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2003 Ford Excursion Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 106 complaints with NHTSA about the 2003 Ford Excursion, most often about the engine (28% of complaints, typically around 18,000 miles). It is 4th of 7 Excursion model years by number of complaints and has 5 recalls.
Most common 2003 Ford Excursion problems
Engine
30 complaints · 28%Half of these problems showed up before 18,000 miles. Parts named most often: engine, exhaust system.
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…
Without warning the vehicle stalled. Dealer had attempted to repair the vehicle three times, but was unable to determine the cause of the problem. Dealer was processing this vehicle under the lemon law. Ford removed the entire motor they had the vehicle for 1 week for the second time. Their solution was that the…
Electrical
26 complaints · 25%Half of these problems showed up before 78,000 miles. Parts named most often: alternator/generator/regulator, wiring, 12v/24v/48v battery, software.
Over the last 1 1/2 year, veh dies and wont restart or slower to start eventually will not start. All gauges go full tilt, ABS light comes on, loss of all electrical systems, will not restart, just clicks, then nothing. Have to disconnect and fully recharge batteries to restart,,,, then,,,, problem recurs in few…
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH, the instrument panel gauges failed and provided erroneous readings. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who did not offer any assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was…
Wheels and tires
10 complaints · 9%Half of these problems showed up before 20,000 miles. Parts named most often: tread/belt.
Tl contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion. The vehicle has michelin ltx m/s tires, size 265/75/r16. When the contact purchased the vehicle, he noticed that the tires were firestone tires. They were not the correct tires he originally ordered. The contact informed the dealer of the incorrect tires and was given brand new…
The contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion with copper replacement tires, model discovery ht 265/70r/16. While driving at 65 MPH, the casing fractured from the rear passenger side tire. The tire was replaced. One year later, the exact same failure occurred on the driver side tire where the contact was involved in a crash.…
Brakes
10 complaints · 9%Half of these problems showed up before 34,000 miles. Parts named most often: antilock/traction control/electronic limited slip, foundation components.
While driving and upon pressing on the brakes, the vehicle pulled to the left. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for repairs and the problem became worse. The consumer got rid of the vehicle. However, he got another Excursion vehicle of the same year, but the new one was a four wheel drive. However, the problem with…
Consumer complained of a brake problem. When applying the brakes vehicle pulled to the left gradually, and some times it would pull violently. Consumer took the vehicle back to the dealer, and dealer performed several different services, including changing the ABS module, but problem recurred.
Fuel system
9 complaints · 9%Half of these problems showed up before 34,500 miles. Parts named most often: storage, fuel injection system.
Engine "skips", getting progressively worse, fuel consumption rises dramatically. After first repair it quit entirely on US leaving US stranded on I-75 south of atlanta. It has now been in the shop three times for this problem, and we have a little over 3,000 miles on the vehicle.
Tl contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH, the vehicle suddenly stalled. The vehicle was taken to a diesel garage specialist who stated that the fuel lines, filter and supply lines were all blocked and the fuel tank liner was damaged. The vehicle had not been repaired. The…
Steering
7 complaints · 7%Half of these problems showed up before 70,000 miles. Parts named most often: column locking.
I was turning my Ford Excursion and heard a loud "pop!" my steering wheel appeared to "break" and the vehicle kept rolling forward. Had I been anywhere else, like traffic, I could have killed someone or myself.
Tl contact owns a 2003 Ford Excursion. The contact stated that the vehicle lost its power steering and the brakes failed. The failures have occurred twice. While driving at an unknown speed on the highway, the master cylinder and the hydro boost failed while the brakes were being applied. This forced the master…
Speed control
7 complaints · 7%Half of these problems showed up before 83,000 miles. Parts named most often: cruise control.
Cruise control stuck; does not release with pressure on brake pedal. The cruise will only release with the cruise 'off' button on the steering wheel or if brake pedal is pushed to the floor. This is dangerous and has the potential to cause a rear-end collision. Plan to take it to dealer next week; hopefully this will…
Our Ford 2003 Excursion speed control/cruise control stopped working after the recall repair has been performed. There is brake fluid leaking from the master cylinder on the wiring harness. Ford states they will not repair again for no charge. My complaint is that I believe this should be taken care of at no charge to…
Transmission
6 complaints · 6%Parts named most often: automatic transmission, driveline.
2003 Excursion limited one one occasion brake pedal was stuck to floor while driving in a parking lot, but the brakes were disengaged so the vehicle was rolling. We had to press the pedal height adjustment several times before the pedal released from the floor. Vehicle has a thumping sound in the drive train when…
The 6.8 and 5.4 engines have been failing due to defective valve train cam followers. I am having the 3rd engine installed in my Excursion. The cam followers are failing and spitting them out causing catstropic engine failure. I have been in contact with anthony bariana who works for holman distribution in new jersey…
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2003 Ford Excursion recalls
Lights: brake lights
Risk: Non-functioning lights could increase the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the switches free of charge. The safety recall began on august 15, 2011. Owners may contact ford motor company customer relationship center at 1-866-436-7332.
