Misfire or rough idle on the 2003 Ford F-250 SD
1 fire 1 injury 2 of the 31 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When misfire or rough idle gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Ford F-250 SD report misfire or rough idle at a median of 65,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 2,500 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 30 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 500 miles at the tenth percentile to 102,500 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 102,121 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
43% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 478 miles | 1,525 miles | 66,000 miles | 84,922 miles | 102,599 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
Of these reports, 1 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,600 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 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2020, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2000 at 105,000 miles.
By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 56; the 2003 has 31. 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.
I recently purchased a ford f250 super duty 6.0 liter diesel pickup. This is a new engine just released this year. Their are already many service bulletins on this from ford. One of the main problems is running rough, stalling, slow response from a stop, etc. Fords latest bulletins to their dealers is their is no fix for this at the present time. This is a dangerous situation which could result in an accident. It is my believe these should be taken off the market until they resolve the problem. I am wondering why they are still selling these to the public and not informing them their could be a problem with them. I presently own one of these and it has been in the shop for over 30 days since dec 9th. At the present time my is so bad I cannot drive it anymore because of stalling on the highway. There are many people out their having the same problem. Are we going to wait until there is a serious injury and then try to correct the problem? Ts
My husband and I recently purchased a ford f250 super duty 6.0 liter diesel pickup truck. This is a new engine that was just released this year. There are already many service bulletins listed on this particular truck from ford. The problem with our truck started with the check engine light coming on. We had owned the truck for three days and it was in the shop for the first time. A part was replaced and two days later the light was back on again. Back to the shop for the second time in less than a week from the date of purchase. The next part being replaced was delayed in shipping. The dealership offered to remove the needed part from another truck on the lot but was warned by ford that they were aware of the defective part and using one from another truck would not correct the problem. Four days later we were able to pick up the "repaired" truck. Five days later the light is back on again and now it is also running rough, slow acceleration, stalling, slow response from a stop, etc. Fords latest bulletins to their dealers is that there is no fix for this at the present time. This is a very dangerous situation which could result…
My husband and I recently purchased a ford f250 super duty 6.0 liter diesel pickup truck. This is a new engine that was just released this year. There are already many service bulletins listed on this particular truck from ford. The problem with our truck started with the check engine light coming on. We had owned the truck for three days and it was in the shop for the first time. A part was replaced and two days later the light was back on again. Back to the shop for the second time in less than a week from the date of purchase. The next part being replaced was delayed in shipping. The dealership offered to remove the needed part from another truck on the lot but was warned by ford that they were aware of the defective part and using one from another truck would not correct the problem. Four days later we were able to pick up the "repaired" truck. Five days later the light is back on again and now it is also running rough, slow acceleration, stalling, slow response from a stop, etc. Fords latest bulletins to their dealers is that there is no fix for this at the present time. This is a very dangerous situation which could result…
Also reported on the 2003 Ford F-250 SD
Other engine problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Other steering problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other powertrain problem
Other fuel system problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 31 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 misfire or rough idle happen on the 2003 Ford F-250 SD?
Across 30 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 65,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 2,500 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is misfire or rough idle on the 2003 Ford F-250 SD?
31 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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