2004 - 2008 F-150
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'04 owners how's your truck holding up?

Old Apr 20, 2010 | 04:31 PM
  #331  
TNoff's Avatar
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From: Houston, TX
Originally Posted by SPARKY357
Get ready to buy the whole light assembly in order to replace a gasket. $78.00. Or do like me and make your own for less than $3.00. Two years ago and no leaks. You are right about it being a stealership!!!!!!

It amazes me how many of these parts you have to purchase the whole assembly for a .50 part. The vent cowl is another example. The set cost $150 to replace. Those soft rubber ends are not sold seperately, so you must by the complete cowl. It won't matter because the new ones won't last very long as well.
yeah it really sucks. just did the weatherstripping for the 3rd brake light.


finally got the sparkplugs changed about a month ago. truck running fine crossing fingers.

looking for a gas door.

Need to replace the drivetrain fluids.

got 108k on the clock. hopefully it'll go another 100k without major issues.
 
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 08:31 PM
  #332  
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From: Houston
just replaced the tranny at a tick over 90k, and i've got a miss that won't seem to go away no matter what we do.
 
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 08:38 PM
  #333  
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From: richmond va
i hope to post in this thread in a few years. im at 41k and ive had it for almost 2k now. i talked to the previous though he had the back left window regulator and the iwe (rain shielded one) installed under warranty. i still have 2 years of power train warranty but its running great.

i love it.
 
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 10:40 PM
  #334  
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From: Austin, TX
I have a red 2004 S-cab w/ the 5.4 L motor. Have right at 63,000 miles on her. Bought it new in June 2004, was my first pick-up since my beautiful dirt brown 1974 F100 that I drove in high school (4-on-the-floor, no ac or power steering - awesome 1st car; RIP 1994).

I had this truck 2 yrs (right at 20k miles) then had the "main computer" go out (what the dealer told me - PCM?), replaced under warranty.

Had it another 6 months, bad front brake rotors, replaced free by dealer under a recall.

Another year passed (now late 2007), had the driver's side window regulator die, replaced it myself.

No other broken items. Maintenance items I have done myself:
-oil and filter every 3500-400 miles, use Castrol 10w/30 (TX heat)
-2 fuel filters (~25,000 and 55,000 miles)
-trans filter and fluid change last fall (55,000)
-replaced pads and rotors all 4 wheels (at 55,000; damn front spindle nuts!)
-changed out power steering and brake fluids (55,000)
-new spark plugs 2 weeks ago (see recent thread "DIY spark plug story...)

Replace air filter ~once a year as needed. On second set of tires, will need new ones later this year.

I'm pretty particular on washing and waxing it, keeping the interior clean, etc and honestly it looks like a 2-3 year old truck. I do have some wear on the outside driver's side seat but nothing to write home about.

Other than getting 14 mpg in stop-and-go traffic, I love my truck. Plan on keeping it indefinitely .
 
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:02 PM
  #335  
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From: Lockport, La.
Bought my truck new in Feb. 04 Had rear end replaced at 11k miles in warranty, 3 window regulator's replaced and one rear window slider motor went out in warranty. Both rear axle seals replaced and one rear wheel bearing. New brakes front and rear. Truck has 84k miles on it and runs great. Original plugs, run Mobil One oil and clean my K&N filter every 10k miles. This pic taken last week. Truck has never been wrecked or dented and interior still look's new. My daily driver and still get's 16-17 mpg highway easily if I keep the speed down!
 
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Old Apr 20, 2010 | 11:15 PM
  #336  
ds tiger's Avatar
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From: Near Austin, TX
wow

3 year old post is ALIVE!
 
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Old Apr 29, 2010 | 09:57 PM
  #337  
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From: Salt Lake City, UT
I found this thread while searching for my issue. I have an '04 purchased new in 03/04. So far, I've had three issues:

On a few occasions, the gas gauge would not go below about 1/8th tank (or above after a fill-up). I brought it to the dealer at the next service and they couldn't replicate it. It works fine 99% of the time, but it seems that it is most likely to happen in the coldest days of winter if I let the tank go to near empty. I've never fixed this because now it's out of warranty and it doesn't do it enough to figure out what the deal is.

I started getting the rear-end shudder when accelerating from a stop and turning. I will be replacing the rear axle with 75w140 synth gear oil. I expect that will resolve this issue.

Just today I noticed that the right rear window will not roll up from the driver's switch. It will roll down, but not up. It works fine from the passenger door switch. I haven't figured out yet if that's a bad switch, dirty contact, or something else.

