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10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
7 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
54,133 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2011 Ford F-150 engine problems

engine problem

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2011 Ford F-150 Owner Comments (Page 23 of 24)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #27

Jul 152012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 6,400 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Truck lost all power, could not maintain speed. No throttle response.

- San Ramon, CA, USA

problem #26

Oct 212011

F-150

  • 906 miles
I have a Ford 2011 FX4 ecoboost. Whole truck started shuddering as I was getting onto the southwest freeway. Check engine light was flashing and vehicle had loss of power. Was able to coast and drive slow to the next exit where I pulled into a gas station and turned the engine off. I started the truck again and it seemed ok but the shuddering happened again on the way home and this time the check engine light stayed on. Took it to the dealership where the code was pulled and they replaced the catalytic converter. Same thing happened to me (shuddering and loss of power) again at 30K miles 3/4/2013 where this time they replaced a ignition coil and spark plug. And a third time at 34K miles 4/27/2013 and it is back in the shop today. When this happens it is very dangerous driving on the freeway when you cannot get the truck to drive without shuddering and jerking anytime you give it gas. Something needs to be done before anyone gets hurt. The dealership so far has been fixing whatever the code states, however there is a underlying condition that is causing this to happen that needs to be addressed.

- Spring, TX, USA

problem #25

Dec 282012

F-150 4WD 6-cyl

  • 25,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, the vehicle shook violently and the check engine lamp illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 25,000....updated 04/25/13 updated 05/21/2013

- Ray , ND, USA

problem #24

Feb 082011

F-150 6-cyl

  • 18,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The truck lost all power when acceleration was required. Gas to floor and it fell to idle while passing. Lost all power again during a merge to freeway, drop to idle and rough running. Lost all power while trying to stay ahead of on coming traffic. 3 times in 60000 km. No warning drive line shudders when subjected to light load slight grade highway speeds. Feels like engine miss. Dozens of trips to dealers 5 tsbs and many documented letters to Ford. Ready to give up.

- Ingersoll, MI, USA

problem #23

Feb 222013

F-150 6-cyl

  • 12,834 miles
2011 Ford F150 FX4 eco boost road conditions - dry. External temperature - approximately 35F. Highway on ramp accelerating to merge. The motor hesitated for a few seconds before kicking in, the front end felt like it was slipping while trying to accelerate as well. As the truck passed approximately 65 mph the engine lost power and began to shake violently, the check engine light came on as well. I had to keep the truck around 45 mph to avoid the shaking for about 5 minutes before it stopped and the engine light turned off. I noticed a slight burning smell and the engine didn't sound like it did prior to the incident. If someone had been behind me on the ramp, or I was passing a vehicle in poor road conditions or in busy traffic there is a strong possibility I would have been in an accident of some sort, most likely a rear end collision.

- Aurora, CO, USA

problem #22

Sep 052012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 45,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Ford F-150. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, the vehicle went into limp mode. The vehicle was moved to the shoulder and restarted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection where it was found that the turbo charger needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 45,000.

- Sugar Land, TX, USA

problem #21

Feb 202013

F-150

  • 23,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

After running a long highway run I was coming off an on ramp and step on the throttle to merge. The motor hesitated for few seconds before it kicked in. I was almost rear ended by the car behind me. The dealership tells me they are working on a fix. This needs to be fixed now before someone dies in an accident due to this issue.

- Derry, NH, USA

problem #20

Feb 232012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 2,500 miles
I was driving along hwy 95 in Georgia for several hours early one morning. I went to pass a semi and lost all power. The truck rpms jumped up while the transmission down shifted to 4th gear but the truck did not accelerate. I had to get back into my lane in an abrupt way causing traffic to re-act and allow me back in. This has happened almost a dozen times since then. Ford has been issuing tsb for a fix but none of them work. This is only happening on the 3.5L eco-boost motor. They are now in their 3rd model year of this truck and are still having this problem, it is only a matter of time before someone gets seriously injured. The timing of when this happens is un-predictable and often leaves no codes for the dealer to troubleshoot, so you get sent on your way with "could not replicate problem". Ford has been claiming it is condensation in the inter-cooler, has issued computer updates numerous times, now they have released and upgraded inter-cooler, but the problems are still happening.

