Fuel pump failure on the 1997 Ford F-150
Only 3 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When fuel pump failure gets reported
There are 3 reports of fuel pump failure on the 1997 Ford F-150, 3 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 68th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 171,516 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 $600–$2,600 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 26 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2001 at 170,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 65; the 1997 has 3. 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.
On may 31, 2011, I was driving my 1997 ford f150 2-wheel drive pick-up truck and I heard a loud noise below me followed by a scraping sound. As there was traffic and road construction, I was unable to stop for approximately 200 yards. When I was able to pull over, I saw that the gas tank had fallen completely off the vehicle. The only part that was still attached to the truck was the fuel line. There was a large gash in the gas tank. Since I had just filled the truck, over 23 gallons of gas was leaking on the street. The local police and fire departments were called. The street was treated with an absorbent. Fortunately, there was no fire. The vehicle was towed and repaired. The following parts had to be replaced: flex hose, vent hose, fuel vapor valve, fuel tank transducer, gas tank strap kit, fuel tank, fuel pump and the labor to install these parts. The total for the repair was $1,362.93. In addition, the towing charge was $80.34 and at least $110.00 of gasoline was lost. This vehicle does not have any extraordinary amount of rust nor has it seen extreme service. It has always been garaged. I believe ford motor company should…
Fuel tank straps broke and fuel tank fell to the ground while in motion at slow speed. Fuel filler neck cracked and fuel connection and fuel pump do not work. Vehicle is drivable and temporarily supported by straps. On my own I discovered there was a recall for 1997-2004 ford trucks and contacted ford who informed, to my disbelief, that my vehicle was not included in the recall. Ford could offer me no help.
Also reported on the 1997 Ford F-150
Other wheel or tire problem
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Other suspension problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 3 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 3 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 fuel pump failure happen on the 1997 Ford F-150?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 170,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel pump failure on the 1997 Ford F-150?
3 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 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