Mine is running great it just rolled over to 76K last week. The only things that I have to done to the truck as far as repairs are brakes, IWE and one hub. I also got rid of the horrid P rated tires for some nice load range E tires. Other than that I change the oil every 5K and and the fuel filter every 10K. I will be keeping mine for a long time because I am sure that I can get 200K out of it and it will be paid off shortly.

 

Sorry, but you don't understand cars much, do ya ? Don't really quite get how the world works ? How the auto industry works ? Its ok, most people don't. You have any idea what it cost for research and development ? You think every single car produced should be flawless ? The issues you list on your truck are so small and petty, I don't understand your complaints. Maybe if you were on your 3rd trans, or 2nd engine or something drastic. But normal wear and tear items ? You think other's window regulators don't fail ? Its a very common problem, even in the fancy smancy Mercedes Benz. 3rd brake light leaks ? Big whoop... took you how much money ? How much time to fix ? If you had done some research before hand, you most likely would have sealed it up before putting it on. Finally, a grinding noise ?? Trucks make noise. Hard to comment on it, not have heard it myself.

No matter what car manufacturer you choose, you will always have problems. Plain and simple. How well the dealer works with you, would be on a "per-dealership" basis, not a company basis. You buy 10 of the most expensive Mercedes on the market. You'd think they'd be flawless right ? Spending the rediculous amount of money they ask, you wouldn't think a problem would come up after 1k miles huh ? Wrong. You take 10 vehicles from any company, 5 of them will run great and be problem free. Another 3 will have the occasional issue, things that probably "shouldn't" be going wrong, but something is up with them. You will have fixes more often then those other 5. Now the last 2 will be what we call "Hangar queens". They will spend most of their life inside the garage, up on a lift, being "fixed" . When you run into one of these, it is truly unfortunate, but it does happen. Now, you can cut your losses, and attempt t0 sell or trade in. Or, you can see if the dealership will work with you for some kind of trade. You will be basically SOL. To think you will have better luck with company "X" over company "B" is rediculous. You want less issues ? Get less creature comforts. Things like auto windows, auto locks, Navi, back up camera's, rear auto windows, automatics, etc etc etc. The fancier and more doodad equipt the car is, the more stuff that can break. Get some manual seats, manual windows, manual locks, and the basic of everything else, and you will see less issues, but still may face some. Yota has its pile of problems, along with Chevy, Ford, Mercedes, Audi, Aston Martin, Jag, etc etc etc.

To say Ford lacks quality, due to a couple very small items that normally do wear out.... wearing out, is rediculous on your part. Sure, your on low miles, but realize your truck is going on 5 years old. Miles aren't everything. Not sure what you expect. I would much rather be replacing a window regulator or 3rd brake light vs. a rear tailgate or an engine due to "catastrophic bearing failure" (both known problems on Toyota). To each his own though....

 

my truck has a few problems, haven't quite identified a couple of the problems though...still working on that whole getting money to do it thing...

loud rattling noise from the front
loud squek comming from the back
fog lights leak
fuel door broke
ticking sound comming from front when it's over 80 degrees
about 3 minutes after shutting the truck off there is a loud ping sound that sounds like something metal falls into something else metal.
emergency brake exploded in right rear wheel ($50 - mechanic cleaned it all up and disconnected the brake)

nothing else noticeable that has gone wrong

i'm the 2nd owner of this truck so i dont know how the first perso treated it.

my biggest concerns are the rattle sound in the front and the loud ping sound after shutting it off.

but like i said no money to get them checked out right now so i just hope it's nothing thats causing major damage

on a good day i'm happy with my truck but on a bad day i get PO'd and want to sell it

 

I've had the driver's window button light go out...
The outside air temp sensor go kaput...
One of the reverse sensors go belly up... every now and they still act up. Beep! Beep! Beep! Even though nothing's behind me...

