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8.2

pretty bad
Typical Repair Cost:
$290
Average Mileage:
31,450 miles
Total Complaints:
46 complaints

Most Common Solutions:

  1. not sure (23 reports)
  2. replace throttle body (21 reports)
  3. replace solenoid (1 reports)
  4. replace vct solenoids (1 reports)
2016 Ford F-150 engine problems

engine problem

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2016 Ford F-150 Owner Comments (Page 1 of 3)

problem #46

Nov 122021

F-150 XLT 5.0L 48

  • Automatic transmission
  • 80,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Ford warranty sucks or any warranty for that matter!!!! The dealer will not look at it till it has a code. The problem with my 2016 f150 it runs fine till the motor gets hot then when I least expect it, I stop at a red light it dies, starts up runs fine. I stop at another or maybe it won't do I this one cause I'm ready for it with my foot on the brake and gas but I'm just be bopping along with my child in the back seat and stop at a stop sign and it dies......FORD...safety hazard...... I never know when its gonna happen can't afford a new truck or a new payment, and all this extended warranty and ford warranty is garbage. We need a recall and a solution to this problem.

When I drive maybe 10 mile or so (then the motor is hot running temp) that's when I fell it does it more. It starts out as like a miss and when I come to a complete stop it run awful shake and shimmy and then it just dies. Start it up and it runs fine sometimes, sometimes it will repeat. I also noticed when we couldn't find conventional oil and had to switch to synthetic oil or synthetic blend that's when the problem started.

Please help....

- Melissa H., Manchester, US

problem #45

Oct 112023

F-150 Latiat V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 91,000 miles

I am having the same issue seen by many with a 2016 F150 V8. Motor idles rough when at a stop. Has stalled out. Code shows P0012 which says VCT solenoid online. Truck has 91000 miles. Taking to Ford tomorrow.

- tchesky, Phoenixville, US

problem #44

Aug 012021

F-150 XLT 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 96,000 miles

click to see larger images

engine stalls/dies while driving engine stalls/dies while driving

I am adding my experience with the well known issue of the stalling at stoplight/stop sign/traffic etc issue that is very common with the 2015-2017 Ford F150, since I'm seeing alot of complaints that others are having but can't find a resolution (due to incompetent mechanics who can't diagnose a problem unless the vehicle tells them).

This applies only to the 5.0L V8 Coyote engine, if you are having the sputtering/roaming rpm/stalling only at idle (parked or in gear) when vehicle is at operating temperature, the problem is the VCT solenoids failing (either 1 or all of them) and the PCM can't control the cam timing. Don't know if it's just cause they're junk or Ford's dumb idea to use 5w-20 for these 3 model years but replace all 4 (2 on each side) and use 5w-30 oil. It's a lot of work to replace one, so get them all while you're in there and save the money you'd waste having Ford spend a week trying to diagnose one (that is if they can even do that, since this issue will not throw a code) only to tell you "its running just fine. We can't find a problem, now give me money".

This issue is so common it most definitely should have been a recall and I can't understand why it isn't. Also, make sure they replace the valve cover gaskets, to include the spark plug tube ones, or you'll get oil down the plug tubes and ruin the coil packs (ask me how I know....) cause dealership techs are lazy and will definitely cut corners and rip you off.

- Daniel L., Bowling Green, KY, US

problem #43

Sep 012021

F-150 XLT 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 90,098 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Had solenoid replaced and problem was fixed. Still, cost was north of $700 to repair.

- Ron L., Vineyard, UT, United States

problem #42

Jul 232019

F-150 ALT 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 51,574 miles

Just picked up our Ford after having it at a Guildford Surrey dealership all day because of: one - recall for the block heater and two: the piece of poop keeps stalling when pulling up to a stop sign, light etc... The stalling has been happening for some time now but we wanted to kill two birds with one stone and get it dealt with at the same time. My wife spoke to the service writer about the stalling issue and they said they would have a tech go for a ride along. Who do they send with her, a transmission tech not an engine tech. My wife explains the issues we are having, to which he replies - you should have an engine tech! She shows him the videos we have taken and he says - thats an engine problem, it shouldn't be doing that! No kidding.

So Ford found nothing... no codes even though it has stalled multiple times and the videos clearly show the RPM jumping all over the place. It all looks fine they say... no issues they say - guess were making it up in our heads?

I had found other info on the web about this issue, some on this site (Great Site) and on LemonLaw.com. This is what they had to say....

