Which parts fail
Components named in complaints (engine, cooling system, oil leaks, timing chain, exhaust).
Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2002 Ford E-350 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Tl contact owns a 2002 Ford e-350. The contact stated that while driving at 65 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was not able to restart. The failure recurred on several occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000.
Head on vehicle stripped because of the way it is made. There was a recall on regular e350 but mine is an rv. It was in motion when the spark plug popped out while driving down the highway on I-65 in birmingham alabama.
This 350 econoline, 8cyl., extended body van was purchased new, and I am the original owner. The vehicle has only 120K miles on it since 2002. Beginning several years ago, my mechanic complained of severe frame erosion, having had to reinforce and re-weld several parts back onto the frame, including but not limited to the brackets which support the rear leaf springs. (two ocurrances-- left and right sides). Last week, my employee complained of some rear end swaying at moderate speed cornering. We discovered a cross-tie connection between the side rails at the rear of the vehicle's frame had rotted away, thus causing some unwanted frame movement. If it weren't for a heavy-duty towing package I had purchased with the vehicle in 2002, I believe the left and right sides of the vehicle's under-framing would have twisted and separated from the body years ago ! …
Engine failure on 2002 e350 Ford van. Van was being operated normally on a rainy day in california. Van stopped running. Driver restarted van and returned to yard. Van engine was making knocking noise. Van was sent to dealer. Dealer determined that vehicle had large volume of water in intake system and said it would not be covered under warranty. Consumer appealed to Ford motor co. Ford sent field engineer who agreed with findings; adding that the vehicle is designed to ingest a small amount of water, but not that volume of water, therefore it was consumers fault. Consumer says that if that volume of water can enter the vehicles intake system under normal operating conditions then there must be a design flaw or defective part. …
The vehicle in question was purchased used with 82,000 showing on the odometer. I owned the vehicle for 2 1/2 months prior to this engine issue. Left for work on the morning of dec. 20 2006. I am an in home service plumber. Approach. 1:30 pm on the aforementioned day, I started my vehicle to leave one job and proceed to another, and upon starting the vehicle, heard a very loud pop, followed by a continuous exhaust leak type sound. Upon further visual investigation, I discovered that a spark plug was laying on top of the manifold and the number 2 cylinder coil pak was distorted and pulled away from it's attached position over that cylinder. The failure was the plug ejecting out of the cylinder head ( per dealer ) and the consequences are missed days of employment until the vehicle is repaired. The repair will cost me around 4800,00, new cylinder head plus labor to install. …
Ford e-350 with 5.4 triton v-8 in HVAC service truck. Blew spark plug out of # 7 cylinder @ 92,000 miles on 5/15/06. Lost day of work to make repairs on truck , repair parts $130.00 on 6/22/06 blew spark plug out of #2 cylinder. Put truck down for 2 days while repairs were made. I had all plugs removed 4 of the remaining including #2 were bad. That's 5 of 8 that the threads were compromised . All of these were factory installed original plugs. I had the repair shop install repair sleeves in all the plug holes. The terrible part of all of this is that I May have been lucky. I didn't have to remove the heads , if the head is damaged beyond repair the only recourse is to replace it,not usually a real major job. But thanks to fords engineers the only way to replace the heads is to remove the complete cab. In a pickup it's tough in a van who are they kidding.
The truck shuts off. It sometimes is intermittent (runs fine at cruise, but wont idle) or it could be absolute. (truck just up and died! No reason!) there is no timeline, no precursor, no warning. I can drive for 200 miles, then it happens, or 1 to 7 miles. The failure is a stall. Engine light comes on, if a stall comes and doesn't shut down the truck, (usually because the RPM's are being revved up.) and is restarted, the engine light will no longer be on. The engine will restart, or not restart, but eventually it will restart. Then failure again. It started March 1 and continues. All else appears to be functioning fine. I believe it is the camshaft position sensor. I have not yet verified this with a mechanic, but if this is the problem a Ford part will be bought and it will be replaced.
Tl contact owns a 2002 Ford e350. While driving approximately 20 MPH on normal road conditions, the contact heard a loud noise that sounded like an explosion. The vehicle proceeded to a stop sign and resumed normal operation. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for inspection and they stated that the spark plug blew out in the engine. The vehicle was repaired. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer on a separate occasion for an identical failure. The dealer replaced the spark plugs. The failure mileage was 60,000 and current mileage was 72,000.
Driving down a street at approx. 40mph I heard a bang and then a bunch of air escaping. Sounded like an exhaust leak. Spark plug was blown out of number 2 cylinder. Had repaired at local repair shop, put in a new heli coil. Since 7-6-09 has happened again. This time number 8 cylinder. These Ford engines don't have enough thread on the engine heads to hold the spark plugs in. It's probably going to keep happening until all of the threads are replaced.
Tl contact owns a 2002 Ford e-350. The contact stated that after the dealer replaced the spark plugs the engine shot the spark plugs out of the engine block 15,000 miles later. Everytime the contact has the plugs replaced the vehicle continued to shoot out the spark plugs. The contact brought the vehicle to the dealer, who stated that the engine heads need to be replaced. The current and failure mileage were 131,000.
NHTSA investigations
Spark plug ejection from cylinder head
On September 6, 2005, odi received a petition requesting that the agency investigate allegations of engine spark plug ejection in certain model year 1997 through 2004 Ford vehicles with triton v-8 and v-10 engines.odi received a total of 474 non-duplicative complaints on the subject vehicles where the complainant, or the dealer repairing the vehicle, reported that a spark plug detached from the cylinder and/or…
Engine complaints in other E-350 years
Frequently asked questions
How common are engine problems on the 2002 Ford E-350?
NHTSA has 20 complaints about the engine & cooling of the 2002 Ford E-350, 38% of the model year's 53 complaints. The component named most often is engine (5 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2002 Ford E-350 engine problems?
No. NHTSA lists no engine & cooling recall for the 2002 Ford E-350, though it has 4 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2002 Ford E-350 engine problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 96,000 miles, and 11% before 25,000 miles.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.