The evening of July 26th, 2011 approximately 10:00pm est, an engine fire occurred in our 1998 Ford F-250 truck (ext cab, Triton V-8 engine, lariat ed). The F-250 had been parked in a remote parking area on the interior area of the mason county fair grounds. Due to county fair activities during that day, the truck had not been started for over 10 hours when this fire occurred. The local fire department was called and extinguished the fire. It totaled the engine, buckled the hood, blistered the paint, etc. Luckily there was no property damage, nor was there any bodily injury. We had purchased the truck in April of 2010. This truck was in pristine (eat off the engine) condition. Since we have owned it, it had regular oil changes (mobil-1 synthetic only). Aside from that, and other normal maitenance, there had been no modifications to the vehicle, which had stock eqpt when we purchased it. No-off roading, my son babied this truck. He did not even like going to his girlfriend's home with it, because she lived on a dirt road. He is more than just left without a vehicle, he is heartbroken, to say the least. I have checked that there was a police report. 911 was called, but ultimately it is the fire department that made the report. I notified Ford on July 27th, 2011. On July 30th, 2011 I received a letter from maria aguilera, product claims legal analyst, Ford's office of general council in dearborn, mi. We are working to gather information required by her at this time.

- Gladwin, MI, USA

While starting my Ford truck with the 5.4 L engine I heard a very loud pop and the engine ran as if the head gasket blew. A non-Ford mechanic verified the no. 3 spark plug on the passenger side blew out and stripped the threads from the cylinder head insert that this Ford dealer inserted to repair an earlier blown spark plug. The old insert for the previous failure was removed and replaced with a new type according to the Ford mechanic. This is the second time for this to happen. On July 10, 2003, approximately 1 yr and 2 days before this failure the no. 3 spark plug blew out stripping the treads in the cylinder head. Numerous non-Ford mechanics I've talked to have verified this been a fairly common occurrence in the 5.4 L Ford engine in trucks and SUV's. an individual that I work with had the same spark plug (no. 3 passenger side) blow out from her Ford Explorer with the 5.4 L engine approximately 6 weeks ago.

- Anchorage, AK, USA

I own a 1998 Ford F150 XLT truck. I maintain my truck as required (oil, etc). On Oct. 25,2003 when going to turn the truck on I heard a loud noise in the engine and the truck seem to stall. I looked under the truck and noticed a hole on the right side of the oil pan panel and oil came out. Once I got it to talk to my mechanic he informed me that he knew of the 'notorius' or 'infamous' reputation the (4.2L Ford engines) have. It seems disturbing to me that Ford would use engines like this on veichles and us consumers spending are hard earned money have to pay for something that no matter how good you maintain will eventually break down. I came to find out that people that are involved with cars (mechanics and managers of well known part stores) call this type of motor engine. Now I need to put a new engine into a truck that otherwise ran fine. I will never ever buy a Ford again and warn all my close friends and colleagues to do the same.

- Laredo, TX, USA

Spark plug number four had blown out of head, consumer managed to get vehicle to a mechanice and was informed that head was made of aluminum and engine was made of iron, this is what caused the spark plugs to blow, right head was replaced for a total cost of $1900, partial reimbursement ws given to consumer.

- Weare, NJ, USA