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 2004 Ford F-350 owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
While driving at 40-50 MPH the vehicle will lose power and then then stalls while moving leading to loss of power. The loss power of affects the power steering posing a direct threat for an auto collision due to the difficult in steering the moving vehicle into an emergency lane. Avoided several accidents with this truck. Once it is stalled it can take numerous times to restart the vehicle. This issue seems to occur more on slopes going up hill. This does not seem to occur as often going downhill or on areas with no incline. Currently vehicle has 126,931.8 miles on it. Regularly serviced and otherwise running fine.
Intermittently while driving engine shut off followed by the meters on the dashboard reading zero. Then, vehicle stalled. The consumer put vehicle into neutral and restarted. When this happened before lost control of vehicle. The dealership performed several diagnostic tests, and replaced the PCM ground/engine ground,and wiring going to the PCM. The failure still existed. The consumer invoked the lemon law because the dealership was unable to rectify the failure. Consumer advised that the engine stalled and resulted in the vehicle leaving the roadway. The vehicle entered the front yard of home and damaged the lawn. There were no injuries or damage to the vehicle.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Ford f350. The contact stated that smoke appeared from the EGR cooler tube. She also smelled antifreeze in the cab of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and they stated that it was still safe to drive and to return if the failure worsened. Later, the contact noticed thick, black oil coming from the exhaust. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop and the mechanic replaced the EGR cooler tube with a kit from Ford at the contact's expense. The failure mileage was 79,000. Updated 06/09/09.
For unknown reasons on 12/20/13 at 0030 hrs my truck caught on fire as it sat in my driveway. I drove the truck last on 12/14/13. The fire started in the engine compartment on the drivers side. I have owned the truck for about 8 months and it had 105000 miles on it when I purchased it. The fire department advised it could be due to some type of electrical issue near the master cylinder. I told them that I have not done any work under the hood in months and that was oil/filter change. Still under investigation.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 Ford f-350. While driving approximately 20 MPH, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact coasted the vehicle to the shoulder to a complete stop. The vehicle was started normally, but stalled again the same afternoon. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was excluded from NHTSA campaign number: 05V270000 (engine). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 133,307.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Ford f350. While driving approximately 40 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The dealer replaced the injector control wiring module and the owner was responsible for paying $2200. After the repair, the vehicle miss fired, black smoke was in the engine area and their was troddle resistance. The dealer confirmed that there were no existing recalls and the contact would be responsible for the cost of repairs a second time. The failure mileage was 217,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 Ford f-350. While driving various speeds, the vehicle suddenly shut off. Also, while idling, the engine rpms remained very high and the vehicle would attempt to surge forward. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who replaced the icp sensor and injector control sensor, but the failures continued. The manufacturer and local dealer were not notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 200,000.
Tl contact owns a 2004 Ford f-350. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who discovered that oil was leaking from the head gasket. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 210,000.
All of the following is documented on fords computer system through magnussens in newark, ca. June04, started with a rough idle problem took my 2004 f350 back to dealer. Did a reflash seem to fix for a while. Progressed to rough and searching idle. Approximately 9 times back to dealer, each time either clear check engine light or replace parts, approximately 7 or 8 days out of service from June till late August, last time replaced the entire turbo assembly. Each time just replaced parts, never did the dealership or Ford corporate have a definite answer to what caused the problem. Each time code p0299 was on the check engine. Between the 2 and 9th incidents, the vehicle stalled unexpectedly in the middle of a downhill coasting turn almost resulting in a crash each time. …
On 16 April 2005 , I took my f-350 turbo diesel dually in for 10,000 mile service ( vehicle had 9400 miles) also asked to have left speaker checked and scheduled an appointment for the recall on the transmission pins replacement. Upon completion of 10,000 mile service I noticed that the vehicle was making a thumping sound when decelerating on the road . Went back to the dealership and asked that they check to see if everything was back in place , reason for this was that they replaced the left speaker and did not put the door molding back on when they gave me back the car. Service person road in the vehicle and stated that they knew what the problem was and that it was listed on the Ford engineering website, they printed out the memo stating it was an known problem and had to do with the air filter vibration and that no adjustment was necessary. …
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 F-350 years
Frequently asked questions
How common are engine problems on the 2004 Ford F-350?
NHTSA has 80 complaints about the engine & cooling of the 2004 Ford F-350, 50% of the model year's 159 complaints. The component named most often is engine › diesel (19 mentions).
Is there a recall for 2004 Ford F-350 engine problems?
No. NHTSA lists no engine & cooling recall for the 2004 Ford F-350, though it has 2 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 2004 Ford F-350 engine problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 50,000 miles, and 32% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 1 crash, 4 fires and 3 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.