pjzabo

Just want everyone's opinion on this. I have a '06 F150 with 5.4 (owned it from new in 11/06). Of course it is exactly 1 1/2 months off the basic warranty with only 28K miles on it)

A week ago it sprung a big fuel leak just above the tank. I loosened the tank straps and dropped the tank a little to try to get a look at it, but it's hard to see anything without dropping the whole tank (which of course happens to be almost full). Last week I drove the spewing truck in 15 degree weather to the dealer with a friend following me and a fire extinguisher in hand (just in case). Dealer said it needs a new fuel line at a cost of $600 installed! Jeez, 20 years ago I would run to NAPA and buy 5 feet of fuel line for $5 and fix the line in 10 minutes if this happened - the dealer has already had my truck for 5 days, ordered the wrong part originally and now reordered it. It's like a space shuttle launch getting a fuel line fixed.

The price seems crazy to me and the whole thing is pretty damn annoying on a 3 year old truck. Truck has never been damaged, never took a shot anywhere, has not been off-roaded. Is this a common problem? Should I pursue something with Ford directly? I asked dealer if there is an extended warranty on emissions control or evaporative fuel emissions control specifically (I told them I think there is a problem with evaporative fuel emissions control LOL). Dealer said there is no coverage, period.

Pete

dnlow

This is the reason I have learned to work on my vehicles.

The price seems high but that is capitalism. Everyone is free to charge what they feel their labor is worth.

pjzabo

Oh that's how capitalism works? Actually the labor if you figure 3 hours at $100/hr. is probably close to fair. Dropping the tank completely is not fun, I think 2 hours is more like it. But $200+ for the fuel line part alone? Painful

My question was more whether this should be Ford's problem instead of mine at 3 years 1 month and 28K miles. I could understand if it happened on a 10 year old truck with 100K miles.

Ruprecht

Wasn't there a recall on some f-150's for fuel leaks? Go here, enter your VIN, click the 'service' tab, and click 'recall notices'. It should list any recalls for your truck:
https://www.flmowner.com/servlet/Con...OwnerGuidePage

If this doesn't help I'm sure you can find something on Google that lists all recalls, but I remember there being an issue with fuel lines on some models and years.
If there IS a recall and your dealer didn't make you aware, then I'd know what to do with the remaining fuel in that tank.

pjzabo

Thanks for the reply. There was a recall, but not for fuel system. All I could find is recalls for 2004 F150s that had problems with fuel tanks separating at the seam and leaking. This appears to be a failure of this line with an octopus like connector at the top of the tank. I always thought that emissions control equipment was covered beyond the basic 3/36K coverage and that I could argue this was a failure of the fuel evaporative emission control system since really everything from the filler through the tank and into the engine is a part of that system, but looking carefully at the warranty the only things covered longer are:
8 years or 80,000 miles (whichever occurs first) for catalytic converter,
powertrain control module, onboard emissions diagnostic
device, natural gas vehicle (NGV) module (Bi-fuel/CNG), electronic
emission control unit, and transmission control module

Just my bad luck. Truck has been pretty flawless for three years and I love it, just didn't expect something like this so soon.