1987 FORD F150 — Complaint #31660
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:AUXILLARY TANK:SELECTOR DEVICES filed January 26, 1996
NHTSA complaint #31660 (ODI reference 978313) concerns a 1987 FORD F150 and was filed on January 26, 1996. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 20, 1996. The report was geocoded to Michigan based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as fuel system, gasoline:storage:auxillary tank:selector devices, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD F150 cohort independently describe similar fuel system, gasoline:storage:auxillary tank:selector devices failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1987 FORD F150 shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
FUEL SWITCH VALVE, TAKES FUEL FROM THE REAR TANK AND PUT FRONT TANK. TT
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 31660 |
| ODI Number | 978313 |
| Date Filed | January 26, 1996 |
| Failure Date | January 20, 1996 |
| VIN | 1FTEF14N3HL |
Similar FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:STORAGE:AUXILLARY TANK:SELECTOR DEVICES Complaints for 1987 FORD F150
MY 1987' FORD F150 HAS DUAL FUEL TANKS, WITH THE TANK SELECTOR SWITCH ON THE DASHBOARD TO THE LEFT OF THE STEERING COLUMN. I WAS DRIVING HOME ON 01/25/06 AND NOTICED A STRONG FUEL SMELL WHEN I PULL
THE VEHICLE HAS DUEL GAS TANKS. THE FULE RETURN FLOW ALWAYS GOES TO THE FRONT TANK. THIS CAUSES GAS TO SPILL OUT FROM THE FRONT TANK WHEN IT IS FULL AND YOU ARE RUNNING OFF THE REAR TANK, CAUSING AN
VEHICLES HAS DUALTANKS. WHEN BACK TANK IS FILLED AND SWITCHES TO FRONT TANK GAS FLOWS TO FRONT AND SPILLS OUT. CONSUMER SPUN OUT FROM A RED LIGHT THINKING IT WAS OIL. GOT TO WORK AND NOTICED GA
TRUCK HAS DUEL TANKS AND PUMPS GAS OUT FILLER SPOUT OF FRONT TANK WHEN DRIVING ON REAR TANK AND OUT REAR FILLER TUBE WHILE DRIVING ON FRONT TANK IS THERE A RECALL ON THE SWITCHING VALVE ON THIS TRUCK
AUXILLARY SELECTOR SWITCH FAILED, CAUSING GAS TO BE PUMPED INTO FRONT TANK, CAUSING TANK TO OVERFLOW. *SKD
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.