FordL-Series1998Overview/ford/l-series/1998/base/

1998 Ford L-Series

Factory specifications, fluid capacities, torque values, EPA fuel economy and the federal safety record for the 1998 L-Series.

The 1998 Ford L‑Series recorded just one owner‑reported issue. That single complaint concerned the exterior lighting system. No recalls were issued for this model year.

Model year199819971996199519941993199219911990

Reliability & federal safety record

Owner-reported issues, recalls, investigations and service bulletins on record with NHTSA — an unfiltered look at what owners actually experience.

Owner complaints about the 1998 Ford L-Series dominate in one area — the exterior lighting, 1 of 1 reports (100%), well ahead of the next concern. NHTSA has issued no recalls for this vehicle, so these are owner-reported concerns only. 0 of the reports describe a crash and 0 a fire — a small share of the total, but worth weighing against the exterior lighting pattern above. These are tallies of what owners actually reported to the federal government, not an editorial score — and higher-selling models naturally rack up more reports.

0
Open recalls
NHTSA campaigns
3
Service bulletins
Manufacturer communications
0
ODI investigations
Office of Defects Investigation
1
Owner complaints
0 involved a crash · 0 a fire

Owner complaints filed with NHTSA, by component

All 1 complaints on record, top 1 components.

Exterior Lighting1

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation complaint database.

Recalls NHTSA · verified

No recall campaigns on record with NHTSA for this vehicle as of the last data refresh.

Technical service bulletins NHTSA · verified

Showing 3 of 3 bulletins on record with NHTSA.

BulletinDateComponentSummary
991961999-09-20EquipmentINFORMATION ON IDENTIFYING NON-APPROVED / ALTERNATE REFRIGERANTS WHICH COULD CAUSE…
9832951998-02-05Unknown Or OtherINFORMATION ON THE HEAVY TRUCK TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE HOTLINE. *TT
9709029718171997-09-02Engine And Engine CoolingSOME ELECTRONICALLY CONTROLLED DIESEL ENGINES CAN BE MODIFIED TO INCREASE ENGINE OUTPUT…

Common OBD-II trouble codes

The most common OBD-II codes for this vehicle's emissions system. These are standardized SAE J2012 definitions, not vehicle-specific fault reports.

P0420
Catalyst system efficiency below threshold — Bank 1
P0300
Random / multiple cylinder misfire detected
P0171
System too lean — Bank 1
P0455
Evaporative emission system leak detected — large leak
P0128
Coolant thermostat below regulating temperature
P0442
Evaporative emission system leak detected — small leak

VIN tools

Decode factory build data for a specific vehicle by VIN.

VIN
Decode a VIN to confirm the transmission and build data for a specific L-Series. OEM
Build data
Plant, GVWR class, engine and body data for any 17-character VIN.
Recalls
Check open recall campaigns against a specific vehicle by VIN.

Reference guides

Cross-vehicle references for the kinds of data on this page.

Frequently asked

Does the 1998 L-Series have open recalls?

NHTSA lists 0 recall campaign(s) for this model year. Check your specific vehicle by VIN.