me at NeckDelight@hotmail.com.
My 91 Ford f150 has been a monster to keep running. 2 Days after I bought it, overheating problems occurred. I left it idling at the store for 10 minutes and the radiator literally exploded and blew chunks onto the street. So I replaced clutch fan (bad bearings), radiator, hoses, thermostat, & gave it a full tune up. Next day it overheated again!! Was getting about 6MPG fuel economy. Found that clogged catalytic converter was causing the overheating. I also replaced the heater core which began to leak. Replaced Cat and finally overheating went away and A/C started working properly again. I guess the extra heat in the engine cavity was messing up the A/C pump. However, the mileage did not increase and there was no power. Bought a ford code reader and found the the O2 sensor was bad. (which the code reader calls a "therm-actor problem". Took a week to find someone who knew that.) This is why the cat clogged in the first place. I replaced the 02 sensor and reset the computer. Then my power doubled, but the mileage only went up 4MGP for a total of 10MPG!! Ford says that this is acceptable. I asked them if it was acceptable for them or for me and the ford tech hung up on me!! Also the steering link now has to be replaced because it has a bad joint at the pitman arm and both rear fenders are rusting over the rear tires even though I live in a desert climate. Total miles on this truck is 72,000K. Total cost invested to get it running half decent 2 days after purchase is $1100.00 just in parts alone. I have a 71 Mercury Cougar with a 4V 351C and I love it it is over thirty years old, has 85,000K since rebuild, and is 10 times as reliable as this 91 hunk of junk. It will be my last ford truck ever. I promise you that!!
Have owned 4 Ford trucks. Currently running a 1992 F-150 extended cab short box. 108,000 miles, ORIGINAL motor, transmission, ball joints (all), u-joints, oil pan, fuel pumps. Both gas tanks replaced due to rust. (Wisconsin salt and bad design). All ford trucks from 1980 till 1996 use the same tanks, frames, cab, etc. Makes it easy to fix as parts are cheap and available. Forget about the guy that says they are hard to work on because they are no harder than any other truck. Anyway, I also have the rust on the oil pan. If fixed before it before it gets bad you won't have trouble (big deal). Better than the Chevy's with their peeling body paint horror stories I guess. E4OD transmissions are good for 100-160,000 miles. More if fluid is changed once a year. Chevy's are good trucks too, both are for the most part pretty reliable. I don't recommend buying a 4x4 truck unless you know something about auto repair as you are going to need fixing. If you are going to buy an older truck and don't believe this you are fooling yourself. If you don't like fixing trucks, or expecting to have problems, buy a Toyota or Honda front wheel drive car.
James,
niparoo@yahoo.com.
I'm sorry you're so unhappy with your Ford. I absolutely love mine. I did have to replace my fuel pumps for some reason, but it didn't cost too much since I did it myself. Other than the alt. and brakes, I have never had a problem. I guess you can get a bad vehicle in every bunch. That means Chevy, too.
I have a 92 F-150 with which I have had pretty good luck with the exception of the transmission, and even that comes with an asterisk. About the only other issue I have had was a tendency to heat after moving to Arizona with the original (and too small) stock radiator. Replaced with a much heavier duty aftermarket unit and have had no problems with that since. Clutches seem to wear faster than expected, about every 50,000 miles. No big deal. Ah, but the transmission! Mazda five speed. Went out at about 36,000 under the original factory warranty. Fixed by the dealer. Went out again around 60,000. Fixed again under warranty. Went out AGAIN around 100,000. Now out of warranty, had it fixed by a private shop. Have had no problems in 45,000 miles since. Went to change the oil, and was told it didn't use gear oil, but auto transmission fluid. I suspect the Ford dealer may not have known this and put in gear oil. Also recently had a head gasket done. All in all, quite an acceptable reliability record other than the transmission and even that was probably incompetent service techs rather than the design (admittedly Ford techs).
My 1992 f-150 flare side has 142,000 miles on it. Short-n- simple, Two batteries, one alternator, 28 tires. Not too bad in my opinion!!!
Sounds like people need to learn how to take care of their trucks. I'm following the warnings and what not. My family has 6 Fords and have had very few problems. I have a 93 flareside and have had next to no problems. I gutted the smog pump because I had dual exhaust that was the most extensive"repair" I've had to do other than regular maintenance which is what some of your trucks are lacking. As for the guy that posted he had a 305 FI that would be a 302 sonny. Chevy made 305.