I have read alot of horror stories, about the 3V 5.4 engine injectors failing and head gaskets leaking. The main and biggest problem I've heard about is hydrolocking. I was wondering if it would be worth it to replace the injectors and headgaskets? How much are the parts and how hard are they to install? Also what brands are good? Let me know what you all think.

 

A downside to forums such as this it that from some posts one can develop a a feeling of paranoia.

I'd play the odds and stick with "if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it".

Perform regular maintenance and enjoy your vehicle.

Joey

 

+1

 

You're probably still under warranty anyway, right?

The hydrolocking issue was more to do with intake manifold gaskets I thought, but there were some head gasket issues. Keep an eye on the recall lists and make sure ford's got your details. Chrysler have an online registration service for it so I assume Ford's the same.

As for fuel injectors causing hydrolocking, people who know more than I seem rather doubtful about it....not to mention, I'd assume you'd get more preignition than hydrolocking with an excess of fuel wouldn't you? The fuel rail just doesn't deliver enough fuel (as far as I know) to allow this to happen....?

 

if any injector sticks open it can fill up a cylnder fairly quickly. but the truck will more than likely start to sputter and die before anything gets bent.

 

An injector's normal operation is by a "pulse-with signal" of very short duration.
This will not fill a cylinder to hydrolock under any strech of the imagination.
The exhaust valve opens and expels the whole charge for all intent.
This is where the flashing CEL lamp comes from when the unburnt charge begins burning in the CATs, overheating them.
Assuming a single cylinder, as long as an engine is running, there cannot be hydrolock because not enough can accumulate to make that happen even if the injector stuck open.
By this time the plug has long been fouled and engine operation is in missfire.

The pulse-width to injectors are applied just as the intake valves are opening on the intake stroke.

Barring a very unsusal condition, the only way hydro-lock could happen is via headgasket suddenly blowing such a large channel, that coolant under about 16 psi forces it's way into the a cylinder at 'just the right moment'.
So what's new? You can die in the next 30 seconds! Do you keep worrying about that, all the time?
Hydro-lock from other reasons can and does happen to an engine after shut down by leaking head gaskets, cracked head, allowing coolant into the cylinders, an injector that leaks at that time with the intake valves open or closed, intakes of large amounts of water thru the intake air system, filling a cylinder enough to get locked in on the compression stroke.

 

Anybody know if the earlier gen injectors are cross-compatible? That might be a worthwhile swap considering the circumstances.

 

No there not compatible, Sorry to say, The new injectors are tall and skinny, the old is short and fat.
I havent seen any Head Gasket problems yet on these new 3 valve motors, but I have replaced a lot of short block for leaking fuel injectors and hydo locking the engine and bending rods. Most of the time the cyl gets washed down with fuel and drops compresion or I would replace the rod and call it a day. I would recomend to sell the truck and look for a pre 2003. I would rather have the poping plug problem than leaking injectors and engine noise. Now the 6.0 diesel has head gasket problems (if you ask me, its the bolts or lack of, but thats another story)

 

The 2004 model year 5.4 3V injectors are just fine and dandy. It's the 2005 and newer ones to be worried about. I've never had any problems with the service injectors I've installed to replace the stuck/leaking ones either.

 

I just can not believe (and have never heard nor seen any such incident) that a single fuel injector can dump enough fuel into a single cylinder (whilst the engine is running, no less) to make that sucker hydro-lock. That's so close to completely impossible that I'd venture to say that anyone who has supposedly diagnosed this as the problem needs to do a better job on the diagnosis. I've been building fuel injected performance engines for close to two decades and have not heard of nor seen this issue with Ford engines...

 

[QUOTE=JPRempe]I just can not believe (and have never heard nor seen any such incident) that a single fuel injector can dump enough fuel into a single cylinder (whilst the engine is running, no less) QUOTE]

All of the engines I have repaired had this happen when the engine is shut down. the injector will be stuck open, and will bleed all of the fuel pressure down into the intake, if the valve is open enough to allow the fuel to poor into the cyl. When the engine is restarted the fuel will not compress and will bent a rod. I have also seen melted cats

You can remove the fuel rail from the intake, with the injectors in the rail, cycle the key on and see the stuck open inj, it will be the only one spraying and leaking when the pump turns off, this is with just the key on, not cranking the engine.

I'm no expert on this, its just what I have seen with my own eyes.

 

With all due respect, until you've worked on a 2005 or newer 5.4 3V and seen it with your own eyes, you've got no idea what you're talking about. Go search the 2004-Present forum and see.

I've had 5.4 3Vs hydrolock from stuck injectors in my own hands. I've seen them bend rods far enough to where the rod bolts strike the skirt of the block while the engine's running. I've seen them hydrolock to where the engine will shear the bendix off the starter during cranking. Don't go making stupid assumptions on something you've got no clue about.

 

Quintin
I have an 05' 3v 5.4. In your opinion, what would you do concerning the injectors(if you have or if you had an 05' or later). ? run a bottle of fuel injector cleaner quarterly. ? change out the injectors(if the newer ones are any better). I don't want to freak-out, but my warranty is about to go out. Any recommendations would be much appreciated...... Is this issue big enough to cause significant concern or is it a small percentage paranoia being created? Darn, and I was just getting over the sticking/breaking plug phenomenon.

 

If it was a truck I was gonna keep for a long time, I'd consider buying a good powertrain ESP warranty and/or replacing all the injectors myself. I'm gonna do the latter on my mom's '05 Expedition; it's close to running out of warranty, and I've already had one injector stick on it.

 

Can I ask you if your reading comprehension skills are even worthy of a 5 year old child?

Considering I've built seven 5.4L 3V and about 35 (not going to run through the records and search, but suffice to say it's close to three dozen in the past two years) 4.6L 3V, I think I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about. Now...if you would actually read my post, I was talking specifically about running engines and flooding the cylinder like a prior poster had stated. That's not possible unless you have a fuel rail the size of a garden hose and a three Walbro 190 lph pump setup (run in series-parallel).

Get my drift now? c-burke9 didn't have any problems understanding what I was talking about, so why with all of your vast intelligence and experience should you Quintin?