Seeing how I only onwed one Ford with the 302 and the rest with 4.6 or 5.4 current engines in them I will have to go wtih the 302 but the other 2 are just as well I belive all three of the old engines are better than the current V6 option. The current trucks you can only get a six in a reg cab 4x2 that tells me it is a very weak engine the older trucks you could get the 4.9 in a extended cab 4x4 even some 250's and 350's had the old 4.9 in them as well.

 

The 4.9 by far is the most reliable. I wish they didn't stop making it.

My old '94 F150 had 185k when I sold it, and never had any major work done on it. Simply tune-up type stuff. I know who has it and over 200K by now. The tranny is wearing out, but the engine is still going strong.

 

I have owned two 1990 F150s, both of which had the 4.9. I sold the first one that I had, which was an automatic(E4OD) that had well over 400,000 miles on it when I sold it and it is still running fine today, aside from some tranny issues. The other one, a 4.9-five speed, is what I currently drive now and it has 104,000 miles on. These engines might not be the most powerful, but they surely are the most dependable.

 

i have a 91 4.9 and had 200,000 miles on it and in 6 months all i had to do was a new water pump. if you take good care out if then the 4.9 can be a relaly reliable and good engine.

 

My 95 F150 5.8 has over 410,000 miles on it!! the only major mechanical issue we've had w/ it was the tranny. It went out at 305,000 miles. Runs great but looks like crap. It's been totaled 3 times, but hey it runs!! lol

 

my pops bought an 88 brand new with the 300/6 and granny four speed, it pulled so much sheetrock and other things and i remember the speedo going back to the zero's a few times...i still see it, still has the slight vavle tap , my other three 6's i run the hell outta them with no major problems, i just maintence them when supposed...good luck

 

My dad owned a 93 5.0 and it was beautiful only broke down once, now I recently bought a 94 with about 190k miles two weeks ago and the water pump broke on me 2nd day I got it but when I took it off I could tell that it had been there since day 1. Oil pressure seems to be reading a bit low but from what I can see its that it was maintained to its full pontential. I love it and don't planned to get rid of it! Soon I'll rebuild it and it should be on the road for decades! For now I think it's been a pretty good truck, everything else feels great

 

Revived a 10 year old thread.

They are all excellent engines. However, I had a 94 SWB F150 4x4 with the 302. I traded it for a new 2000F150SCAB4x4 with a 5.4. The new truck was more powerful, better on gas, roomier, much quieter, just better all around. The 2V 5.4/4.6 engines are even more reliable than the 302.

 

My 94' F150 had over 350K miles on it when I traded it. The only thing I ever replaced was water pump and alternator from failures. Now it did have a 3.07 rear ratio which IMHO kept it from being flogged too much (I mean you can't do much of a burn out with those gears). And also because of the gears it struggle to tow stuff but I'd imagine that if the maint was kept up on it another 100K would have been easy.

 

I used to work with a guy who bought a new Bronco with the 4.9L six. I commented to him about how reliable I had heard they were and he said he didn't have many miles on it when the timing gears failed!!