- Janesville, WI, USA

problem #19

Sep 252012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 28,956 miles
I had just turned onto the on ramp of the turnpike. There was heavy traffic and I needed to accelerate quickly to avoid a semi truck traveling in the right lane. As I pushed the pedal down the truck began to shake violently and lost power. The check engine light came on and I had to swerve to the emergency lane to avoid a collision. This loss of power has happened multiple times since then. At first on hard acceleration and then it became common at any level of acceleration. As of this writing the dealer has done his best to fix the problem but there seems to be a shortage of parts from the manufacturer. Ford needs to step up to the plate and either buy these vehicles back or find a reliable fix. If it is water entering the engine as their initial investigation says, are they going to cover that damage if any?

- Wellington, FM, USA

problem #18

Jun 112011

F-150 6-cyl

  • 2,500 miles
Engine lost power, terrible shaking and vibrating, will not accelerate. Was able to leave lane of traffic, too side of highway and stop. After brief period of time was able too restart and return home to dealership for diagnosis and was told engine had misfire, but there was no fix for it at that time.this has been some 15 or 16 months, vehicle has been back too dealership 8(eight) times and still has lurching, fast idle, and service engine soon light illumination when engine is running.

- Oneonta, AL, USA

problem #17

Sep 292012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 12,500 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

My truck is equipped with the ecoboost 3.5L engine. Twice now I have attempted to accelerate and had the truck lose power and shake violently, creating a very dangerous situation. The first time was attempting to pass another vehicle. Weather conditions were warm (75 degrees F) with light rain. I pulled out to pass and attempted to accelerate when the truck suddenly acted as if the gas was shut off. It then began to shake and shudder violently as if the rear axel was being ripped from beneath it. I was able to fall back behind the vehicle I was attempting to pass, out of the way of oncoming traffic, and pull to the side of the road. After shutting off and restarting the truck, it seemed to run normal. The dealership service tech inspected the truck and stated it is a problem Ford is aware of (in wet conditions), but has no fixes. The second time I was attempting to enter the interstate from a rest stop into a single lane construction zone. The weather was cool (45 degrees F), dry and sunny. I attempted to accelerate to enter the highway and the truck acted as it did on the first instance. I was forced to pull off of the lane between two large construction pylons in order to avoid being struck by a tractor/trailer. The supplied dates, mileage and speed were from the most recent incident.

- Marseilles, IL, USA

problem #16

Oct 132012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 15,100 miles
Driving 60 mph at night in the rain climbing up a moderate slope (1-2%), towing a 6800 lbs 35ft travel trailer, and suddenly the engine check light turns on and starts flashing, vibrations from what I assume was the engine, shook the entire truck and caused my vehicle speed to drop from 60 mph to approximately 40 mph in a few seconds. Turned on my hazard lights slowly pulled off to the shoulder, then in a few moment the light went off and engine everything was find. I was lucky there was no one behind me and the trailer didn't jack knife on the highway at night in the rain in traffic. This is a serious matter than needs attention and investigated and action taken against. I will be taking my truck into the dealership first thing Monday morning to find out what is going on. Take action before someone dies from this.

- Rochester Hills, MI, USA

problem #15

Oct 092012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 11,820 miles
Yesterday I went to pass a truck that made an illegal turn, and had to hit the gas hard to get out of the way, only did it for about 2 seconds, than when I let off the gas, the engine kept running at high speed for about another 3 seconds? and my foot was not on the pedal at that time.

- Leesburg, GA, USA

problem #14

Jun 092012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 15,000 miles
While traveling down I-55, towing my travel trailer on a trip from St. Louis, mo to gulf shores, al, vehicle experienced a total loss of power on the interstate. I had been driving multiple hours in the rain when in jackson, ms, I had to let off the gas to allow other vehicles to merge onto the highway. When I re-applied the gas, the vehicle started shaking violently and would not accelerate. This caused the vehicle to lose speed and drop from around 60mph to 35mph on the interstate. After letting off and re-applying gas about three times the vehicle finally recovered and I was able to continue on my way. Luckily the other drivers on the highway were able to avoid me and I was not rear-ended or otherwise caused a serious accident.

