I originally posted this message in the Expedition forum, but I thought some F-150 owners may be interested also.

With all the posts lately about the rust appearing on Expedition & F-150 doors I decided to call the local Ford dealer body shop. It was interesting that the body shop manager took over 5 minutes to tell me about the same door rust she had with her '97 Expedition and how she made the dealer fix it twice (this was before she worked for Ford). Since my truck is just over 5 years old, the manager told me to call the 1-800 number and see if they would do anything for me. She told me to do this because as she said "you'll find this problem with almost all Expedition & F-150's from 1997 on." I called and long story short... "suprisingly", they can't do anything for me at this time and are unaware of the problem with these trucks. According to Tina at Ford, their policy is to forward problems like that to their engineers. I really hope the engineers get this complaint, although I suspect they're actually already aware of it.

I encourage other owners with this problem to call them at 1-800-392-FORD (3673) and tell them of your rust problems. Also, have other owners with these problems do the same. I insist these vehicles are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to be rusting like this after only a few years of age. Quality like that is unacceptable, particularly at in a $40,000 - $50,000 vehicle.

If anyone knows any other ways to make Ford aware of this through specific E-mail addresses or other ways to contact them. Please post them here.

 

could this be a regional problem? Here in S. Texas it's pretty dry most of the time and of course no snow/salt to deal with. Not an excuse for this, but maybe it's a drainage problem with the doors?

 

A guy posted from Washington in the Xpe post saying the same basic thing. And yes its probably regional. Anyone who drives in salty winter conditions will likely experience it.

 

Well, look at it this way:

When we say we love our fords so much we'll drive 'em 'til the doors fall off, we won't be stuck in these sub-standard Fix or Repair Daiies much longer, lol.

 

thanks for the info. My drivers side door is rusting too. Its a 97 f-150. Guess i will give em a call for the hek of it.lol

 

I drive a 1999 F150 ext cab. I've also had it under coated every year including inside the doors. Guess what? Rust on the door by the drain hole area! Both sides. I've cleaned up the dry oil in the area and sprayed some "fluid film" trying to slow it down. It also has lots of rust on the gas tank support, and my EGR value is all rust too.

Reminds my of my tye rod problem...your on your own.

 

MCN420 you are exactly correct, My ford dealer had quick memory loss when I asked them about my 03' supercrew doors rusting only after 1 Cleveland, OH winter and paying $38,000 for the truck. I think it is up to Ford and come out and admit they have a door drainage problem and should correct this problem for everyone. Also I have a car and a 2000 ranger I drove for many winters in the northern states and the doors were fine just rust where you would expect on the frame and axles. Maybe I will get lucky and my cruise control switch will catch fire, and then I can take the insurance check to the Nissan Titan store!
Oops did I type that!!!!!!!!!


03' SCREW 5.4L Fx4

 

I feel your frustration FXXER, I really like my Xpe EB, but the door rust, the exhasust manifolds studs breaking and now a lower control arm that rusted through are making me re-think my Ford loyalty. Paying almost 1/2 what a decent house costs, only to have the vehicle rusting out after 5 years is in no way acceptable!

 

Basically Ford, and any other car company, doesn't care what goes wrong with your vehicle. They are not 'aware' of any problems unless it has, or is going to, kill someone and cost them MORE money in lawsuits down the road.

Living in Wisconsin we expect rust eventually. My car is a 96 and there is zero rust on it. Guess that's the difference between German and American engineering.

 

Yeah, that cracked me up when my buddy said "yeah Ford cares b/c they recalled your cruise control switch" I called BS!!!!! I said do you want to see the letter from Ford that states the National Highway Traffic Safety Assoc. (NHTSA) forced the recall!!?"

 

These forums are great, and I still love my Screw, but like I said I am still frustrated with those doors. I'll tell you it is partially my fault, because when ford came out with the Fx4 Screw I was like that thing is bad AZZ and looks bad AZZ and like always I ran right out and bought it without any research. That is why these forums are the best, because my next vehicle purchase I will do way more homework before I spend around $40,000 on anything. Most everyone on this forum has giving great facts and opinions on what they think, so if we all stay true to forums these manufacture defects will eventually catch up to the automakers sales, foreign or domestic. 03' Fx4 Screw 5.4L

 

There is a TSB on door & tailgate rust, but it's only covered under the 3 yr./ 36,000 mile waranty. One thing I've noticed, is Ford no longer uses any seam sealer around the door or tailgate flanges. The "fix"[after the rust is removed ] in the TSB requires using seam sealer in the repair!

 

Can some of post pic of rust problems?

 

Red Star I would send you pics. but I have already repaired mine by grinding down the rust and then using POR15 to treat the rusty areas. So far this has worked great because I have a black truck and the POR15 is black so you can hardly even tell I painted the bottom of the doors. I'm sure someone else in this forum has rusty doors they can send a pic.

 

I did the same thing as others, went to the dealer with my 2000 F150, in October of 2003 with only 28k on it. They told me they couldn't do anything about it because my truck was originally purchased in manufactured in Sepetmber of 2000 and purchased in October, it was out of warranty, not by a month, but about 2 weeks. Funny thing is that with Ford they told me that the warranty doesn't start when it is purchased, it starts when the dealership receives it, doesn't make much sense, but that was from 2 different dealers and from Ford's 1-800 number. I had a Jeep that was 4k and 6 months out of warrant and Jeep still took care of me.

This is the first Ford I've purchased and it will be the last as well. Once it gets up there in mileage and gives me any trouble it will be traded in and gone. More than likely I'll be driving a Dodge, Nissan, or Toyota truck. My wife's 96 camry with 160k on it is just starting to rust on the one of the rear fenders. At 30k I expect no rust, at 160k, I'm ok with it.

Ford will never get another dollar from me. No wonder there stock has been taking a dump for the past few years.