"Imagine driving at normal speed when suddenly your malfunction indicator lights up and you suffer reduced engine power. The power steering, braking, lighting and climate control systems remain fully functional so you have no clear clue on what is occurring, however you know the vehicle no longer remains operational. We have seen this occur recently with several Ford clients. After struggling with lack of power, these distressed drivers went time and time again to authorized Ford dealers only to be told the service department could not verify or duplicate the issue. Finally, after repeated visits, these consumers had their electronic throttle body replaced which seemed to solve the stalling. Apparently, in a variety of Ford vehicles, the electronic throttle body internal motor contacts may develop contamination resulting in increased electrical resistance. If this happens, the MIL light will come on and the driver will experience a decreased amount of engine power and speed. As a result of this Ford electronic throttle body situation, Ford is recalling a number of vehicles across the brand. Under the Ford 16B32 recall, the following vehicles are covered: "

Now some of this has not happened to us but it is interesting - one of the vehicle involved in this mass recall issue is...

2015-2016 Ford F-150 built 8/1/15 to 5/17/16 in Dearborn MI, 8/31/15 to 4/27/16 in Kansas City - our truck is built in Kansas City - July 2016 - 2 months after the mass recall issue - I say its related - Ford said thanks for the $122 CDN dollars to tell me there are no issues. B/S - my wife is getting leery about driving the truck in case something really bad happens.

Sorry for being long winded but it is getting tiresome.

- Todd P., Surrey, BC, Canada

problem #41

Oct 022019

F-150 XLT 5.0L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 40,098 miles

Ford is junk, this is a known issue with over 30 pages verified on F150forum.com. To top it off, Ford doesn’t give you a rental for warranty work. Way to stand behind your product, Ford. Built Ford tough is a joke.

- Mike D., Philadelphia, PA, US

problem #40

Nov 202019

F-150 XL 5.0L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 55,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

I have a 2016 F150 XL 5.0 with 57,000 miles. The truck has a nice new feature where it will stall while I'm driving down the road, sitting at a stop light, or while it's in park. I've had the vehicle in at the dealership and they claim "nothing is wrong with the truck". I even showed them videos of the truck malfunctioning and they still can't seem to figure it out. The truck will idle rough and if I don't give it enough gas in time, it will die on me. It started off as a small issue and gradually got worse. I wish Ford would get their heads out of their ass and fix this issue, because it seems like there's a lot more people than just me with this problem.

- Jeffrey C., Glenwood, IA, US

problem #39

Jan 012021

F-150 Lariat 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 68,000 miles

2016 Ford F-150 Lariat 5.0L V8 FX4 with approximately 68,000 miles. Engine would rough idle and engine stall when the engine is nice and warm, after approximately 30 mins to 30 miles of driving. It would only rough idle during stops at red light and when parked after the vehicle has come up to operating/driving temp.

The rough idle does not occur immediately but after 30 seconds to 1 minute while stopping. Approximately 20 to 40 seconds after the initial rough idle, the vehicle will rough idle again and engine will stall. The rough idle and engine stall never occurred while driving. After the rough idle and engine stalls, there is no check engine light and no code. The vehicle accessories remain on but no ignition. Dash displays, "Full Accessory Power Active" then switches to "To START Press Brake".

If you restart the vehicle, it will restart and run as if nothing ever happen. This has happened to my vehicle 6 times on 6 different drives within a month. Not sure what is happening. Help needed.

- Gee L., Escondido, CA, US

problem #38

Jan 032020

F-150 King Ranch 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 52,000 miles

Bought a 2016 Ford F-150 King Ranch, 5.0L V8. It was a used truck that I bought at a dealership. It only had 42,000 miles on it when I bought it. It was my dream truck, so I was really excited. After driving it for about 4 months, I noticed that it had a rough idle when I would come to a stop. Eventually, it would rough idle, shake, and then die on me at stop lights, stop signs, etc. CEL didn't come on at first, but eventually it did. I took it to my mechanic (because I don't trust dealerships) and they replaced the Intake Manifold Control Runner. That seemed to fix the problem, for about 2 days. After 2 days, the rough idle came back and it once again died on me at a stop. On my way back to the mechanic, the CEL came back on. The mechanic (whom I trust) said that the code it was throwing was another Intake Manifold Control Runner, but for the other side. They replaced that one, and it fixed the problem for about a week, and then the same problem occurred again. When I took it back to the mechanic, they kept it for two days and suggested that I take it to Ford. When I took it to the Ford dealership, they kept it for about a month and replaced spark plugs, boots and wires, parts of the intake manifold, and several other parts. It was running fine.... for about two weeks. I thought the problem was fixed, but then the rough idle came back. It eventually started dying on me at stop lights and stop signs, again. I have put close to $1400 worth of work into trying to get this problem fixed, and it still isn't fixed. The issue is random and it is hard to recreate. Sometimes it runs perfectly fine, other days it will rough idle at every stop light I come to. It rough idled and died on me yesterday when I was waiting for my wife in a parking lot. This is crazy!

