P0304 on Ford vehicles
112 owner complaints filed with NHTSA about Ford vehicles mention P0304 (Cylinder 4 Misfire Detected) - across 10 models. Below is where it shows up, by model and year.
Can you drive with it? Short careful trips only while the light stays steady. If it starts FLASHING, stop as soon as it is safe - that is the computer reporting active catalyst-damaging misfire, not a suggestion.
Symptoms, likely causes in order and realistic repair costs are on the main P0304 page - they do not differ much by brand. This page shows what is specific to Ford: which models and years actually report it.
Ford models reporting P0304
The number next to each year is how many NHTSA complaints for that car mention P0304. Owners rarely quote trouble codes when complaining, so real occurrence is many times higher - use these numbers to compare years, not as totals.
What Ford owners report
“Received P0304 code for 4th cylinder missfire. Appears to be affected by the know coolant intrusion issue with these models”2017 Ford Escape · Aug 2026
“receiving code p0304 cylinder 4 misfire. technician placed scope inside cylinder 4 and signs of coolant inside the cylinder. TSB 19-2346 matches what is happening in with his vehicle”2018 Ford Edge · Jul 2026
“Coolant Intrusion due to a design flaw leading to coolant entering the combustion chamber causing spark plugs to prematurely fail and in extreme cases cause the engine to hydrolock and bend piston rods. Symptoms are a rough idle, MIL illumination and DTC for Misfires P0300-P0304, Coolant loss and overheating”2018 Ford Escape · Jun 2026
“Vehicle suffered acute catastrophic engine failure. No dash lights alerted me. Engine just started rattling and smoking. Dealership it was towed to pulled codes p0302 p0304 p0012 p0014 tried to blame it on us despite known coolant intrusion issue”2017 Ford Escape · Mar 2026
P0304 on other makes
Makes with enough NHTSA reports of P0304 for their own page.
Counts are NHTSA owner complaints whose text mentions P0304 - owner-reported and unverified. Always confirm with a diagnosis of your specific vehicle.