So i finally retired my 04 trailblazer and i'm looking for something more suitable to tow my boat (21 ft. crownline weighing about 5k with trailer). Just looking for some advice which years to stay away from or engine packages. I do notice a bunch of people complaining about the 04-06ish 5.4l 3 valve and i was curious if i shouldnt considering buying a 3 valve in that year range. It seems like most of the 5.4's out there are 3 valves and I just want to make sure i'm not buying someone else's problem. Thanks in advance

shane

 

ALL 5.4's in F-150's from 04 (except Heritage) to 10 are 3 valves.

 

I'd buy the lowest mileage/best maintained truck I could find regardless of the model year.

 

Do a search on cam phaser. Seems not uncommon for them to wear out at about 75K miles. I didnt even know what cam phasers where when I bought my 2004.

 

Get an 07-08 with the 4.6 and you shouldnt have any problems as long as it was taken care of. You could honestly get any year 4.6 and probably be fine.

If I were buying another truck for myself, I probably wouldn't get any year 5.4 3v ever.

 

I guess it depends on your luck, I have 110k on my 2006 5.4, no problems at all.

The only thing that was a complaint is the spark plugs, cost me about $700 to get them changed out but it runs like a beast now................. Other than that no issues.

 

Unfortunately, with those engines, it seems to be all about luck. Some run great, some don't. But I think we can agree, we see more people on here with 5.4 issues than 4.6 issues.

I have the 4.2 V6 so I'm not biased at all.

 

I don't think I'd tow 5k with a 04-08 F-150 with a 4.6 unless it was a standard or extended cab 2wd with 3.73 or better gears, the truck is too heavy for the engine when you add 4wd and/or crew cab.

 

I put 135,000 on my 2005 5.4 and loved that engine. I would not hesitate to by buy any 5.4 that sounded right and had proper maintenance. Even the sparkplug issue gets blown way out of proportion. Just not a big deal to me.

 

Can you afford a 2011 with a 5.0 or EB?

 

I have a 2005 XLT with the 5.4l that has 184600+ miles on it and still going. Had one bad injector with this truck one thing to consider if you get an 05 with the 5.4 as they had bad injectors. Other than that just your normal maintenance and wear and tear items over the years I had the truck. I would get another 5.4l in a heartbeat if I wanted to get another older than 2011 truck.

 

Your loss. My '98 2V 5.4L never had a hiccup. Torque the plugs correctly and blow-outs are a non-issue. My '08 3V 5.4L has been flawless with over 120K on it now. Changes the plugs at 60K and did the TSB when re-installing the new plugs, I won't have an issue. Cam phasers are quiet and show no signs of issues.

Don't get me wrong, there are some things to look for with the 5.4L, but chances are if it's been well-maintained, they won't cause any issues.

 

I wouldn't call it my loss. I like my truck. I was just giving an opinion. My dads mustang has the 4.6, it's great. My good friend has a 2005 f150 with the 4.6, 200k miles, nothing done besides oil changes. Still runs great.

I'm glad your truck is great and issue free! I know there are some 3v's that run strong forever.

I've heard the 2v don't have any issues besides plug blowout anyway. Driven many E350 vans with that engine all over the entire county. Great engine, I will fully agree.

I was only trying to say that, for the most part, the 4.6 2v seem to be less problematic in general.

 

Let me offer my 2 cents if I may on Cam Phaser issues. I've had more F-150's than I care to count with both 4.6 (2 & 3 valve) and 5.4 (again, 2 & 3 valve) motors going back to 1997. (I had many more Ford trucks prior to that, but they aren't what the OP asked about.)

The only engine's you're likely to see a plug blow out issue on are 2 valve motors prior to 2001. My 1997 4.6 ran 55,000 miles and never experienced the issue. Of course I never had to change the plugs before I traded it in either. Installing new plugs incorrectly led to most plug blow out issues.

My 1999 5.4 2 valve ran like a Swiss watch and never gave me any issues in 53,000 miles. Of all of my 4 speed automatic trucks, I still say this one was the fastest too. And again, no plug blow out issues.

My 2002 4.6 liter 2 valve also ran well - although it did not have nearly the power of the previous truck.

My 2005 had the 3 valve 5.4. The truck was back in the shop with the entire front of the motor apart after less than 500 miles due to a faulty set of Cam Phasers. It also had more problems than I'd ever want to air here and were it not for the best Ford Dealer in New York State (Shepard Ford in Canandaigua, NY), it would have been my last Ford truck.

My 2010 4.6 3 valve was a much better truck, but by 48,000 miles, you had to shut it off in a drive through so the staff could hear your order. Worse yet, Ford had issued a TSB stating that it was perfectly normal and wouldn't hurt anything. That kind of ended it for me.

So are Cam Phasers in 3 valve motors a problem? Well, if you look at my experience with two in a row having issues, I'd say they might be. Are they a big issue? I don't think so at all. Most of the 3 valve modular motors run just fine for many, many miles with them. If I was looking at a used truck with a 3 valve motor though, I'd pay special attention to what kind of noises were coming from under the hood. I'd also make sure the spark plugs had been recently changed.

Getting back to the OP’s question though, I’d suggest staying away from the 2004 & 2005 F150’s. Sure there are plenty of them out there that have served their owners well with very few problems. But the 2004 model was a brand new truck with typical first year quality issues. Ford’s own internal quality data shows that 2005 was a low point in their Quality levels. (They’ve been getting better ever since.) My 2005 F-150 – purchased to avoid the first year blues – kind of proved that point even with all of the running changes that were made to address known issues.

If I had to choose between the 2004, 2005 & 2006 models the OP mentioned, I’d suggest the 2006 – just because it benefitted from more running engineering changes than the previous two years.

Hope that helps.

 

I was simply referring to the fact that you said you wouldn't purchase a truck with a 5.4L, EVER. I truly believe you'd be losing out on some great trucks if you avoided the 5.4L, which by just about any measure, has been a hugely successful engine for Ford. Sure, some of them have their quirks, but nothing that should preempt the purchase of a truck if the engine has been cared for appropriately. Very few engines from any manufacturer have been without some sort of "gotchas".

It wasn't a dig at your current truck, either. Nothing wrong with the V6 or 4.6L V8 in general if it suits your needs. Given the choice, I'd still take the 5.4L over the other engine options up until the 5.0L/EcoBoost became available.