- Steven A., Vicksburg, MS, US

problem #37

Mar 012020

F-150 XLT 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 41,000 miles

click to see larger images

engine stalls/dies while driving

While driving on steep decline on icy, packed snow, unpaved mountain road in 4x4 low in manual 1st gear with Hill Descent Assist engaged, the truck stalled and would not restart. (Apparently one cannot restart the F150 even in neutral if thy truck is moving. Have to come to complete stop and shift back to park to be able to restart engine. Very dangerous design! If truck stalls while moving the driver becomes a sitting passenger until can bring truck to stop to restart it.) The truck then started sliding out of control on the icy packed snow covered steep mountain gravel road because I could not use the stalled engine to slow the truck down. Ended up sliding off the drop off edge of the road and the truck almost rolled over. Very close to deadly situation. After tow truck got the F150 back on the road I was able to drive the F150 safely down rest of icy road without Hill Descent Assist.

- Ryan O., Sanford, FL, US

problem #36

Mar 152018

F-150 XLT 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 70,836 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Just over a year ago I almost ran out of gas so my friend brought me a can of gas out of his shed at the farm. As soon as I put it in my truck I could barely get up to 100kmh, as soon as I would get it there, it would die out . So I babied it back into town and put some gas treatment in and fueled it right up . So that made it start to run better everyday, and then as soon as my tank started getting under 1/4 tank it ran horribly and smelled really rich and act like it was running out of fuel, especially if I was on a downhill slope. I would actually have to coast till the truck was on an incline and then it would start again .. So I took it to the dealership still under warranty a few times and still couldn't fix it. They changed the cat . Still no luck but it ran a bit better for a while then took it back in again for its last warranted oil change and tune up and try to fix this problem before the 120000 km. They said they found the problem but they can't put it under warranty and it's an emissions evac problem not a powertrain problem. It would cost $800 or more so I said no, I'll take it and fix it myself cause I always do my own maintenance unless they're paying for it. They told me it's the purge canister valve. I have been driving it for a while now and need to figure this out cause I think it's starting to cause other issues and really hard on fuel. Can anyone help me or tell me if I should change out all emissions valves and whatever else the codes are... P0022,p0012,p0420,p0430.

- Jesse B., Red Deer, AB, Canada

problem #35

Feb 102017

F-150 XLT V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 15,500 miles

Backing up truck and engine light came on, then truck stalled, waited a few minutes, locked and unlocked the car., cranked the truck over for a few minutes and started. Not sure what problem was and dealership couldn't find an issue.

- Daniel C., Sacramento, US

problem #34

Apr 102019

F-150 Lariat SuperCrew 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 62,000 miles

When you pull up to a stoplight the idle will start to fluctuate until the truck inevitably dies, then you have to put the transmission back in park before you can restart the engine and get going again. Guaranteed to make you lots of friends in traffic. At first, the check engine light was not on and the Ford dealer said there was nothing they could do until it threw a code, understandable. After driving it a while, it did finally throw a code and the check engine light illuminated.

I brought the truck in and they replaced my VCT solenoids (took them a week), this was about 10,000 miles ago, and that seemed to have fixed it, but the truck has started to vibrate at idle and I fear the problem is coming back. The idle holds steady at 500-600 RPMs as of now, so maybe I'm just paranoid. This truck only has 70,000 miles on it and I don't trust it to go on a long drive anymore.

- Supa D., Sanford, NC, US

problem #33

Apr 022019

F-150 F X 4

  • Automatic transmission
  • 35,000 miles

My truck just cuts off in slow traffic as I roll to a stop. If I push on the brakes REALLY hard it seems to keep it from cutting off. My mechanic could not find the problem. It happens totally randomly and not every time I drive it. But you have to put it in park and restart it. Very dangerous and a huge pain in the butt when I have a long commute home in very slow traffic. Its all I can do to keep it running in stop and go traffic. I keep waiting to get rear ended while I'm trying to restart my truck. If I go to the dealership they will first keep my truck for at least a day if not 2 and then they are guaranteed to try and convince me some additional work needs doing that is not under warranty. I have gone to my personal mechanic in the past to find out if they are being honest and they definitely were NOT so I really really don't want to take my truck to the dealership.

- Natalie D., Snellville, GA, US

problem #32

May 012019

F-150 Lariat 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 49,710 miles

Truck is 3 years old and it stalls while idling when stopped at a stop sign or traffic light. Brought it into Ford and there are no error codes in the computer.

