Vehicle report
Technical service bulletins are instructions a manufacturer sent its dealers about a known fault. They are not recalls and the work is usually not free, but they are the clearest signal of a problem the manufacturer already knows about.
00253
SOME MEDIUM DUTY VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH THE 7.3L POWERSTROKE DIESEL ENGINE MAY EXHIBIT A CACKLING NOISE ABOVE THE NORMAL SOUND OF THE DIESEL COMBUSTION. THIS NOISE MAY SHOULD LIKE A ROD KNOCK, BUT IS INTERMITTENT AND INCREASES IN INTENSITY AS THE ENGINE WARMS UP TO OPERATING TEMPERATURE. *TT
Complaint counts are reports filed with NHTSA, not failure rates. A common model collects more of them than a rare one that breaks more often.