The Straw the Broke the Camels Back (Fords....)

[beginnerhunter]

Do y'all mountain west folks have the same rust issues as the Midwest rust belt? That's one plus living in South we have virtually no rust problems.

 

[RobG]

Thankfully Montana uses little or no salt on their roads.

My father in law lives in north central PA and his Tacoma undercarriage has an unbelievable amount of rust.

 

[TexanSam]

Man I own a 2013 F150 that I haven't been the nicest to and it has been nothing but good to me.

I feel your pain though, prior to this I had a 2003 Dodge diesel that I only got to drive from one shop to the other it felt like.

What engine do you have? I know that your problems aren't exactly engine related, but I've heard that the Eco boost and/or v6's have plenty of issues from that era. And doesn't the engine that is in the truck dictate what components they use for a bunch of other stuff?

 

[MTGomer]

The lug nuts are a wide spread thing. I got new tires in 2017 and could hear them rattling afterward . I thought they didn’t tighten them back up but after closer inspection it’s whatbyiu mentioned. I took them in and got new ones.
It could really screw a guy if he was out in the hills with a flat. My water pump went out but it was at 20k do warranty covered it.

On the AC... are you positive it is out? Mine stopped working when I moved to AZ. I bought a recharge kit. That didn’t do it. Then did some reading and found that if the pressures get too high it will not work. There’s a little nut valve thing if I can recall that you can bleed it off. Do it with it running and you’ll hear the compressor kick on when you get the pressure low enough. That’s all it was for me. May be worth checking into.

 

[MTGomer]

This is more or less what I did. As noted, use a rag, safety glasses, etc. That stuff is a little dangerous.

 

[ntodwild]

A 2014 Rig is a bit young to be having all those issues. It may be time to just take your losses and trade her in.

As many have stated.....You can hear almost anything you want to in a brand of vehicle so I wouldn't just chock it up to "Ford". All manufacturers have had issues. I personally have had Fords, Chevy, Toyota and Dodge trucks and have been satisfied with all of them. Satisfied is being objective about a vehicle and its uses. On that note, a vehicle that is 5 years old should not be having the problems your having (I call em a Friday build). The Chevy I owned comes closest to that description and I finally just got rid of it in the end (never could hunt down some of it's problems). I had a Ford that was an amazing tow rig for 120K then it just became unreliable and broke down on me 3 years in a row while on the road so longevity became an issue and repair bills mounted. As an all purpose play rig I owned a Toyota that died with 140k miles on it because I rolled it over on a trail otherwise it may still be alive today. My current rig is an 06 Dodge 5.9 diesel with 135k that just seems to feel at home on the road pulling an 8,000lb TT and feels like it gets better with age. Aside from typical maintenance (fuel injectors recently, shocks, front end u-joints, ball joints and a cracked exhaust manifold (I may have pushed her a little hard on one of the Washington passes once?), flushes, oil changes and trans maintenance ) the rig has never let me down and at this point looks like it could go 200K or more? Since purchased in 06 it has spent 90% of those 130k towing, dirt roads and a typical outdoorsman duty truck.

In the end, who knows. Sometimes it's really hit or miss. It's very easy to say I would never buy "X" brand again although being honest it would be difficult to put me back in a chevy. I wouldn't rule it out and refuse to look at one or consider one I just have reservations based on my past experience which is just that....An experience I had over 25yrs ago. I am absolutely certain chevy has improved over those days. On that note I have friends who have newer Dodge trucks than I have and are not satisfied.

 

[beginnerhunter]

I have a 09 Silverado that I've had a few problems with. #1 being the excessive oil use. The active fuel management that kicks in at cruising speed on the long highway drives does a great job of purging oil straight out of the engine and right through the tail pipe. It will foul up the plugs too. Not to mention the cylinder wall scaring from repetitively running it on low oil if you dont watch your oil levels. All because of a poorly designed valve cover from what I understand. They just had to mess with the vortec engine! Used to be a guaranteed high mileage engine. But according to Chevy, using 2 quarts of oil in 1000 miles is "normal". Several of my friends ditched theirs long ago. I gotta say, as a long time Chevy fan/owner it has definitely turned me off on them. A truck I've hoped to use for my western hunts has been relegated to a work truck. I'd need nearly as much oil as gas to get west

You replaced the valve lifters yet? If not, I'd say you have a good'ern!

