Well, after owning this '99 f-150 w/ 5.4 for two years or so, I think I have or have had most every single common problem that has ever been discussed on this website. Now finally, I think it has bit the dust for good.

Wife called last night and said I hate to tell you this now (becuase we have so much other ***** going wrong right now), but the trucks dead. She said it started running crappy, so she turned to head back to my parents house. About half way back it let out out a good pop, maybe backfire, maybe something else, but it also puffed a buncho smoke. It made it back to the end of the driveway and quite for good. She went to try to start it and it was seized.

When I got there, I pulled the dipstick, half-knowing what had happened, and found water. I put the truck in the garage and drained the water/oil. It hadn't really mixed much, so I got a pan full of water, and a pan of oil w/ some water. There was probably twice as much water than oil! I went home after that.

Anyways, what do you guys think I should do now. I want to determine if the engine is salvagable or if I need to buy a whole new motor. I plan to pull plugs tonight or tomorrow, and if the engine will turn, I will check compression. Where do I go from there? Should I just say f-it and buy a new motor, considering I've already bandaided it when it blew a plug, and now that cylinder doesn't fire quite right. It also slapps. It has 121,000 miles on it.

 

Although I think several people will disagree with me, I would say go get you a remanufactured engine, like from jasper engines and just replace it. I think you will be further ahead in the end.

 

replacing the engine would be the easy thing and prolly the best.
you could patch it (prolly head gasket) if you can unseize it. then trade it or sell it. if the rest of the truck is in good shape then replace the engine with a new one or if on a tight budget a used one from a wrecked truck. will you be doing the work or taking it to a shop. this will make a big difference in the cost.
Good luck.

 

i just checked ebay and there are 5.4s for sale there.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

 

I'm going to be doing the work myself, along with a friend when he's available.

I got a start on it today and it doesn't look good at all. I pulled a bunch of stuff off the top of the motor to gain easy access to the plugs. Pulled em all and found that it had blown another plug, third one back on the drivers side, the last one it blew was the third back on the passenger side.

After pulling plugs, I tried to turn it over and the starter just groaned at me. So I took a socket + ratchet and tried to turn it manually, no go. Is there another way? Should i have removed the belt before trying to turn? Any suggestion on how to free this thing will be helpful. Should I continue on and pull the heads?

After finding the plug, i asked my wife again what had happened. She told me again and it started to make more sense. It blew the plug while accelerating from a stop and she kept going hoping to make it the half mile or so to the house, about 3/4 of the way, it blew up something with a bang and smoke/steam or whatever blew from all around the middle of the truck as they drove down the road. They finished the last stretch, either by coasting or using gas, she doesn't remember, but as she started turning onto the last road, it died and she had to force steer it into the driveway.

So, I'm done for the night, got to go back to the hospital. I'm hoping for some more info tomorrow. Anybody think it would be easier for me to do the work to my Ranger and fix this later? It need all new bearings, races, a bunch of washer/spacer dealies, ball joints, tie rod ends, and anything else it takes to get rid of the squeaking as i'm rolling down the road. basically, i need to rebuild the front end. It's a '96 4x4 stx w/ 4.0. 132,000 miles.

 

Well if your need of a vehicle to drive ASAP, fix the Ranger. All that work to the Ranger could be done in a hard day's work, then that would relieve some pressure as far as getting the 5.4 fixed.
Sounds like your 5.4 spit a plug, which is acommon problem, but im no expert. Im sure the guys on here wil have better advice.

 

I'd pull the belt and try to turn the motor over. If it still seems seized, you obviously have some sort of internal damage. If that's the case, the next thing I would do is yank the front diff and drop the oil pan down to take a looksee. Pull one main cap/bearing and a rod cap/bearing and see what you have.

That should give you some idea of what you are looking at.....

 

Well, my mechanic buddy was at HIS mechanics shop when I got hold of him today. So he took down some notes of what I had and what happened and said he'd call me back. What his guy found was a complete new motor w/ everything on it. Everything. It will have to be shipped up here to Alaska where I'm at, but it's $2587.50. It's either a '02 or an '03 and it's brand new. That shops said they'd put it in for me if I wanted for 65 /hr with a max. of 18 hrs because they didn't have any books newer than '95 to get labor hours out of. 18 hours was their best guess but acknowledged that everything is on the motor and is simply a drop in and would most likely take less time, like 10 or 12 hours.

Does this sound reasonable to everyone else? I'm not sure what a new motor costs, but they seemed to think it was a screaming deal. Also, there is no core charge so the old motor is mine. They suggested taking my old heads, using the big-sert kit on all holes and e-baying it or posting on boards like this to sell to recover some dough. Could sell other stuff too.

By the way, this shop said that once these motors have water in the oil, they're not even considered a remanufacturable motor. Not that they wont run again, just that they are considered junk in the world of remanufacturing.

 

defective,

$2500 for a brand new motor is a good deal. Specially if it has everything. It took me about 20 hours over 3 days to swap my 4.6 for a 5.4. This was done in my driveway. I wasted about 5 hours because of not following the manual. Once I did it went a lot easier. I thought I could save time by not removing the intake manifold. Well you can't! A lot of time was also wasted because I work at home and I had to stop working and answer the phone. I have headers that I had to remove and reinstall so that took an extra couple of hours. I had to remove my 4.6 engine harness and install it on the 5.4. That involved lengthening the TPS wires and the oil sender wire. So I wasted a few hours splicing and soldering.
I did not have an engine holding device for the cherry picker so a lot of time was wasted getting the correct angle when lining up the tranny to the engine. I may have also wasted a few hours scratching my head trying to remember why I wanted to do this in the first place. It should take them about 10-12 hrs to do the swap with all the right tools.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier