Radiator or coolant leak on the 2008 Ford F Super Duty
Only 7 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 radiator or coolant leak gets reported
There are 7 reports of radiator or coolant leak on the 2008 Ford F Super Duty, 7 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 98,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 40,000 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 $350–$1,900 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.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Truck has developed a radiator leak at 29,300 miles. Ford would only cover 3/36,000 warranty. 2008 my superduty trucks with the 6.4l diesel engines are notorious for leaking radiators and oem will not stand behind them. *tt
The radiator is leaking were the side tanks are attached to the core and both the upper and lower radiator hoses are leaking. When I had the pickup in the dealership for service I was advised that there was upgraded radiator hoses available. The dealership recommended I replace them to prevent hose failure. This would be at my cost, but clearly are factory defects. When I had several different local mechanics give me estimates and asked what the problem was, and told them what year and model ford I had they all described the same leaks in the radiators and hoses. So there appears to be a defect with the hoses and radiators of these year and models of fords. I called my local dealership and they said these problems would not be corrected by ford at this time. The estimate for the repairs is $1116.46. I contacted fords customer service and brought these problems to their attention but was told that ford did not have any warranty or programs to resolve these defective items. It is my opinion that if any company or business provides defective workmanship that it should be resolved by them. Apparently the auto repair shops and the…
The fuel tank lining is failing so we took the truck into the dealership. The corroding fuel tank liner has gummed up our fuel filter. While at the shop looking at this the dealership mechanic quickly pointed out that our radiator has a leak. He mentioned that it was a common problem and not covered by warranty. After looking into it further we found out that it is a common problem among ford superduty f450. This is the second truck (f450) that this has happened to and it cost ~$1,600.00 to fix. Ford refuses to cover this but the dealership knows its a common problem. *tr
Also reported on the 2008 Ford F Super Duty
Other steering problem
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
Other engine problem
Stalling while driving
Fuel pump failure
Fuel injector failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 7 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 7 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 radiator or coolant leak happen on the 2008 Ford F Super Duty?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 40,000 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 radiator or coolant leak on the 2008 Ford F Super Duty?
7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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