1998 Ford E 350 powerstroke 7.3 diesel. The camshaft positioning sensor (cps) failure is a serious problem that Ford will have to deal with. I have had three instances of the unit failing on me since this first one on Dec 13th, 2007. In the first case, I was taking my son to school. The van was sputtering the whole way and I eventually had to have it towed to a repair shop after a complete engine failure. Ford had just issued the recall on Dec 6th, 2007, and they honored the repair. The second cps incident happened on Feb 23rd, 2010. The vehicle would not start; I had it towed to a repair shop after getting a parking ticket. I cannot find proof that Ford honored the repair. The 3rd cps incident happened on Sunday Feb 27th, 2011, one year after the 2nd incident. I was in flagstaff, AZ during a snowstorm, and the vehicle was failing on me on route 66. It stalled twice on the main highway as the snowplows whipped around me. I got back to where I was staying, and waited until Monday morning when I had it towed to a repair shop and had the cps unit replaced. This engine is unsafe and unreliable. The cps unit can fail at anytime, anywhere, and maybe at any speed, though my issues were at low speed or at startup. Ford will not honor this latest incident because they say after my first replacement in Dec 2007 that my 'case was closed'.

- Long Beach, CA, USA

1998 Ford E350 van 5.4L V8 blew a spark plug when starting engine. Spark plugs was changed by Ford dealer at 90,000 miles plug blew with 122,000 miles. Ford dealer removed head, installed spark plug insert and charged me $1700. I believe spark plugs should never blow out of cylinder head when installed by a Ford trained mechanic. The spark plug Ford uses has only 6 threads on it. That is not enough threads for a aluminum head. This is a engine design error.ts

- Wading River, NY, USA