I've had good luck with my 03 so far. And it was built on April 1st!

Had good luck with my 01 except for a couple lift pumps

 

Yep, you get lemons in all makes! You just happened to get a bad one! Who knows, maybe a bad combination of poor quality work on the assembly line that day, changes in manufacture of assembled parts, combination of both of these.
I bought my 2006 CTD brand new in Oct 2006, only problem I ever had was the AC plenum door, which was replaced by dealer. No other problems so far, I have 47k miles on it now.

 

My truck was built in August of '02 and the only issue so far is a blown hydroboost line.

MikeyB

 

seems like they are all build like crap or there is a good amount on either ford chevys or dodges, my father in law owns a 04 f250 and he has issues just like me, and im sure if you go to the chevys forums you will find people complaining about their trucks and thinking about buying a dodge.

 

if I was buying a gasser, I'd get a GM!!! I was a long time ford guy untill they came out w/ that modular.

the LSx family engines make awesome power, get great mileage, and don't spit spark plugs out of the heads