I have an E350 2004 diesel van. this is my third ford diesel van. Beginning at about 3000 miles, I began to experience exhaust getting into the interior of the van, at times so thick as to make me stop the vehicle. The vehicle now has 8239 miles, and has been back to the selling dealer 7 times. Although the dealer tech, and even the regional ford tech have tested and inspected the vehicle, and driven it over 500 miles, they say that the diesel exhaust inside the vehicle is normal. It is not normal. I have attempted to contact ford direct to help, but ford is so insulated it is hard to get through to anyone. The folks at the dealership, Don Casgarths Charlotte County Ford, have been nice, but not helpful inasmuch as fixing or helping to address the problem. Today, I went to pick up the vehicle. It has now been in the dealership over 70 days total on 7 visits, and they have put over 500 miles on it. They claim they cannot duplicate the problem, but the salesman, the service manager, and the ford tech rep all admit that exhaust is getting into the vehicle, and that it is 'normal.' I was not able to pick up the vehicle, because it had a transmission problem and was not shifting. Also, there are now three additional recalls on the vehicle for a total of four. But the worst situation is that since I contacted fords legal department, they will not work on the vehicle. I can tell anyone who reads this that ford has a problem, and it will take me a long time to resolve it. I was hoping that they would do the right thing and fix or replace the vehicle. In May, I stated that I would even take an older vehicle in replacement with more miles, just to get this situation over with, in an email to the dealer. But now, I feel that ford is the most unresponsive company to loyal customer problems that I have ever dealt with. If you are reading this, and you have any knowledge of some way to get ford to help short of legal action or lemon law, or some way to contact someone at ford who cares enough to do something, please let me know.

 

I feel for you. I have a 2003, the third econoline I have owned. I have always owned from new ford vehicles, and frankly this is the last. Oh yes this is the best selling full sized van, carries a load etc, etc, but if you really looked at it it is the same vehicle as 30 years ago with a new and cheaper shell. I am afraid that a couple of airbags and intrusion bars ( now there is a joke ) with some worked over and overrated engines just does not do it for me anymore. How about manufacturing a vehicle where the horn works for more than 6 months? Or how about being able to change those cheap glow plugs on the diesel without taking off the valve cover to access them? What was ever wrong with having decent brakes as with the rear drums, that by the way would last more than a year in normal driving? Why am I suddenly hard on rear brakes? The doors fit poorly, and what is with that stupid door bin that your foot naturaly hits every time you get out and ends up full of mud? No, Ford isn't interested hearing from you, they have your money, now you are on your own with roadside assistance, that is if in your case you are still able to function from carbon monoxide. The dealers with all their "factory trained technicians" will certainly not want to see you returning over the same problem that they don't know how to fix. Yes, it is a sorry state when one of the north american industrial giants has been reduced to paying customers to purchase their products because they cannot sell the inventory, when the Japanese are going to raise prices to make the marketplace more "competitive". Hey Ford, is there anything wrong here?
I hope you manage to get your problem fixed, but your situation is similar to mine in that you happened to buy a good old americam piece of junk. The only resolve may be to take it all apart yourself and investigate, or bite the bullet and replace it.

 

The Exhaust fumes, Have you tried Smoke Testing the Exhaust system to find leaks . Try Grainger Supply , Or most any AC repair place, /An Large plumbing out fitters , They will know what you asking for, There Basically a smoke bomb, you set them off an look for leaks, As for the entire problem, All I can say is keep copys of your paper work, Any dont give up . The sqeaky wheel gets the grease , An call the NHTSA they are the ones if theres enough complaints of the same problem , They can force the Manufactor into a recall, heres there web site an # , GOOD LUCK !!

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/

 

By the way , One more thing on the Fumes , Can you remember / re- create , when it choked you out , or the next time it does, the postion the windows were in , up / down , maybe differnt ones in differnt postions ? , the settings on the cilmate control at the time , what the weather was like ? etc. ,,,, I have a E150 1989 , Conversion van ,,, An it seems if the right rear slider window is open ( the dog likes sitting back there !!! ) An the Drivers vent window is open ( I smoke ) After a prolonged idle , I'll get a wiff of exhaust fumes, but only if Iam sitting in traffic, with cars on both sides. Not saying this is your problem, Just something I noticed on mine,, I put a 3" extention on my tail pipe an that seems to have taken care of it.

 

The biggest problem that I have found on the 6.0L diesel that causes exhaust leaks it the y-pipe on the back of the turbo and the glow plug harness will sometimes leak oil onto the manifold causing smoke.

 

Pakus : Thanks for the info, on a starting point for this guy to look , I know exhaust fumes can Sometimes be diffucult to track, I like getting a bunch of rags an a clip board an plugging up the tail pipe an then start looking for leaks, But if this guys cab is filling up, Seems it wouldnt be to hard to find ? ,, But with out being able to put your hands on the vechile we can sit here an guess all day long,, Funny how we all have our routine way of tackling a vechile , An then you got some guy following you around going well I had checked this allready , or I did that allready, An then you point something out to him, An he's left scratching his head !!!!

 

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cctxfish,,,seeeeeeeee your hooked on them too ----------[sm=icon_rofl.gif]

 

[sm=bounceybounce.gif] they are [sm=icon_rock.gif]

 

yeah i so have a 2004 e350 super duty i have had many of them the one i had the problem with was the 1996 club wagon diesel with the 7.3 powerstroke. the dog house covers are **** and exhaust would pour into the cab. my 2004 e series has the 6.0 powerstroke and there was a leak from the cover over the engine its hard to deal with. espesally if your getting service done alot the cover is on and off and becomes worn. i would recommend looking in scrap yards for a better dog cover otherwise order one from ford theres no real good way around this. enjoy the fumes

1996 ford clubwagon super 7.3 powerstroke diesel sct tuned

2001 ford e350 super duty 7.3 powerstroke diesel
2004 ford e350 super duty 6.0 powerstroke diesel sct