1997 Ford F-150 engine problems

Owners reported engine problems in 543 complaints for the 1997 Ford F-150, 17% of the complaints on file. It is the most reported problem area for this model year.

Complaints: 543 17% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage: 100,000 miles 289 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires: 5 and 43
Injuries and deaths: 8 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When engine problems show up

Based on 289 complaints that include mileage. 9% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.

View the numbers

Mileage	Complaints
0k to 20k miles	3
20k to 40k miles	4
40k to 60k miles	18
60k to 80k miles	60
80k to 100k miles	61
100k to 120k miles	65
120k to 140k miles	38
140k to 160k miles	15
160k to 180k miles	10
180k to 200k miles	6
200k+ miles	9

What the data shows

Of the 289 engine complaints that report mileage, the median is about 100,000 miles, and 9% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 5 crashes, 43 fires, 8 injuries.

What owners wrote

While driving down the road, another vehcile hit consumer's bumper. Consumer proceeded to drive and was nformed by another consumer that fire was coming from bottom of vehicle. While walking awayfrom the vehicle, it blew up. Dealer has not been contacted. One person was injured. *slc

June 2001 FireInjury

I have a 1997 f150 v-6 4.2l pick up truck. I have been loosing engine coolant and my engine oil leaks out. I have found that the lower intake gasket problem is very common with this engine type and truck. I found out that ford had a recall on this gasket but they did not send me any information about it. The recall on the gasket expired in 2005 ( I was told by ford). I only have 66,000 miles on this truck. Can you guys help me?

Reported at 65,813 miles, May 2006

Engine problems in other years

Engine problems across all Ford models