 

[buffybr]

I always figured you could hear anything you want about a truck brand if you talk to the right person.

Scott85 loves his Dodge and I wouldn't take one for free unless I could sell it. Teej89 hates his Ford but I have owned around eight Ford trucks and have never had a break-down or had to do anything other than maintenance (except a Ranger that had a factory defect in a coolant line that was fixed immediately under warranty). My current hunting truck is an '05 Explorer Sport Trac with 125,000 miles and I trust it to go anywhere I dare to take 'er. Hopefully she's got many more hunting season to go.

View attachment 108601

That's a great looking hunting rig.

 

[dcopas78]

You replaced the valve lifters yet? If not, I'd say you have a good'ern!

Nope I've been lucky but it has been babied. I hope to just keep using it locally for hunting/fishing/wood hauling. I don't trust it for much more than that.

 

[Walkathon]

Man, that really sucks. I have a 2015 F-150 with the 5.0L and it's been solid as a rock (knock on wood). Hopefully things stop breaking on yours.

 

[WapitiBob]

I’m a ford fan.

 

[IdahoPotato]

Hi TeeJ89. With all due respect, sorry about your ongoing troubles with your truck. I can’t help but laugh at these automakers.

Sell the consumer a $40,000+ piece of depreciating, scrap metal and put cheap lug nuts on the product to save a couple nickels for their profit margins and overpriced employee benefits.

You gotta give the auto industry credit - they surely have the American consumer by the “baseballs”.

My take - Give your spouse a nice vehicle and rent vehicles for all of your business or hunting trips. Lovely feeling to walk back to the rental counter and turn in the keys, knowing you don’t have to make repairs or suffer the depreciation.

Drive junk and let the $40,000+ earn a small return in a safe money market fund. Hell, buy yourself a private bighorn sheep hunt with the money. At least you won’t give $1,500 to the dealership every other month for a broken 4 year old air conditioner.

Thanks and no offense given towards your current troubles, TheGrayRider.

This is so odd to me. I live in a modest neighborhood in a small town where there are not a lot of high paying jobs. The other day I get home and my neighbor has bought a 2019 F250 FX4. That's a $60,000 bill. For reference that's roughly half the value of his house. He's a young guy about my age. My wife and I actively save, drive older vehicles (never bought new), no mortgage, no loans, and plan to retire early. I just cringe at the thought of paying a bank a monthly check for something that you pay interest on and is DEPRECIATING as it sits in the driveway. I have met a lot of people my age that just don't think that way. I know it's not my place to judge.

 

[HighWildFree]

This is so odd to me. I live in a modest neighborhood in a small town where there are not a lot of high paying jobs. The other day I get home and my neighbor has bought a 2019 F250 FX4. That's a $60,000 bill. For reference that's roughly half the value of his house. He's a young guy about my age. My wife and I actively save, drive older vehicles (never bought new), no mortgage, no loans, and plan to retire early. I just cringe at the thought of paying a bank a monthly check for something that you pay interest on and is DEPRECIATING as it sits in the driveway. I have met a lot of people my age that just don't think that way. I know it's not my place to judge.

 

[Clam]

This is so odd to me. I live in a modest neighborhood in a small town where there are not a lot of high paying jobs. The other day I get home and my neighbor has bought a 2019 F250 FX4. That's a $60,000 bill. For reference that's roughly half the value of his house. He's a young guy about my age. My wife and I actively save, drive older vehicles (never bought new), no mortgage, no loans, and plan to retire early. I just cringe at the thought of paying a bank a monthly check for something that you pay interest on and is DEPRECIATING as it sits in the driveway. I have met a lot of people my age that just don't think that way. I know it's not my place to judge.

I couldn’t agree more!

I’ve been giving the rental approach serious thought and it really makes sense, maybe more to me as I drive 700 miles to my huntin grounds and don’t necessarily need 4wd there. I just have a hard time justifying +/- 40k for a couple of trips a year. Also where I live, here is suburbia, any full size vehicle is a pita to park and drive on a daily basis.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to have a new truck and could easily afford it. I just don’t see any practicality in buying over renting in my situation.

