Hello Everybody! New to the site.

I bought a 2008 Ford F150 Limited 2 weeks ago. I started researching known issues of the 5.4L Triton engines so I know what might be ahead of me. I found out about the plug issues and was told I shouldn't have any problems with plugs if my engine was built after 10/10/2007. I found the engine identification sticker on the valve cover and found out, according to the sticker, my engine was built 07-08-01 (080701 on sticker). I called my local Ford dealer, and their parts manager and lead technician confirmed the sticker indicated a 2001 engine for a 2008 truck.

Has anybody else run into this? Anybody know what course of action I have here? I don't want to own a 3 year old truck with a 9 year old engine.

Here is the picture of my sticker and the information received from Ford for identification purposes. Thanks for your time and help.

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Just checked my 08 and it says 280308, so 3/28/08. My sticker doesn't even look like that either, mine is a long rectangle, not square. Curious to find out what other people have to say about this.
BTW Welcome to the site.

 

Post a picture of your truck, We need to make sure it's not a 2001. Just kidding! Welcome to the site. Just for grins, check the COP boots on your sparkplugs. If they are brown, you have a 2008 engine withe the newer head design. If black, it's the same as the 2004-early 2008.

 

Well it seems you're out of warranty, and also don't have to worry about the plugs sticking. :o

That has to be a misprint. Did the dealer contact FMC directly?

 

Looks like the motor might have been replaced with a junkyard motor.

 

That engine was made in Canada it will have the European date format on it.

 

I contacted Ford directly. They confirmed that engine sticker identification was the one placed in the truck during production in August 2008. I am leaning towards a label misprint too. I sure would like to have their unequivocal evidence of that.

I am going back to the dealer, I want them to start the dialogue with FMC.

My concern: The 5.4L 3V started production in June 2001 at Windsor for the Fairmont in Australia. It wasn't introduced to the F150 until model year 2004. If that label is accurate, there is an outside chance this was a leftover from the Fairmont startup. The chances are low, but its still a chance. Until I have proof from Ford that it is a label misprint I can't rule it out.

Tony

 

That would make it an '07 motor then.

 

To the OP: I deleted the second thread you started on this in the V8 section. We'd prefer you have only one thread per subject.

To dsq3973: Wouldn't a European date format still have the year at the end? I believe that format is dd/mm/yy as opposed to our mm/dd/yy format. (And, now that I look more carefully at the pictures, I see that's exactly the case.) If you have a 2001 engine, there should be obvious differences - one I can think of is the intake design. Can you post a picture of the engine bay?

But, I cannot imagine building a 2008 truck with a 2001 engine. If you bought it used, the engine might be a replacement.

- Jack

 

That was my initial thought too. The truck has a full powertrain warranty on it. I can't figure out why a previous owner would not make a claim against the warranty if there was a catastrophic failure of the original engine.

Tony

 

Good deal. I wasn't sure where to post this to get the most foot traffic.

Tony

 

According to Fords Workshop Manual under Engine Code Information Label (2nd picture above), it states DDMMYY.

Just saw the multiple quote button, I will use that for now on instead of reposting against each post. Sorry guys!

Tony

 

You may be right Jack, I thought it was opposite of ours which would be yy/dd/mm so it would be 01-09-07 in our date format.

 

its definitely a 3 valve engine because of the valve cover shape, the austrailian engines are different, not as much emissions stuff on it so the odds of it being a left over from 01 used in an 08 is very highly unlikely. but that sticker does say 01...

 

Just brainstorming here, but perhaps the date format for the engine sticker is "Big endian"

Big endian format is used internationally to satisfy the ISO 8601 standard yy/mm/dd and is a common date format in Canada (per Wikipedia).

This would indicate your engine sticker code 080701 was manufactured July 1st of 2008