Mine was 05/07 and it was at dealer by mid May so it had to be an early May build which would be pretty close. Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to at least call my dealer and inquire about it.

 

I got an oil change yesterday. The service department never heard of this problem. They checked the computer. No TSB. No recall. No nothing about it. Might be a few isolated engines. Who knows?

I'm on my 7th F-150 including a March build 2007. Never had any engine problems.

 

Here we go, another round of paranoia because of one person's bad luck. Maybe this "issue" will replace the threads about the spark plug problem.

 

There are a handful of 2007 5.4 3Vs out there with bad thrust bearings. Something like less than 1000 units I think.

 

It would be a nice switch. Early on, we had to go through the stage when it seemed everybody had bad clutch packs, then rear end whines, then nibble and on and on until the current problem of spark plugs. Seems a little like the news. They only seem to be able to focus on one thing at a time.

 

I agree 100%. I don't even consider the spark plug thing a problem. There's a bunch of people out there that created a headache for themselves because they were so concerned about having broken plugs at higher mileage that they pulled them -on a vehicle that was otherwise running fine-at 20-30K and broke them anyway. Now they have a truck they can't drive and are facing a huge repair bill if they can't do it themselves. The best part is they want Ford to foot the bill.

Ford's service guideline for the plugs is to pull, inspect and clean at about 50K and replace at 100K. The only other time Ford recommends pulling the plugs is if the engine develops a miss or related issue. People follow just about every other service interval Ford has without question but when it comes to the spark plugs everyone knows better then the company that designed the engine.

 

Everybody makes this spark plug issue from people who just bought a new truck to people who probably don't know the proper procedure to pull these plugs......& when they break them the cry to FORD, give me a break....... I'm not touching my plugs till 50K.........to inspect & replace...........

 

There was a thread around here somewhere saying that the engines that grenade at very low miles where built in mexico. Ford has several suppliers and the bad parts may have just been at the mexico plant... anyways, that is the jist of the problem as said on the forums. I went right out and checked where mine was built!! Ont. for me... on the drivers side cam cover it says where manufactured

 

I am glad that you confirmed this for every one else. I am also glad that it is not really wide spread. I am just one of the unlucky ones. Oh well, all would be good shortly.

-- Mike --

 

Explain to me how Ford is supposed to know when a brand new engine has something like bad thrust bearings? They get the engines fully assembled, ready to drop into the vehicle. There's no way they could know what's happening inside until the warranty claims start coming in.

As for the spark plug thing, read my above post on this one.

 

I can see both sides to the argument. I guess that things happen and Ford is putting a new motor in the thing. Remember last year Toyota surpassed GM in total recalls for the year. Its a mechanical device and hopefully someday they will beable to make a perfect vehicle.

 

Well, I considered not responding to such a retarded post, but here goes anyway. The guy was upset about his truck. Looks so far like Ford is responding the right way. They've committed to a new engine. Maybe you'd like to sue? What more would you want? Every truck should work perfectly everytime, but that is just not reality, no matter who the manufacturer. I work in a production environment. Tons of parts from numerous vendors. Problems happen. Was there something in my post that said accept half assed work? No. Is that why America is going down the tubes? A little dramatic don't you think? In this age of hardly anyone accepting responsibility for anything I'd say yes, give Ford props for owning up to it. Neither you nor I have any idea what this problem is. All we've heard it that there is a faulty thrust bearing as the root cause. Does Ford make this bearing? Not likely. It almost certainly comes from another vendor. Problems happen, but maybe not in your fantasy world.
Would I get pissed? Not if the response has been what we've been told Ford has committed to do.

Get pissed man. It makes all the difference. Do it, get pissed. This whole thrust bearing thing. America is falling apart. I think the sky is falling. Oh no.......

 

Testing? Your saying that Ford should take the time to test EVERY engine before they're installed, all 900,000+ of them? Quintin has already said there's only about 1000 or so engines affected by this. Hardly something to be concerned about.

As for the rest of your post, the level of ignorance leaves me speechless.

 

Testing every part is not feasible. In large scale production, almost every manufacturer uses SPC. I would be amazed if Ford, GM, Dodge, Toyota, and on and on was not using SPC. SPC is statistical process controls. Using this tool and others you only test samples of product based on statistics and chart the results. The idea is that you can eventually predict failures and see trends before they make it even on to the production floor. Most of these guys will adhere to 6 sigma quality standards as well. Since they're certainly ISO certified, they would also have to have every single last vendor ISO certified. This means that the vendor is testing their parts to a spec. agreed upon between them and Ford, and getting periodic audits from outside sources. Not only that, when the parts that failed show up they will have to do all kinds of corrective actions on top of whatever punitive measures Ford takes against them. There is way more to all of this than I've written. Quality is a huge undertaking. When they agree to replace the engine, no questions asked, it's top notch customer service in my book. Try to understand what a HUGE operation any of these auto manufacturers are running. It's a monumental task to perform the way they do and constantly improve. Top that off with R&D and the need to keep your products fresh. It never stops........

Lastly, if the trucks were perfect, square one, as was said, nobody would say anything. It's pretty much human nature. Good news dies fast. Bad news travels and gets bigger and bigger. If you don't think so, look at the posts on here. We all like these trucks, but how many positive comments are there? When things go right, everyone says " It's supposed to work that way". I say give 'em credit for doing the right thing.

 

You think they haven't tested? How many million 5.4 engines do you think they sold with the same thrust washers with no problem until they got a batch of engines with bad ones? How would they know they got a bad batch until they had problems? Seems that Ford is doing the same thing as Toyota is doing with Tundras with a bad batch of cams. They are replacing engines which I feel sure is more than is required by the language of the warranty.