 

[marshman]

This is more of a vent and rant... bought my F150 new in 2014(terrible idea) since then it’s been nothing but problems. Let’s start slow, year one, air bag light on, I’m at the shop for two days till they figured it out, 3mo later, it’s back on. I get it fixed again, then a year later back on, couldn’t figure it out again, they got it “fixed” and now 5 years later it’s on again, been on for a while, I’ve given up.

Next up... AC goes out, and now I’ve put a lot of miles on so the warranty is void. I get that fixed, a good ole $1500 fix...

Well that’s all well and good, then, a couple months down the line, I go to take the pup pheasant hunting. Nope... car overheats and smokes on the highway, coolant completely leaked out, it’s a cracked water pump. Get that fixed.

Once again drive on the highway, all of the sudden all the lights go on on my dash, traction control, e brake on, engine service required, etc.... I take it in and a wire broke that lead to a sensor.... get that fixed....

I go to start up the AC again and whelp, the AC has gone out again... now I just run with zero AC, I’m over it. I’ve gotten used to just having the windows down. Fortunately the one part was on a two year warranty so I will get that looked at and estimated this summer.

I had a brake caliper freeze and run thru a pad and a rotor, that was an easy self fix tho.

Then I had a T (or branch?) leak all my coolant again. Fortunately I caught it leaking before I wasn’t full bore on the highway, that had to be fixed.

Once again driving on the highway, hit a bump and all the traction control, e brake, service engine, etc.... comes on. Got that fixed, same thing, the wire broke to the sensor. They paid for it since it was within a year of the other happening.

Don’t even get me started on the location of the oil filter and the damn hoses on either side of it making it nearly impossible to unscrew. Especially when I had to get my oil changed at a shop and had the hulk screw on my filter. Afterwards I got that one off my oil filter looked like it got shot with a shotgun, had to fill thru it and crank it out with a screwdriver.

And well there’s today. The straw that broke the camels back. The reason I’m typing this in my driveway, trying to hold back from throwing this breaker bar through my window.... I have to change my pads and rotors, pretty simple and straight forward... HA! Turns out, all of my lug nuts have swollen. They were 21mm and now some are 21 or 22 or in between. That’s not so bad because I have multiple sized sockets, however the cheap-o lug nut covers have started to break and separate from the lugnut over the years and when I crank on them the cover just spins around the but, I can get maybe 4 outta 6 off each tire. All I needed was to change my breaks and I can’t even get the tire off!!!. I’m beyond over ever owning a ford again, this is outrageous.

I thought maybe this is an isolated problem and I google it and apprently there’s a class action lawsuit in Michigan because of their faulty lug nuts where the covers are just spinning over the nuts. These ones have been decent so far but I think years of an impact wrench(from shops) and general use has done em in.

I’m just frustrated and had to blow off steam somehow without hucking this bar thru the window.

Also I apologize for any run ons or typos, I’m typing on my phone.

-Disgruntled Ford Owner

I owned two F-250's for a total of about 30 years, all kinds of issues i considered normal wear and tear, until a bought a Tundra. I have owned the truck since 2010. 2 Normal things, a brake job and a new battery - that's it, just saying.

 

[Fj605]

I had a lifter get stuck and flatten off a cam lobe on my '10 Silverado. Apparently, this was courtesy of the fuel management system. The mechanic did some computer science and deleted that "feature" so it's now a full-time V8. The loss of fuel efficiency was minimal.

I think all brands have their demons so it just comes down to what features you prefer and hope you get lucky.

 

[Scott85]

I’m a ford fan.

View attachment 108673

The worse thing ford ever did was get rid of the 7.3

 

[elkhnter]

The worse thing ford ever did was get rid of the 7.3

Forced to by the USEPA.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I hate rig issues, my last truck was a 98 Dodge Ram , was falling apart in the end but was 20 years old , had some great adventures in it, never forget my first trip off the mountain with a branch bull in the back

I must have gotten lucky with my '97 Ram 4x4. I bought it in 2000 with only 43,000 miles on it. It now has 289,000+ miles on it and still runs pretty darn good which is amazing because it is a gas engine. Other than age and mileage related things that wore out it has been very reliable. I do all my own work on it. I've replaced the radiator, 2 alternators, a couple of batteries-the last one lasted 7 1/2 years, both hub and bearing assemblies on the front and 1 rear axle and bearings on both sides and a couple of u-joints. Also the a/c has never needed any service . My son is now driving it.

 

[mtmuley]

Almost as good as a bullet thread. mtmuley