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 2003 Ford Excursion owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion. While driving 70 MPH, the vehicle accelerated independently to approximately 75-80 MPH. The contact had to apply excessive force to the brake pedal to slow down the vehicle. Also, the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was not included in a recall. No further assistance was offered. The approximate failure mileage was 123,000.
Faulty exhaust manifold bolts break off and cause excessive noise, exhaust enters the drivers cabin, vehicle will not pass emissions inspection and is expensive to repair. I have 4 Ford vehicles with this problem. First incident was at around 50,000 miles and 48 months after purchase. Ford refused to make repairs under any portion of the factory warranty. They claim lifetime emissions warranty doesn't cover it, nor the 100,000 powertrain warranty. I have spent over $8000.00 making repairs to these exhaust manifolds. Triton v-10 gas engine.
Tl* the contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion. While driving approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after several attempts. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that there was an injector failure. The vehicle was not repaired. A local dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 200,106.
My 2003 Excursion had a major turbo failure while traveling on I-10 on 12-26-03. My family and myself were traveling to houston. The vehicle only had a total of 1,049 life to date miles. While on the interstate for about 30 to 45 minutes we hear a larger pop noise and a large drop in the engine power. I only had a flash of a dash light and it went right back off. I was trying to get off the interstate. Was driving about 25 to 35 MPH trying to get to the next exit. Notice large volume of smoke coming from the rear of the vehicle. I pulled over asap after seeing this. The smoke came into the cab from the ventilation system (A/C). Pulled my daughter from the vehicle, also had my wife get out of the vehicle. At this point released the hood lock, checking the heat on the hood first. Raised the hood found fire coming from exhaust pipe from the turbo. …
Tl contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion. The contact was driving approximately 65 MPH on a wet road and suddenly, excessive white smoke expelled from the rear tail pipe exhaust system. The driver pulled over to the side of the road and the engine stalled without warning. The vehicle restarted and resumed normal operation. The engine stalled again and the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer. The technician stated that the failure was contributed to a broken fuel injector which also resulted in damages to the engine. The estimated repair cost was $12,000. The vehicle has not been repaired for the malfunction at this time. The failure and current mileages were 78,000. Updated 02/01/10 the consumer stated that the vehicle ran rough and it lacked power. The dealer found the #1 cylinder had a broken piston. …
While driving about 25 MPH, the engine stalled and I lost steering control. Luckily no other cars were approaching because I was making a left turn on to a busy street. Very dangerous. The stall has also occurred at least 5 other times, usually when decelerating when coming to a stop light. Today, the ABS light came on, then I heard a click and all the gauges lost power, the radio display went out. I could not restart the vehicle - only heard a click sound. After waiting an hour, the vehicle started. Batteries have already been replaced by dealership a couple months ago. It was in the shop because under aggressive acceleration, the glow plug light would come on and there was no power. Sensor replaced along with batteries. Problem occurred again when driving it home from the shop. …
I purchased a new Ford Excursion in late December of 03. It leaked oil from the engine block due to defects in its manufacture. The engine was replaced after much conflict by the dealer with a used remanufactured engine under warranty after only 11,700 miles. The used engine leaked from the rear of the block in the same way as the original engine. Ford refused to replace the engine with a new motor. The used engine suffered from erratic idle, leakage etc. It seemed destined to fail as the original engine did. I lost over $20,000 after accepting an arbitration decision. The vehicle did not make it to 13,000 miles. Unbelievably poor quality and no support. Simply a rip off to consumers. The vehicle was towed to the dealer once, and was driven there 4 times, totaling over 100 miles and 72 days out of service.
2003 Ford Excursion will sporadically not start. When this happens, it will crank but will not fire. It will not start with a jump start. Typically, after several tries the battery will drain. At that point it will start with a jump start. It also usually starts after it sits for at least 1 day. This sporadic incident has been occurring over 6 months. I've had it checked 4 times by a trusted and capable auto service center. They have run comprehensive diagnostics, reviewed every possible source of the problems, have researched every possible issue and have found nothing. Otherwise the vehicle runs well - when it starts. The latest incident was today feb. 24, 2010. This has occurred at least 10 times in 6 months.
Our vehicle has been to three different Ford dealers for the same repair. The vehicle develops a miss. It will show up while driving at about any speed under very light acceleration. The only thing consistent that was said by all the dealers is that many 6.0l engines had the same problem, that Ford was developing a repair plan, that the engine was sooting up a sensor, and that they didn't know how to stop the problem. They said they could keep replacing the same sensor that would temporarily resolve and clear codes, problem would likely return.
When the engine is started, it frequently runs roughly for several seconds or more. It causes the vehicle to lurch when put in gear and has almost LED to me striking vehicles parked in front and behind me when I have tried to pull out of parellel parking spaces. It has also caused me to strike my trailer as I attempt to hitch up to it and makes that process very challenging. This vehicle has done this since it was new and has been back to the dealer twice for repairs which have failed to correct the problem.
Related recalls
Engine and engine cooling › Engine › Diesel
On certain heavy duty trucks equipped with 7.3l diesel engines, the camshaft position sensor located on the engine of the vehicle May function intermittently, possibly resulting in an engine stall.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect the sensor and replace it with an improved camshaft position sensor free of charge. The recall began on December 29, 2007. Owners May contact Ford at 1-866-436-7332.
NHTSA investigations
Engine stalling
Twenty five of the odi failure reports are duplicative of Ford complaints.twenty odi reports do not contain a VIN (and May or May not be duplicative of Ford reports).the 14 alleged crashes and 2 alleged injuries were all minor.submitted during preliminary evaluation (pe) 04-070, Ford's response to odi's information request (ir) letter contained about 5,000 consumer reports (mors) and 8,700 field reports (cqis).Ford…
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 Excursion years
Frequently asked questions
How common are engine problems on the 2003 Ford Excursion?
NHTSA has 30 complaints about the engine & cooling of the 2003 Ford Excursion, 28% of the model year's 106 complaints. The component named most often is engine › diesel (9 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2003 Ford Excursion engine problems?
Yes — NHTSA recall 07V-553 (diesel, Dec 5, 2007). Recall repairs are free at authorized dealers.
At what mileage do 2003 Ford Excursion engine problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 18,000 miles, and 52% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 0 crashes, 1 fire and 0 injuries to engine & cooling problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
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.