I've got a coolant leak at this connection near the thermostat on my 02 with 5.4. After searching previous topics, I wanted to see if the consensus is still replacing the manifold with the "dorman" brand manifold. Also, looking for any other tips or things to look out for before tackling this. Plugs were replaced 50K miles ago so may do that too while I'm in there. Truck is at 240K and is still running pretty good but getting uglier by the day

 

If you go Dorman, you will need to do cleanup on the manifold intake ports and outer flange,

 

I am trying to stay away from the off brand. I prefer to have those threaded brass inserts like Ford has. But first preference is to reuse the original manifold. Never tackled a job like this before. Found a good video and it doesn't look hard, just very time consuming.