Great forum you guys have here. I've gotten quite a few answers as a troller. Now for my first question;

I've got a 2002 F150 5.4l that I picked up for my son a couple years ago. My dad bought it at an auction in Colorado, and I'm 95% sure it was a water salvage. The entire undercarriage is rusted and the frame was backed with mud. Anyway, it ran great and I managed to get and keep it mechanically sound enough for my 17 year old to drive to school.

The other day it just died on him. I towed it home and the motor will not crank. I pulled the fan belt and but an 18" breakover on the crank and it does not budge, not even a fraction of an inch. Oil is good and not burned, and I don't see any oil in the water or vice versa. I figure it dropped a rod or broke the crank.

My question is; motor swap or salvage. I'm not a novice, but I'm no ASE certified mechanic either. I built a '55 Chevy from scratch in '05, but there are a hell of a lot more hoses and electronics crap in this than that '55. I must admit that I am a bit intimidated by all of that. I've got about $5k into it, got 2 1/2 years use out of it, including a Colorado to CA trip dragging the next project. I'm leaning towards salvage, but would love your opinions.

Thanks much,

Robert

P.S. - at one point it had a soft brake pedal that there was a lot of discussion I read on this forum about. I traced the problem to the Anti-Lock Brake unit. Based on info on the forum it was >$500 to fix so I got the fittings and bypassed it. The brakes were great after that. I did have to put a sticker over the ABS light on the dash, but that was a lot cheaper than $500 for a ABS unit. Just paying back the forum a little.

 

You could find a good low mileage motor for a fairly decent price.

 

Post some pics of the body and underside. I would say if it's solid, fix it. Trucks aren't cheap to replace.

 

A decent low mileage engine would be my option. Around 1200-1400. They swap a lot easier than you think. No need to pull the trans, unbolt the torque converter, wiring is 99% all on one block that unbolts and drops to the side, remove the intake manifold and fuel lines, exhaust is simple, drop the ac pump off the to side (no need to discharge) and start pulling.

I did my full swap in around 14 hours with help from my brother every now and then. That including swapping some parts to the newer engine, a lot of cleaning and all new gaskets from the intake up.

You can be walked right through it with guys around here

Bring it back to life!!

 

I bought a crate motor from AER engines several years back. Cost me $1900 with a 3year/100K warranty. AER is a supplier to Ford for remanufactured OEM engines. Fired right up and never had a problem with it for 6 years, until I sold it last year.

You could always buy a motor out of a junk yard, but they'll only give you a 30 day warranty. I don't like wasting my time and I'd hate to pull it back out, especially since it was a PITA to get back in - primarily due to half the engine being behind the cowl.

Do it once. Do it right!

Good luck!

 

Its all plug and play/ Long as you put everything back plug everything back in its not that bad to swap it out although its nothing like working on a 55 cheby.

 

I would say depending on how bad that frame rust is to go ahead and swap em out. There are enough people on here who can give you step by step instructions to compensate for your fear of electronics. If anything use it as a winter beater since I am assuming its 4wd and save the frame of your newer car from the salt/brine they throw out for the snow.

 

No kidding! You could literally have enough room to stand in the engine bay WITH the motor!

 

I'm interested in this. I have had a soft pedal for years.

 

Happy to elaborate. Shortly after I got the truck I noticed when you applied the brake slowly, like when you roll up to a stop sign behind another car, the pedal would sink to the floor as you pressed it. If you stopped suddenly it wouldn't sink. I replaced the fluid and replaced the master cylinder with no effect. None of the calipers were leaking. Only thing left was the ABS unit. So after noticing that there were four inputs and four outputs to the ABS unit I decided I had nothing to lose and yanked it. I used a brake line tool to bend the lines 90 degrees and couplers to tie the inputs to the outputs. Bled the brakes again and have had no issues since. Obviously the ABS doesn't work anymore, but I took the truck to a parking lot and couldn't for the life of me get the brakes to lock up. We live in CA so ice really isn't an issue. I found a small sticker and put it over the dashboard light. I thought about yanking the fuse, but didn't know if the computer would wig out or not so I didn't.

Hope that helps you or someone else.

 

I would replace the rubber brake lines they ballon after years first before messing with the abs..

 

This is probably what I'm gonna have to do... with my mid-travel front end I think somebody just yanked off the ABS sensors on the rotors and got different rotors so now my ABS lights on and the brakes feel terrible and the pedal vibrates around all the time. Is there a write up or any sort of picture thread on how to do it exactly?