And one strange thing that happened less than a year after I bought it. The dealership even said there'd only been on similar case in the entire nation... After I used the key fob to lock the truck, the parking lamps continued to flash. There was also a clicking coming from behind the left, rear passenger seat (I have a SuperCab) that sounded like a relay clicking. Truck running, stopped, lights on, lights off, hazard lights on or off, nothing would keep the parking lamps from flashing. I drove it to the dealership that afternoon. They took a quick look at it and were quite confused. Especially about the clicking since there isn't a relay behind the left, rear seat. They couldn't get to it that day and it blinked on through the night and eventually killed the battery. They charged the battery and started the truck back up and it's never happened again...

Regular oil changes, a brake job, and a new set of tires after something near sliced through the sidewalls on the passenger side and that's it. Runs like a top. Still going to trade it in next spring though after I move across the country. Until I'm making significantly more $$$ or full size trucks start getting 25+ MPG, I won't be getting another one...

 

MercedesTech easy man, I dealt with this already. Said pretty much the same thing too.

 

That location sounds like where the BCM (Body Control Module) is. It most likely controls things like the keyless entry and lights, etc. Maybe it just had a glitch/short circuit in it that day. I'm suprised the dealer didn't try to replace the BCM?

 

Ok here the real question. How many of you, if you have the 5.4L with the 3 valve's per cyl. are planing to keep their trucks when tune up times comes. Unless Ford come's up with a recall for this mistake. Hold on to your shorts. What I am talking about is the 9/16 plugs that sezie in the heads and then break off when you turn them 1/16 of a turn. Ask you Loacal Ford dealer.

 

Those of us here that own '04's are well aware of the issue. Some have dealt with it already, some are preparing to. It's not a deal breaker for me, I plan to keep mine for quite a few more years. I'm going to get the plugs replaced before winter then I don't have to think about it for another 4 years.

 

:o

Couldn't help it ! Sorry then

 

I didn't know that. I had 2 people from the dealership out there with me when I dropped the truck off. They heard the clicking and just scratched their heads.

 

If you thinking I am knocking Fords your dead wrong. The list of Fords I have owned is very long. Starting with my forst car 1968 mustang next 1962 F100 4X4/ 292 with headers. Several F searies ranging from F500 4x4 to a excap 4x4 ranger with 450k miles. I can't KILL IT. Love my FORDS.

 

my '04 got hit today

all these years and no problems, and a chevy tried takin her out....but i got that chevy bumper

 

A good friend of mine is a master Ford technician, he says they don't all get stuck, his experience is that most of them come out OK.

Non issue for me too, not even sure I'll put 100k on it before I (probably) get rid of it in another 5 or so years.

 

Agreed. My '04 will be 5 years old in March next year (2009) and it has 45k on it right now. Replaced NOTHING except tires so far. Even if Ford waits until 2014 to do an actual redesign of the truck (not this '09 refresh stuff), I don't think I'll hit 100k.

I don't recall how many miles I had on my '97 when trading for my '04, but it wasn't anywhere near 100k and I think that was almost 8 years of ownership (since the '97 launched early in '96).

So I don't think it will be an issue then, if at all. I really hope they redesign it for 2012, but even if they keep the current '04 style until 2014 I can't seeing hitting 100,000 miles.

What's the big deal anyways? You bring it to the dealer and they do what they have to do. Don't understand the big problem some people seem to have with this issue, unless they are trying to do this themselves.

 

First off, I would never let the dealer touch my truck, but thats just me. I do all my own work, so to know how much a PITA they can be and what I needed the truck for... I chose the 4.6.

Also, some people who do allow the crooks... I mean dealership to touch their vehicle, are bringing it in for a routine tune-up. They expect to be paying a few hundred bucks. Then they get a phone calls saying they have broken a sparkplug off in the head, and are going to need $4-5k to fix it. That might be chump change to some, but thats a whole lot of money in my eyes. Thats probably what the "big deal" is.