My '01 5.4 has over 180K with regular fluid changes and "most" of the scheduled maintenence done by myself.

glc has some good things to say as well. With a clutch this is VERY important.. Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Joplin MO
Vehicle: 2003 Ford F150
Posts: 8,542

With a manual trans, I'd expect 300k on the whole driveline except the clutch and U-joints. I'd expect 200k on the clutch if you drive it right and don't abuse it, but the slave cylinder is a high failure item on these trucks. When it blows, the tranny has to come out anyway (it's integral with the throwout bearing - a BAD design) - so you might as well do the clutch and resurface or replace the flywheel while you are in there. I'd also replace the rear main seal on general principle when the flywheel is out. No reason to use anything else but an OEM clutch kit. NOTE: The only way to properly resurface a flywheel is on a specialized bench grinder - if you do it by hand the clutch WILL chatter - been there, done that.

 

A friend of mine has a 2000 4.2 5 speed that just turned 298K. Its still all stock, even the clutch. Just recently he had to replace his slave cylinder, but other than that it runs great. He claims to have gone 14-15k without an oil change. I try to get him to do regular maintenance but it just wont break.

My dads truck, a 97 4.6 made it to 220k before the stock tranny started to slip. His truck has been worked hard though.

 

With 298k, I hope he did a full clutch job while he had the tranny out.........that's amazing.

 

The Modulars and Essex engines are longevity motors, IF their taken care of. Regular oil changes, with the right oil and filters will maximize this. I'm at 267,000 and get the Motorvac Service every other year. Looked at the valves and compression tested last winter. Valves are spotless and compression is right there on all cylinders, not even close to be out of tolerance. I'm thinking a half million miles at least...

Maybe I got lucky with this one ?? That's alright, I'll take it

 

I'm going for the half a million on my 97 , 4.6. Then I plan to finish customizing it, with new everything from the ground up.

 

Could you please share some more info on the "motorvac service"? That is something I may be interested in. I only have 74,000 on my truck, but I plan on keeping it for awhile

 

If it's the same thing I'm thinking of, then it was called an "induction service" at my local dealership. It cleans the intake system but I'm not entirely sure what else. And X2, Jbrew... I got that done a while back on my truck and it seemed to really help with performance.

 

 

you could easly get at least 300 thousand out of it my dads old 01 f150 4.6 has been loaded with tools and a ladder rack since day one and it has 140 some odd thousand miles on it and it still has some get up and go and its the original trans and motor

 

Googled the Motorvac for the best explanation -

http://www.autosmanual.com/825/mcs-2...or-manual.html

I've always done this one specifically for the valves and know that it works.

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There's also one other, I don't get this one, but heard that it's good as well. - It's called a BG service and it does close to the same thing. Ford offers both, the BG is cheaper for some reason, -not sure why, yet.

http://www.bgfindashop.com/bgservices/fuelair.htm

 

Calling my Mech today to see if he offers this.....Thanks for the info

 

My 97 4.2 5-speed has 96,000 miles on it and lt will easily make it to 200,000 miles. the 4.2 V6 is a tough little engine....

 

No problem, I'm not selling this truck, it's been around here to long, I'm curious how far it will go. Hell, it may run longer than I do for all I know lol..

 

Well, the 97 and early 98 4.2's had a major issue with intake manifold gaskets, causing coolant to get into the cylinders resulting in a hydrolock. If you haven't put the improved gaskets on, you may not see 200k. You are already on borrowed time.

 

Yea , the 5fours even had that problem. Well , at the front jackets anyway, - 97- 98's w/aluminum manifolds. Come to think of it, even from 2000, some with plastic manifolds had the problem. I caught it before they started leaking, but the heads were pitted @ the jackets, -surprised it wasn't leaking at that point. I had to fill the heads/Intake cavities w/aluminum filler and plane down. Very easy to do yourself, but couldn't believe how bad it got, -the gaskets were all deformed as well. That was also the first time the manifold has been off that engine. Second time, I had it apart for a port and polish, - same thing, but I used Felpro gaskets this time. No electrolyte problems and the manifold was bolted down/compressed properly, still happened twice.

BTW- I used Ford Blue replacement gaskets the first time around, this time I installed Felpro Reds. Not sure if that will make any diference, they did look pretty much the same except for the dowel *****. They were a fraction larger, so I had to drill out the locations before final placement.

If you own a 5.4L, watch the manifold right in front where it's bolted to the heads. Aluminum manifolds can leak as well as plastic, the bigger problem with the plastic manifolds is that they crack under the passenger side cross-over. The best manifolds made for the N/A 5fours was in 99, - The aluminum PI manifold - First and only I'm afraid.

Have a pic of the first repair -



That was then, -this is now - Knifed + P & P