10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 0 / 1
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 107,584 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
I own a 2001 Ford E250 van. This van has been a reliable vehicle and maintenance has been easy and predictable. However today the third spark plug on the passenger side blew out of the cylinder head. Though it was a exhaust leak at first because of the sound. I pulled of the freeway and opened the engine cover. At this point I restarted the engine to find the exhaust leak. A large flame immediately began bursting out of the open spark plug hole. Although I was able to turn the engine off quickly this scared me considerably as I know their are fuel lines that run right by the spark plug. I had it towed from their to a shop. I have researched this and found that it is a common problem with many of Ford engines. I even found cases were cars had been destroyed by fire as a result. It concerns me that there has been no recall. I do not expect warranty from Ford for a vehicle this old. However this seems to be a potentially life threatening problem and I would think that merits a recall. I have a three year old daughter that rides in her car seat next to me in the van at times. That car seat is less than two feet from the spark plug in question. Separated only by a thin engine cover. Again I am really quite amazed that this has not resulted in a recall.
- Santa Rosa , CA, USA
The contact owns a 2001 Ford E-250. While driving 15 mph a popping sound was heard. The contact opened the hood, but was unable to locate the sound. The mechanic inspected the vehicle and noticed a spark plug was blown out of the cylinder. The mechanic repaired the thread in the cylinders with an insert kit. There have been no other failures since the repair. The current mileage was 83,000, and failure mileage was 70,000. The consumer provided the repair invoice for the vehicle. Updated 08/03/07
- Proctor, MN, USA
While driving 40 mph driver heard a loud popping noise coming from the front. Suddenly the vehicle stalled. The driver was able to restart the vehicle, and drove it to a dealer for inspection. Ford only replaced the passenger side cylinder head which left the drivers side cylinder head at risk.
- Dingmans Ferry, PA, USA
- Port St. Lucie, FL, USA