The contact owns a 2001 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, he heard an abnormal sound coming from the engine compartment. After visual inspection, the contact was able to conclude that the sound originated from the passenger-??s side exhaust manifold. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who determined that there was a failure with the bolts securing the exhaust manifold. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred three times. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 85,000.

- Richmond, VA, USA

I was driving home and all of a sudden there was an explosion under the hood and it sounded like part of the exhaust system gave way. I pulled over and found out that a spark plug had blown out of the head. The only one to ever touch the engine was Ford and that they had replaced a spark plug several years ago. I got on line and found out there are literally thousands of these spark plug ejections. I was wondering if there was a recall on the problem ? the fact that the super-heated air and mixture fuel spraying all over the underneath of the hood is a extreme danger, it would seem that would be a safety recall.

- Lizton, IN, USA

F150 2001 Ford lightning 5.4 trition engine. Sparkplug shoot out of engine. Defect in aluminum heads. I had a helicoil put in and it broke down 7 months later, and now I have to buy a re-muf. Engine its been a nightmare for me. Costing me lots of money for repairs. Ford has a defect in there Triton engine heads and there not doing nothing about its costing customer thousands of dollars, and Ford doesn't care. Frustrated customer. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Florida, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2001 Ford F-150. The contact started the ignition and light grey smoke emitted from the exhaust. The failure was intermittent and became progressively worse. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer three times for the identical failure. The catalytic converter and engine heat control sensor were replaced at the owner's expense. The failure continued after the repair was performed on the vehicle. The failure mileage was 118,042.

- New Hartford, NY, USA

In January I had driven my F150 to the store, when I returned to it in the parking lot and started it I heard a loud pop from under the hood. This sound was followed by a loud backfiring sound upon adding a few RPM's to the engine. I shut it off to inspect and discovered the far rear spark plug had been shot clear out of the head and was lying loose inside the engine compartment. The spark plug and the head each had enough threads left for the plug to reset. The coil was damaged and needed to be replaced. Three days ago (5/18/08) I started the vehicle again heard the same pop and the same backfire sound. Upon inspection this time I found that although the plug had not come out of the head this time it was clearly loose. There are no longer usable threads on either the head or the plug and I have been quoted $2500 (discounted rate) to repair a vehicle that has only 78000 miles on it and that I owe $16000 and can't even trade in now. I have done extensive research and have found that this is a very common complaint with the Ford tritan V8 engine and that Ford has not chosen to remedy this defect.

- Elk Grove , CA, USA

Have had problems with this vehicle at 1900 miles. Suspension, fumes, brakes, signal switch, electrical shortages.

- Ft. Worth, TX, USA

Since the purchase of this brand new vehicle, the exhust has been black. The dealer's computer says that nothing is wrong, I think it is an epa violation, but because state emissions is not a required test in South Carolina, they say that since it's not a saftey hazard, there's nothing they can do about it.

- Florence, SC, USA