Stalling while driving on the 2003 Ford Expedition
When stalling while driving gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Ford Expedition report stalling while driving at a median of 110,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 95,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 75,000 miles. It is the 16th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 95,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 155,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 58,819 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95,905 miles | 95,905 miles | 107,500 miles | 130,000 miles | 154,724 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$2,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 1,400 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 160,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 16; the 2003 has 15. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
My 2003 ford expedition blew a spark plug completely out of the cylinder head without warning. This happened while driving at almost 65 MPH, and the engine stalled, causing a very dangerous condition. The vehicle had less than 59k miles at the time of the incident. It cost me over $4k to repair, and I now find out that this has happened to thousands of owners with ford triton motors from 1999 to 2004. *tr
Why is there no warning light,or signal of any kind when the PCM fails? Our PCM failed, which caused our catalytic converters, 02 sensors, & fuel pump to fail. Our ignition coils had to be replaced. Would have been nice if a warning light came on the dash. This has caused our expedition engine to randomly shut off while driving countless times! I have miraculously been able to maneuver my expedition to the side of the freeway &have it towed eight times without killing myself, my family or any one else! We have had odd electrical and performance problems since august of 2002 when we purchased it. Not one ford mechanic (3 different dealerships) could ever diagnose or repair issues. Because there is no warning light/code when the PCM is out, the damage snowballs. There are no computer codes, or warning lights to show up on the dash board when the PCM is out, which befuddles the mechanics. We are literally $5,000 in the hole so far! Ford dealership "repaired" our expedition by replacing the PCM ($1,300.00). 48 hours after they replaced the PCM, and 18 miles after we drove expedition off the ford lot, the "service engine soon" light…
Why is there no warning light,or signal of any kind when the PCM fails? Our PCM failed, which caused our catalytic converters, 02 sensors, & fuel pump to fail. Our ignition coils had to be replaced. Would have been nice if a warning light came on the dash. This has caused our expedition engine to randomly shut off while driving countless times! I have miraculously been able to maneuver my expedition to the side of the freeway &have it towed eight times without killing myself, my family or any one else! We have had odd electrical and performance problems since august of 2002 when we purchased it. Not one ford mechanic (3 different dealerships) could ever diagnose or repair issues. Because there is no warning light/code when the PCM is out, the damage snowballs. There are no computer codes, or warning lights to show up on the dash board when the PCM is out, which befuddles the mechanics. We are literally $5,000 in the hole so far! Ford dealership "repaired" our expedition by replacing the PCM ($1,300.00). 48 hours after they replaced the PCM, and 18 miles after we drove expedition off the ford lot, the "service engine soon" light…
Also reported on the 2003 Ford Expedition
Misfire or rough idle
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Fuel pump failure
Other wheel or tire problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 15 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does stalling while driving happen on the 2003 Ford Expedition?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 95,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is stalling while driving on the 2003 Ford Expedition?
15 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 5.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed