How bad is the Ford 5.4 Triton engine ?

[cal74]

I don't recall, but I believe it was the '97 to early 2000's that had the blown plug issue due to the short threads.

Later years they switched to the stupid 2 piece plug that would break.

I had a '98 5.4 that was a pretty good truck, never had a problem with plugs but I sold it before they needed to be changed and never dealt with that. The passenger side manifold though was a different issue and was/is a known issue for having the studs rot off.

I was quoted around 450 or so to change it out, but ended up tackling the job myself. I was able to remove 3-4 with a socket, had to cut the rest off with a dremel and had a heck of a time getting the last couple out.

Was just about ready to give up and finally got them out with heat/cold cycles and a lot of PB.

Would have been a heck of a lot easier with a lift

[griffsmom]

Well, I must be one of the odd ones on here, we have a 2000 F-250 with the 5.4 and I think we are now on our fourth plug to blow out, and also have replaced numerous coil packs. Has about 150M on it, now its sitting waiting to have a head replaced. Our last plug blew just sitting at an idle, of course 5 hours from home. My brother in law is a mechanic so he plugged the hole and also disconnected the other plug, so we ran a 6 cylinder all the way back home, my gosh is was so loud, I was waiting to get a ticket from the noise police when going through some towns. Needless to say after dealing with this issue, I jumped ship.

[peri]

i'm looking at buying a 2007 f250 super duty crew fX4 with 147,000 km. has anyone had trouble with the motor that the earlier years had? any other comments?

Originally Posted by peri

i'm looking at buying a 2007 f250 super duty crew fX4 with 147,000 km. has anyone had trouble with the motor that the earlier years had? any other comments?

It's a bit different than the early ones. The plugs are the main issue. Make sure they're changed and you should be fine. You're getting a good truck if you ask me.

[55458]

I didnt read the whole thread but cam phazers are known to go bad on a small percentage of the 5.4 s

[dirty underpants]

Ive got 2004 F250 crew cab with 150k miles. Routine maintenance, no problems. I'm driving it till it falls apart, putting it back together and running it some more.

[pjshorthorn]

Originally Posted by walteye

'02 F150- just passed 200,000 miles with just 2 coil packs and a bad clutch fan (which resulted in 2 water pumps in the first 1000 miles)-since purchasing new. Believe it or not-I like pulling my boat ( Crestliner SuperHawk 1800) better with my '02 F150 better than pulling it with my '05 F250!
Walteye

X2 '02 F-150 with 222,000 miles on it. After the 2nd coil replacement, put in a new set of plugs and no further issues with coils going bad...so far . No other significant repairs at all.... I'm thinking 300,000 miles is achievable in my case as a significant portion of my mileage was highway.

[JKH]

I had a 99. At 28,000 miles the head gasket had to be replaced and at 36,000 miles it blew out a spark plug.Head gasket Ford fixed. Spark plug thankfully I had an extended warranty as the bill was over $1200.00. After that I drove it trouble free to 143,000 when I traded it in. I now love my GMC but still miss the looks of the Ford

[JAY221]

Got an 07 Expedition and had heard the stories about getting the plugs out. Had a variable cam timing solenoid go bad which resulted in the passenger side cam be retarded. To me it sounded like a plug had come apart rattling real bad like to low of octane gas. So, I order the tool to get the broken plug out but none were broke & they all came out easily. Then I changed the solenoid after pulling code & all was well. Anybody that can remove a valve cover can do this job. Later, Jay