Rear motor rattling with red fluid leaking

[Dave70]

Have had my XLT ER since October 2023 when I took delivery after ordering it. Have 6,714 miles on it.

Today I experienced a rattling sound in the rear motor, although no warning lights came on and the truck continued to drive and stop normally. I looked under the truck at the rear motor and saw red fluid leaking out of the rear motor. I was able to drive it and drop it off at my local dealership only a couple of miles away from me. It's Sunday, so I'm hoping to get an update from them when service opens tomorrow.

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[TaxmanHog]

We've seen a few other bleeding motors recently.

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/rear-motor-death-by-exsanguination.19359

 

[tls]

Two with holes roughly the size and shape of a loose fastener or maybe a large gear tooth, no?

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Have had my XLT ER since October 2023 when I took delivery after ordering it. Have 6,714 miles on it.

Today I experienced a rattling sound in the rear motor, although no warning lights came on and the truck continued to drive and stop normally. I looked under the truck at the rear motor and saw red fluid leaking out of the rear motor. I was able to drive it and drop it off at my local dealership only a couple of miles away from me. It's Sunday, so I'm hoping to get an update from them when service opens tomorrow.

Good afternoon. Would you please send over a private message with your VIN and dealer info so I can look into this rattle and leak concern?

 

[Dave70]

Good afternoon. Would you please send over a private message with your VIN and dealer info so I can look into this rattle and leak concern?

Sure, I just sent you a PM.

 

[EdRudy]

Are your brake lights leaking? You should look for hairline cracks and check the fluid level. Sometimes the fluid leaks from behind the lights then down to the motor and drips from there.

 

[Dave70]

Are your brake lights leaking? You should look for hairline cracks and check the fluid level. Sometimes the fluid leaks from behind the lights then down to the motor and drips from there.

No, definitely looks to be red transmission fluid, quite a bit of it leaked out, and with the metal rattling sound in the rear motor, definitely a motor issue. Still wait for the dealer to look at it, their EV techs were busy with other vehicles yesterday and today they said. Maybe I'll have an update tomorrow on what happened.

 

[Dave70]

Update from today from the service dept. Rear motor in the truck has a hole blown through it's case by parts inside that broke apart. Seems to be the same issue a couple of others posted about. Entire rear motor needs to be replaced. They're trying to get an ETA from Ford on when they can get the parts at this point.

 

[SmoothJ]

Update from today from the service dept. Rear motor in the truck has a hole blown through it's case by parts inside that broke apart. Seems to be the same issue a couple of others posted about. Entire rear motor needs to be replaced. They're trying to get an ETA from Ford on when they can get the parts at this point.

Granted we are a small sample of the F150L population, however this concerns me quite a bit. I know these components are under warranty till 100K, but don't want to be 100s of miles away when the electric motor blows up.

 

[TaxmanHog]

My concerns, is this an assembly error or materials issue?

 

[Dave70]

Granted we are a small sample of the F150L population, however this concerns me quite a bit. I know these components are under warranty till 100K, but don't want to be 100s of miles away when the electric motor blows up.

I was lucky enough to have this happen as I rolled back home from a 110 mile round trip up the interstate and back. It was nice hearing that Ford was offering to pay for a rental vehicle for me while the truck is down. I declined because I have a second car that's economical and fun to drive. So maybe if I was two States away on a road trip with the lightning they would have offered the same.

 

[Dave70]

My concerns, is this an assembly error or materials issue?

Service mentioned Ford will probably want these broken parts/motor back so they can inspect what happened. If this is happening to a few others, I wonder if we might see a recall in the future where they have the dealerships proactively replace the failing component with some new design/made of new materials.

 

[SmoothJ]

I was lucky enough to have this happen as I rolled back home from a 110 mile round trip up the interstate and back. It was nice hearing that Ford was offering to pay for a rental vehicle for me while the truck is down. I declined because I have a second car that's economical and fun to drive. So maybe if I was two States away on a road trip with the lightning they would have offered the same.

Service mentioned Ford will probably want these broken parts/motor back so they can inspect what happened. If this is happening to a few others, I wonder if we might see a recall in the future where they have the dealerships proactively replace the failing component with some new design/made of new materials.

With my Powertrain malfunction (ie battery module replacement), I have to say the dealer has been good to me as well. The dealer/BEV team offered the rental as well, but with the caveat that it has to be a Ford. The problem is... not one Enterprise or Hertz near my area has a Ford to rent. So I am stuck home without a second car. My dealer has 4 loaners, but they are in use till next week. I emailed the BEV team specialist about this and she never responded yet, but I highly doubt they will budge on their policy.

I am happy this happened now vs the beginning of June as I will be traveling to NH, which is around 300 miles away. I usually do 120 miles during the week (M-F), and recently over 200 miles on the weekend.

 

[PreservedSwine]

First off, very impressed with your observational powers, able to note and take action before the vehicle left you stranded.

Sorry to hear you’re going through this, I think it’s something all of us fear at this point.
Please keep the updates coming, and good luck

 

[tls]

Granted we are a small sample of the F150L population, however this concerns me quite a bit. I know these components are under warranty till 100K, but don't want to be 100s of miles away when the electric motor blows up.

Curiously, with the failures we've seen reported here so far, seems like the truck can go quite a ways after this happens and all the fluid leaks out. But, then again, if it breaks but doesn't rattle (2 of the 3 reported here seem to have been silent) you could go quite a ways before noticing...

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