I love how this little ol' thread of mine keeps coming back. I guess I could post something useful since I'm doing this. March was a maintenance month, flushed the tranny and cooling system, replaced the battery, replaced the serp belt and one bad idler pulley and changed the plugs. The plugs were a long job but patience paid off as all 8 came out without breaking. The scariest part was always the first turn of the ratchet because of the initial creak the plug would do. Soaking them in penetrating oil and turning them in and out got the job done. I installed the one piece Champion plugs so I'll post back here once I get some decent miles on them. So far though no complaints, runs really well. Oh, for those that might be wondering the stock plugs had 64K on them.

 

Mine is a champ.

 

147,000 miles....excellent truck, i like it a lot. Cam phasers are a bit annoying, other than that, doesn't leak or burn oil. Had the underbody coated with that rhino liner stuff since new, that's the way to go.

 

I'm the original owner, ordered it from the factory and just made my last payment on it. Only has 55,000 KM.

Some of the issues so far:
- Paint defect on the roof from the factory (Fixed by Dealer)
- butyl pad removal (Recall)
- rear wheel seals
- water leak at bottom of front passenger windshield pillar (Fixed by Dealer)
- problems with the ABS system
- one of front airbag sensors died
- always had some type of weird electrical short issue when it is very humid and rainy out. Headlights come on when parked in the driveway, backup lights stay on. Strange??(I've never been able to resolve this one yet)
- a bit of rust starting to come out on the rear bumper

But that's OK I still love my truck.

 

No MAJOR issues yet... This is one of the best pickups I've every owned. (I really hope I didn't just jinx myself! I hate when I do that!)

 

'04 Lariat Screw 4x4....with about 25k on the clock. I bought it in Jan '07 with 7k on the clock.
Problems so far...
-leaking 3rd brake gasket which I replaced last summer and still can't get it to dry out under the carpets.
-driver's power seat connection punky...if my wife changes the seat position and I return it, the seat heat won't work
-electrical...security module blew and door sensor died causing the ford techs to pull their hair out and charge ford.ca close to $5000 to diagnose...
-rear wheel bearings
-seized steering knuckle...$500 to repair
-4x4...IWE's
-intermittent cruise control

Don't get me wrong...I love this truck but, it's a frigging POS! It's falling apart with only 25k on the clock...I'm gonna unload it very soon!

 

Just turned 15,000 miles on mine. Only problem was a blown headlamp, replaced under warranty, and a leaking 3rd brake light, I replaced after the warranty expired.

 

15,000 miles? Dude you need to get out more!.......

 

69,000, had to replace rear calipers{sticking}and master cylinder...all under warranty.. i got the premium warranty thank goodness!! been a good truck

 

My '04 has been a great truck except I just blew the engine at 118,000 mi. Truck was very well maintained and not abused. Started having multiple misses and the emissions warning light came on. I was slowly making my way to the dealers shop butafter about 5 miles something broke. The dealer has it and wants $7900 to install an engine. I plan to bring it home and tear it down to see what happened.
Any suggestions on a reliable source of remanufactured engines besides from the Ford dealer. I can buy a long block for $4200 from Ford and install myself.

 

I read a post about someone needing a new engine and they took photos of the process and the dealer actually removed the body to swap out the motor... I don't know if it necessary or they just decided to do it that way, if you do it yourself will you remove the body? Good Luck
GG

 

Unless you tear down the engine with it still in the truck, the only way to get it out is to unbolt the cab and remove it from the frame.

 

I hope that I can unbolt the cab and just jack it up and get enough clearance along with radiator, etc. removal.

 

why do people keep saying this?

if you are careful, you can pull the motor with it intact...but it is a bit of PITA


however, if you pull the upper intake off, you can yank that thing with ease. The upper intake is only 10 bolts, and a few wiring plugs...just be careful with the vacuum hose on the back of the intake, and the fuel line

 

I am going to try removing without raising the cab. I just have a hard time believing that anyone would design a truck that would require cab removal to pull the engine.
Any suggestions for a source for a new engine if this one is beyond repair?