Full defect summary
Ford is recalling certain model year 2011 ranger trucks built from january 25, 2011, through april 25, 2011 at the twin cities assembly plant, and service parts distributed to dealers for certain 2004 through 2011 model year ranger trucks, 2002 through 2005 model year excursion vehicles, and 2002 through 2007 model year f-250, f-350, f-450, and f-550 trucks for failing to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 108, "lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment." the multi-function switch was shipped with a subcomponent (slider) that may experience deformation. A multi-function switch with a deformed slider may malfunction causing the turn signal, tail lights, hazard warning signal flashers and/or brake lights not to activate.
Speed control: vehicle speed control
Risk: A vehicle fire could occur with or without the engine running.
Fix: Ford will notify owners that dealers will install a fused wiring harness in line with the scds. On 1999-2003 windstar vehicles with a leaking scds, dealers will also inspect the ABS control module connector and repair as necessary. Repairs will be completed free of charge. The safety recall began on october 27, 2009. Owners may contact ford at 1-888-222-2751.
Full defect summary
Ford is recalling model years 1995-2003 windstar, 2000-2003 excursion diesel, 1993-1997 and 1999-2003 f-250 sd through f-550 sd diesel, 1992-2003 e-150 through e-550, 1995-2002 explorer, 1997 and 2002 mercury mountaineer, 1995-1997 and 2001-2003 ranger, and 1994 f53 vehicles equipped with the texas instruments speed control deactivation switch (scds). The scds may leak internally and then overheat, smoke, or burn.
Engine: diesel
Risk: In the event of an engine stall, a crash could result without warning.
Fix: 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.
Full defect summary
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.
Speed control: vehicle speed control
Risk: Overheating could result in smoke, burn, or an underhood fire.
Fix: Dealers will install a fused wiring harness into the speed control system free of charge. The recall began on march 12, 2007. Owners may contact ford at 1-800-392-3673. (note: also see recalls 05v017, 05v388, and 06v286)
Full defect summary
On certain trucks equipped with speed control, gasoline or natural gas engines, the speed control deactivation switch may overheat.
Electrical: 12v/24v/48v battery
Risk: If the ground wire is loose, electrical current may flow to the radio suppression strap causing it to heat and potentially melt or ignite adjacent components which could result in a fire.
Fix: Dealers will replace the engine ground stud and the radio suppression strap and adjacent components will be inspected for damage and replaced, if necessary. The recall began on july 23, 2004. Owners should contact ford at 1-800-392-3673.
Full defect summary
On certain pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles equipped with 6.0l diesel engines, the engine ground stud that attaches the negative battery terminal eyelet to the engine block may be loose.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Spark plug ejection from cylinder head
Summary
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 ejected from the engine.as of december 8, 2005, odi is not aware of any allegations where the alleged defect resulted in a loss of vehicle control, a crash, an injury, or a fatality in any of the 10,319,810 subject vehicles.in addition, odi is aware of only two incidents where the vehi
Engine stalling
Summary
In a june 7, 2005 letter, ford notified odi that it would be conducting a safety recall of approximately 180,000 ford f-super duty, excursion and e-series vehicles equipped with 6.0l diesel engines to correct two wiring related conditions that could result in engine stall (NHTSA recall no. 05v-270, ford no. 05s34).the affected vehicles were built between september 29, 2003 and may 31, 2004.according to ford, vehicles with the conditions may stall without warning and may or may not restart.ford will instruct owners of vehicles included in the recall to take their vehicles to a dealer to have the fuel injector control module wire harness upgraded or replaced and or have a new injection control
Engine stalling
Summary
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 reviewed the complaints and categorized them.the manufacturer reports shown above represent a count of unique vehicles that ford categorized as allegedly stalling due to a subject engine component ('a' category, see ford's ir response letter for further detail); some of these vehi
Accelerator pedal sensor (etc)
Summary
Failure counts from odi?s analysis are stated above; see the additional problem experience discussion in the summary report.ford data contained duplicative reports for 4 odi complaints and 1 crash.three crashes were allegedly due to intermittent operation of the electronic throttle control (etc) pedal, one crash occurred when an etc disabled vehicle was struck by another motorist, one report contained no detail.the injuries were minor.an issue involving fixed etc pedals was investigated also, however failure reports and populations are not shown above; see summary report for detail.although ford has used etc based throttle control systems for many years, the pap feature was new for my 2002.t
Accelerator pedal sensor failure (etc)
Summary
The subject vehicles for this investigation include model year 2002 and 2003 excursion and f super duty trucks equipped with 7.3l diesel engines and an optional power adjustable pedal (pap) feature.the subject vehicles utilize an electronic throttle control (etc) system to control engine speed and power.the accelerator pedal position sensor of the etc system was replaced under ford's field service action (fsa) 03b03 (announced in february 2003) due to concerns that it may not operate as designed and as a result, may cause the vehicle to continue to idle or unexpectedly slow when the accelerator is applied.certain complaint and warranty information related to the vehicles involved in fsa 03b0
Questions about the 2003 Ford Excursion
- What are the most common problems with the 2003 Ford Excursion?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: engine (30 complaints, typically around 18,000 miles); electrical (26 complaints, typically around 78,000 miles); wheels and tires (10 complaints, typically around 20,000 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2003 Ford Excursion have?
- 5 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from July 13, 2011 (lights). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2003 a bad year for the Ford Excursion?
- It is 4th of 7 Excursion model years by number of complaints, with 106 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.