1990-2025 Ford F-250 Problems: 6 Known Issues

The Ford F-250 Super Duty (1999-2016) is prone to premature front ball joint failure. The heavy front-end weight from diesel engines (7.3L, 6.0L, 6.4L, 6.7L Power Stroke) combined with coil spring or leaf spring front suspension designs puts excessive stress on the upper and lower ball joints. RepairPal estimates ball joint replacement between $585 and $1,640 depending on model year. The 2005-2016 models with the coil spring front suspension appear most affected. Symptoms include clunking over bumps, loose steering feel, and uneven front tire wear. In severe cases, a completely failed ball joint can cause the wheel to tuck under the vehicle, resulting in loss of steering control.

The solid front axle suspension is susceptible to death wobble triggered by hitting a bump at highway speed. Worn track bar bushings are the most common root cause, compounded by worn ball joints and tie rod ends.

NHTSA recall campaign 11V385000 covers 1997-1999 Ford F-250 pickups rated under 8,500 lbs GVWR that were originally sold in or are currently registered in the road-salt states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. On these light-duty F-250s, prolonged exposure to road deicing chemicals can corrode the metal straps that hold the fuel tank up against the frame. If one or both straps give way, the tank can drop far enough for the fuel lines to pull free of it, and in some cases the tank can end up dragging on the ground. Either outcome can leak fuel and create a fire hazard. This was a very large campaign: roughly 1,100,000 vehicles across all of the models it covered, which also included the F-150, the F-150 Heritage and the Lincoln Blackwood. Note that the recall applies only to the sub-8,500 lb GVWR version of the 1997-1999 F-250, so heavier Super Duty trucks of the same era are outside its scope.

Owners of the 6.2L Boss V8 report a knock or tick right after a cold start. Owners often blame worn cam phasers. The noise usually fades as oil pressure builds and the engine warms, and some owners say it gets worse with mileage. Several things can make this sound on the 6.2L. Owners of the same engine also describe a start-up tick that lasts only until oil reaches the hydraulic valve lifters (lash adjusters). Some owners call that version harmless, and others disagree. Ford also issued a bulletin, TSB 10-25-7, for an engine tick on early 6.2L trucks, including 2011 F-250/F-350 Super Duty trucks built from January 18 to September 7, 2010. That tick came with misfire codes, and its cause was ignition coil or plug-wire installation, worn rocker shaft rollers, or damaged cam lobes. A cold-start noise is not proof of a phaser failure, so the cause needs to be diagnosed before parts are replaced.

Two different 7.3L diesels are covered by these years. The 1990 to early-1994 trucks use the 7.3L IDI, where a glow plug controller on the engine switches a separate glow plug relay. Trucks built from midway through the 1994 model year to 1997 use the 7.3L Power Stroke, where the engine computer switches a glow plug relay mounted near the fuel filter housing. Both engines rely on the glow plugs to heat the combustion chambers for a cold start. Without them, the engine has only compression heat to work with, so it cranks a long time or will not start in cold weather. As a glow plug wears out its resistance rises, and a single bad plug can make the IDI controller shut the system off before the plugs get hot. The relay is a wear item: it can stop switching, or click on and off repeatedly, and then no power reaches plugs that are still good. On the Power Stroke, the glow plug wiring runs through a connector built into each valve cover gasket, and that connector is a known source of bad connections. Glow plugs can also swell in the cylinder head, which Diesel Hub links mainly to aftermarket plugs, and the heating tip can then break off. One owner of a 1994 IDI on Oilburners found every plug swollen. A broken tip ended up in the combustion chamber and left a small dent in the top of the piston before he removed it.

These F-250s used two different 7.3L diesels. The older IDI has simple mechanical injectors. The 7.3L Power Stroke arrived midway through the 1994 model year and uses hydraulically actuated, electronically controlled (HEUI) injectors. Injectors on both engines wear with age and miles. On the Power Stroke, internal wear can make an injector bleed off pressure or spray poorly. Failed seals can let fuel get into the engine oil or coolant, and the electrical solenoid can fail before the mechanical parts do. One diesel reference puts average injector life near 150,000 miles, with some failing around 100,000 and others passing 200,000. Each injector has separate fuel and oil chambers, so the quality of both fluids strongly affects injector life. 1994-1995 trucks and 1996-1997 federal-emissions trucks use single-shot "AA" injectors. 1996-1997 California-emissions trucks use split-shot "AB" injectors. On the IDI, owners report that injector springs weaken over time, so the injectors open early. This causes a fuel knock that can sound like a rod or main bearing knock. Owners also report injectors that stick open. Owners say similar symptoms can come from injection-pump timing or from a leaking lift pump (which puts fuel in the oil), so the injectors are not always the cause.