All in all, I consider these to be minor issues, and given how inexpensive this truck is to maintain, even if I paid to repair those three issues, it would still be the lowest-cost vehicle I've owned for maintenance and repairs. After having such a good experience with this vehicle, I decided I would be keeping it for a long, long time. My next vehicle will almost certainly be a Ford as well.
 
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Old Apr 30, 2010 | 04:04 PM
  #338  
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From: Houston, TX
Originally Posted by timhood
I found this thread while searching for my issue. I have an '04 purchased new in 03/04. So far, I've had three issues:

On a few occasions, the gas gauge would not go below about 1/8th tank (or above after a fill-up). I brought it to the dealer at the next service and they couldn't replicate it. It works fine 99% of the time, but it seems that it is most likely to happen in the coldest days of winter if I let the tank go to near empty. I've never fixed this because now it's out of warranty and it doesn't do it enough to figure out what the deal is.

I started getting the rear-end shudder when accelerating from a stop and turning. I will be replacing the rear axle with 75w140 synth gear oil. I expect that will resolve this issue.

Just today I noticed that the right rear window will not roll up from the driver's switch. It will roll down, but not up. It works fine from the passenger door switch. I haven't figured out yet if that's a bad switch, dirty contact, or something else.

All in all, I consider these to be minor issues, and given how inexpensive this truck is to maintain, even if I paid to repair those three issues, it would still be the lowest-cost vehicle I've owned for maintenance and repairs. After having such a good experience with this vehicle, I decided I would be keeping it for a long, long time. My next vehicle will almost certainly be a Ford as well.
try cleaning the switch. I had the same problem and resolved by cleaning.
 
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Old May 5, 2010 | 01:35 PM
  #339  
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From: Austin, Texas
over 71k miles and so far so good. as i said before in this thread the only major issues were the fuel pump which was covered under warranty, and about a year ago the ac crapped out.

other than that its been small things, fading plastic, dry rotted parts on the cowl which this pisses me off to no end. not that it dry rotted, i expect that but when i have no choice but to buy the entire cowl to replace 2 flexible pieces of plastic, something is not right.

if you are wondering what part im talking about go look at your cowl and on the sides near the fender there is an insert there that is flexible. i dont like having missing parts on my truck but im not paying $150 for a new cowl just to get something that i should be able to get by itself.
 
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Old May 5, 2010 | 05:20 PM
  #340  
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From: Floresville, TX
Originally Posted by timhood
Just today I noticed that the right rear window will not roll up from the driver's switch. It will roll down, but not up. It works fine from the passenger door switch. I haven't figured out yet if that's a bad switch, dirty contact, or something else.
when mine did this, i got a used one out of another truck for $5 and it started working again.
 
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Old May 5, 2010 | 05:33 PM
  #341  
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99 F150 blew the #8 plug yesterday. Getting to the point where it seems to be one thing after another with this truck. Seriously thinking about trading up. Have my eye on a 2004 5.4L V3 4X4 with ~96k miles. I have not read all 300+ posts in this thread, but I get the sense that although the 2004 model is not without it's problems, overall a decent truck...?
 
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Old May 5, 2010 | 07:43 PM
  #342  
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From: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Originally Posted by bloody_knuckles
99 F150 blew the #8 plug yesterday. Getting to the point where it seems to be one thing after another with this truck. Seriously thinking about trading up. Have my eye on a 2004 5.4L V3 4X4 with ~96k miles. I have not read all 300+ posts in this thread, but I get the sense that although the 2004 model is not without it's problems, overall a decent truck...?
Mine's been good to me. There were problems that came up under warranty, but once all that was fixed up it's been 3+ years without a single problem.
 
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Old May 28, 2010 | 07:49 PM
  #343  
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All's well

My truck has been pretty problem free except for the deer that lost at frogger with me. Oil, brakes and tires otherwise. It stays outside and I do try to keep a coat of wax on it. It still looks great except the black plastic parts have begun to fade despite my best efforts. I do have the occasional driveline thunk but I live with it. Brakes have always been a little spongy but I plan on trying RMS8's fix this weekend.
 
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Old May 28, 2010 | 08:00 PM
  #344  
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From: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Man, I like this thread. My best effort so far. It disappears for awhile only to return months later.

Thanks guys for keepin' this one going.

Maybe when/if it hits 400 posts I'll bug the mods to make it a stickie.
 
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Old May 29, 2010 | 11:35 AM
  #345  
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From: Tacoma, WA
2004 Lariat and 115,000mi.
She is running strong and smooth like new. I have had one major mechanical issues and that was the clutch packs in the rear diff. Got them fixed under warranty and its been good to go since. Also had the issue of running lean due to CAI but Gryphon and custom tunes solved that.
 
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