Six problems related to engine belts and pulleys have been reported for the 2011 Ford F-150. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2011 Ford F-150 based on all problems reported for the 2011 F-150.
Driving about 80 miles per hour, the engine battery light and overheating light came on, pulled over to find that the pulley by the idler pulley came off with part of the engine block. This should not have happened.
Going around 70mph on route 95, truck suddenly shifts from 6th gear down to 1st on it's own, rear wheels locked up and I skidded nearly off the road. Luckily I had my seat belt on or I would have been thrown into the windshield it was so jolting. Came to a stop, no dash lights or engine indicators came on. Turned the truck off, waited about 5 minutes, turned the truck back on, no check engine light, everything seemed ok, slowly drove the next 2 miles to my office. Checking Ford's website, there appears to be a safety recall for this issue. The molded lead frame is the issue, causing random downshifts.
Truck makes a loud rattling noise upon starting cold in the morning. Noise lasts for 3-5 seconds, than goes away. The electric vacuum pump was recalled and replaced roughly a year and a half ago. I took truck to Ford dealership last fall (2017), and they stated it was the tension belt/pulley loosening. While doing some research online, seems like quite a few Ford truck owners with that ecoboost engine are having same issue all across the country in all different climates. This seems like a safety issue to me, and was hoping Ford would recall and take care of this. Truck seems to make this noise while stationary upon starting first thing in the morning. I contacted Ford corporate, and they recommended filing a claim with you guys.
TSB 14-0196, TSB 15-0131, TSB 16-0027 - all explain the issue, so yes Ford knows it is a reoccurring issue. Its basically the engine rattling for 2-5 seconds when you starting the vehicle from a cold start. In mechanics terms the primary timing belt has stretched and takes that 2-5 seconds to pick up the slack. This video explains it very well. . Read more...
Since I've owned this vehicle new, I've had a number of problems related to acceleration. Vehicle would almost stall on hard acceleration when getting on the freeway. Dealer replaced spark plugs & boots, but condition was not completely resolved. Vehicle would still on occasion repeat the same problem. More recently when driving yesterday, the engine light started blinking, then became steady. Of greater concerned I got an engine light & poor acceleration. Took the vehicle to the dealer & dealer is telling me that the timing belt needs to be replaced at a cost of $2000+. Vehicle had just turned 61000 miles. Dealer service agent tells me its not uncommon and could be caused by not getting the oil changed at recommended intervals. Vehicle has had regular oil changes at the dealer & other service facilities. Never heard of this & I think it's premature for a vehicle with 61000 miles to need the timing belt replaced. Never had this happen in 45+ years of driving.
The timing chain belt was skipping, it would cause the engine light to come on while driving but then the engine light would go off the next time I'd stay it. This did this for as long as I had it. I mentioned the issue tho the dealer but when in the garage the engine light was no longer on and they would tell me nothing was wrong and no error codes were coming up. I've had this truck only 1 year 7 months and it started stalling out. I brought it to the garage and it was the timing chain.