- Robert M., Utopia, ON, Canada

problem #31

Mar 182018

F-150 Lariat V6 3.5L Ecoboost

  • Automatic transmission
  • 67,000 miles

Pulling an Air-stream on a 4 lane freeway entering Chicago when the throttle body caused us to be dead in the water. It was a miracle we didn’t cause a major multi car pileup in heavy traffic going 65 MPH. We immediately put our flashers on and had to coast to the side of the road, put it in park in order to restart the truck. This happened 4 more times by the time it was fixed. It was covered under warranty. Dealership didn’t seem to think this was a safety issue!

- Carleen W., Alexandria, MN, US

problem #30

Apr 262019

F-150 Lariat V6 3.5L Ecoboost

  • Automatic transmission
  • 87,000 miles

We had our throttle body replaced 13 months ago when it went out on us during a trip pulling our camper. We are now on another trip leaving the Lake Tahoe area, pulling our camper going on I-80 with 2 semis side by side coming up on us and our engine stalls. No shoulder to pull over on, just guardrails. The semis managed to both squeeze into 1 ½ lanes to fly past us. We restarted the engine, moved up about 50 yards to a shoulder and sat for 30 minutes getting our pulse rate to normal and trying to decide whether it was worth proceeding. I went online to find that this throttle body part has been under recall, but not for our particular vehicle. Our dealer said it wouldn’t be covered if we replaced this time as our warranty has ended. We have a 3 day trip back home. No Ford dealership carries this part or had the time to get us in. They just want to low-ball us on a trade-in value because it has problems and they can’t stand by their own parts, and sell us a new vehicle to get back home. We have continued driving, staying out of high risk crash areas, but it has stalled 9 times in 2 days. We have been told that at one point, the engine will eventually not restart and we will be sitting ducks. Renting another tow vehicle for our camper is $360/day. We have lost our faith in Ford and will be replacing this truck with something more reliable.

Update from Apr 28, 2019: It is now 12 hours later. I googled YouTube videos and found a lot of information which led to me calling an Autozone store and they actually had one in stock that matched our vehicle for $120. We pulled into our campsite, had the old one out and new one installed in about 30 minutes. Another video showed us how to calibrate the truck to the new part. We are back on the road, driving for 3 hours and the truck runs smooth with no problems. We’ve learned that YouTube is a better resource than Ford Company and we will keep a spare part on hand to replace as needed. The electronic chip is apparently what is failing and are good for about 12 months.

- Carleen W., Alexandria, MN, US

problem #29

Jan 012019

F-150 XLT 5.0L V8

  • Automatic transmission
  • 28,000 miles

Started as a roaming idle over the past year. Brought it in to Ford the first time where I live, they wouldn't even take it in. It began to worsen so I took to another Ford and they were gonna charge me to look at even under warranty. Now it does every time I'm parked or stopped. I'm going in again and this time I'm not f*cking around.

- Clint P., Topeka, KS, US

problem #28

Nov 232017

F-150 Lariat 5.0L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 40,632 miles

At around 36,000 miles, the truck started acting like it was going to die when I came to a stoplight. There was not a check engine light on. The problem seems very intermittent, and it was difficult to recreate predictably. I asked my mechanic and the guy at Advanced Auto Parts if they could check out the problem, and both said they could not without a check-engine light.

While driving on the interstate, there is a strange feeling like the truck is jerking or shifting, but there is no shifting. I was driving on the interstate last month when I came to a construction zone. When I slowed to 5-10mph due to the traffic, the truck completely died on the interstate. The notice appeared on my dash "To START Press Brake". I had to stop completely on the interstate, put the vehicle in PARK, and start the truck again.

The problem never seems to present itself when it first starts up, but if I am driving for 30 minutes and then come to a stop, the truck tachometer will randomly drop, sometimes so much so that the truck will turn off (as it did in the video I linked). I have learned to keep one foot on the brake and one foot on the gas when I come to a complete stop, just so the truck will not die unexpectedly. The truck RPMs will not dip every time I stop -- it is very random and unpredictable -- but when it does it is never good, hence why I just do the gas/brake trick and take no chances. It almost sounds like the engine may be skipping, though I am not a mechanic, so I am not sure exactly what that feels like.

The truck has had regular oil changes and is otherwise in excellent condition. The mileage is highway miles for when I travel for my job. I have read many similar complaints on the web, and some even indicate the problem occurring while driving at a higher rate of speed than 5-10mph, which really makes me nervous.

- joshuncc, Lewisville, NC, US

problem #27

Dec 072017

F-150 XLT 3.5L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 44,125 miles

driving early in morning way to work vehicle loses acceleration because engine stall on highway in a scary spot I was driving like 60 mph, I waited a couple of minutes then started right up it happen like 5 times that day I was able to drive it to dealer where they said they didn't see anything working with it because its starting and driving fine but I mention some of these complains and they change the throttle body for me it worked fine few weeks later back at dealer for same problem..........

- Daniel C., Staten Island, US

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