Other engine problem on the 1999 Ford F-350 SD
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 1999 Ford F-350 SD report other engine problem at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 50,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 185,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 135,500 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
9% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50,000 miles | 65,043 miles | 101,300 miles | 144,183 miles | 185,500 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–$4,000 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 23 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2018, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2023 at 190,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 28; the 1999 has 12. 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 owned a 99.5 ford f350 with the 7.3l diesel and manual transmission. At around 30k miles, driving down the highway at 65 MPH while towing a loaded trailer, the truck shut off. This left me with no power steering and no power brakes or ABS brakes. Had the incident occurred on a steeper grade or busier time of day, it could have been deadly. After pulling over to the shoulder, the truck restarted and ran briefly before shutting down again. It had to be towed at that point. The truck was still under warranty. After the second attempt at fixing the truck, which LED to another high speed stall with loss of control, they finally replaced the cam position sensor (cps). I had told them that this was probably the problem when I had it towed the first time. It seems common knowledge among ford 7.3l diesel owners that this part fails without warning at as early as 500 miles on the odometer. Most owners carry a spare in their trucks to avoid being stranded. My concern is that this has become a major safety issue with these trucks as more and more families use them as grocery-getters and/or the family wagon. A less experienced driver or a…
Driving to local fishing spot on a spring day when a loud pop from under the hood followed by more consistent pops, noise, and poor running condition. I pulled over and checked under the hood only to find the coil precariously propped up and out of it's seat. Removing the coil was astonished to see that the plug was still in the coil. The plug had been ejected crushing the coil and fuel rail. I called the local wrecker for a tow (must be flatbed due to size of truck) to the dealer. Dealer denied any knowledge of problem and was promptly told it would be several thousand dollars to repair and many many days out of service. I had truck towed to my home and proceeded to fix it myself. *nm
I was driving and my truck stalled before getting to a complete stop. I was about to reach bumper to bumper traffic. Luckily there was grass on the right hand side and I pulled in there to avoid hitting a car. Had to go over the sidewalk. After turning off, I tried to start with no luck. After 10 minutes I tried again and it started. A little down the road same thing happened, it stalled. Happened like 2 more times until I got to work. Called my mechanic and he stated that the cps usually goes out and he bought one for me. Installed it and it worked. Just waiting for the next time it happens as I have read these things give out all the time. *jb
Also reported on the 1999 Ford F-350 SD
Other wheel or tire problem
Misfire or rough idle
Parking brake failure
Loss of braking
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Tire blowout or tread separation
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 other engine problem happen on the 1999 Ford F-350 SD?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 1999 Ford F-350 SD?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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