- Hillsboro, MO, USA

problem #13

Oct 062012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 1,000 miles
Traveling at speeds above 50 when hard acceleration vehicle goes into limp mode becomes very dangerous have almost caused major pile up due to loss of power and total loss of vehicle control this vehicle and others like it are going to start killing people. All over the internet people are complaining about same problem and so far Ford has not recalled these vehicles and that is very concerning. Please help before many people are killed.

- Tallahassee , FL, USA

problem #12

Jul 072012

F-150

  • 10,000 miles
During the process of draining engine oil, was removing the oil filter and oil started to pour out under the truck. There is an oil filter drain catch basin that is installed to make all the oil being spilled come out where it can be captured. The catch basin is not installed in a manner that allows the oil to drain properly, instead, the back end is lower than the drain portion. Blogs seem to confirm this is a problem with many of these trucks.

- Chattanooga, TN, USA

problem #11

Jul 272011

F-150 6-cyl

  • 1,806 miles
Under hard acceleration into traffic or when passing, vehicle will suddenly lose power and go into a "limp mode." This condition is thought to occur because of engine misfire and several factors have been identified that can cause this in the ecoboost 3.5L V6. The dealer has replaced ignition coils with no success in correcting this issue. My service manager shared with me that Ford engineering is well aware of the issue and has yet to come up with a solution to correct it. In the meantime, my family is placed at risk of an accident because there is no way to predict when the engine will suddenly lose power when you need it most for passing or merging situations. This becomes even worse when pulling a trailer. NHTSA should demand that Ford immediately recall and repair these vehicles, or replace them until an appropriate solution is found to remedy the misfire condition and resultant lost of power.

- Chesterfield, MO, USA

problem #10

Feb 032012

F-150

  • 1,000 miles
This is a on going problem that Ford knows about and have no fix for, and it will end up killing someone and no one seems to care. It happens when your merging on to traffic the truck boggs down and loses all power many times I almost got killed had to pull off the road so I would not kill the family. The keep coming out with fixes but nothing works including the last one where they put a deflector plate on the intercooler. I can not believe Ford keeps putting out trucks when they know of this.

- Spring Hill, FL, USA

problem #9

Jun 082011

F-150 6-cyl

  • 800 miles
At roughly 800 miles I attempted to pass on a rainy afternoon and while applying enough load to pass the truck started to surge/misfire severely and the check engine light started to flash. Drove the truck about 2 miles in this derated condition until I reached my destination. Turned the ignition to off and then cycled the ignition back on and the check engine light went out and the unit ran correctly again. Took unit to the dealer and the diagnostic tool once plugged into the data port did not reveal any fault codes and no codes were stored. The dealer could not duplicate the issue and nothing was done to resolve the issue. This has happened very intermittently about 7 times total now always when trying to apply throttle in either humid or rainy weather conditions. Several software updates have been performed to the truck for some issue with the trans, but this intermittent misfire under light load still occurs. This happened most recently at roughly 23100 miles on the odometer while driving up an incline at roughly 65 mph and applying light load to try and climb the hill. Had to let off the throttle and try to apply the throttle again to accelerate. This continued for about 3 throttle application attempts than finally smoothed out without illuminating the cel this time. Im sure the issue will continue until Ford comes out with a real resolve and not band aid repairs.

- West Bloomfield, MI, USA

problem #8

Jul 062012

F-150 6-cyl

  • 4,575 miles
I made a left turn from a traffic light stop, as I was accelerating on a moderate rate, the engine "took off" (unintended acceleration) and immediately accelerated to ~50+mph. I switched transmission into neutral and applied the brakes and slowed down to the speed limit, ~35 mph. I checked to make sure the accelerator pedal was not stuck on the floor mat (it wasn't). I reengaged the transmission and the acceleration started immediately again. This unintended acceleration occurred three times in a stretch of about 2 miles or so, until I had a clear, safe place to pull over. The check engine light did not come on, at least not that I could notice. After I stopped the truck and started up again things were fine. I tried to "recreate" the situation by suddenly accelerating, but to no avail. I have scheduled an appointment with the dealer. The vehicle is a 2011 Ford F-150 pickup with 3.5L ecoboost engine.

- Roy, WA, USA

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