What kind of performance can I expect out of a 2000 4.6 F-150?
 

Hello, first post :o My dad has a 2000 F-150 extended cab short bed with the 4.6 V8, it also has 31 inch tires. He is considering selling it to me for a good price in a few years when he gets a new truck and I am considering buying it. I currently drive a 95 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 4.0 I6 engine, at 125,000 miles the engine still runs great and the vehicle looks good but as of late it has some transmission quirks that are worrying me, and if the tranny goes again (already rebuilt at 80,000) it will be time to get rid of it and possibly buy the F-150 from my father. I am wondering what I can expect as far as performance from this truck. I am not looking to drag race it or anything, just want to find out how it will compare to my Jeep. My Jeep has a few performance mods (bored out throttle body, K&N intake and header back exhaust) but is still pretty slow, I would estimate its 1/4th mile time is at a high 16 and its 0-60 at about 9 seconds, I do not drive this vehicle for speed, but then again I would not want to drive something that is much slower. So what do 4.6 F-150s usually run as far as a 1/4th mile time? I have driven the truck before the 31’s were on it and it seemed pretty strong and tourqey, but I am sure the 31’s are not helping with performance, even my dad says it feels low on balls going up hills on the highway. Again I am not going to be racing or beating on the thing; I just want a truck that is reliable and drives nice. Sorry about the long first post.

I don't know the 0-60 or quarter mile times off hand, but off the line it should be quicker than your jeep. As far as going up hills it may have to downshift into 3rd to get some power with the bigger tires, but if you put stock size back on it should help some. Btw, my mom has '00 E150 full size van with the same motor and it has adequate power, so in a pickup i'd imagine it is even better. I can spin the tires on my mom's with a whole bunch of crap in the back end. :)

As much as i complain about my 4.6 for not having any balls it really is a pretty good engine. Its really not that bad until you drive a 5.4. When i get into our work truck (2000 w/5.4) It is like night and day. Taking off from the stop it gets up to 60 with out hardly touching the gas pedal. The 4.6 does take some more time to get up to speed and it tends to shift more when going up hills. I will tell you this. The 4.6 is way better with fuel mileage than the 5.4 as far as the 2000 year. The new 5.4 three valve gets as good of mileage as my 99 4.6. How much towing will you be doing?

Your jeep might just be a dog. Before I got my 04 4.6 150 I had a 98 cherokee w/ the 4.0. My jeep was realy quick off the line, it more than likely would dust my 150. However I love having a truck bed so I could care less about losing a little in the accelaration dept. But the easy thing to do here would be go to dad and say give me the keys, try it out.

Ha-ha sounds like me, I complain about my 4.0 being gutless but then again I really love the engine and it has been good to me. I have no plans to tow anything with it.

Cherokee or Grand Cherokee? Because the Cherokee’s are much quicker than the grand’s due to the fact that they are about 500 pounds lighter. It’s really not that bad; off the line it is decent, esp. after the mods I have done, once it hits 60 the pull starts to really drop off though. Anyway yeah I will defiantly have to give it a drive soon, my dad is just a bit hesitant in letting me drive it as I am not insured on it.

My 4.6 with the manual transmission had good power. Not good enough for me though. I added a few mods. It's ok now.

You can always put a couple mods to get more out of that 4.6.

Very true, I would probably add a throttle body, intake and exhaust, possibly one of those tuners like the hypertech.

Stock the 4.6 in your configuration will go 0-60 in about 10.5 seconds. That's with my handheld stopwatch, 95 deg, 100% humidity.
With FIPK, electric fans, 30in tires, 3.73 gears and Superchip it is now 9.0 seconds.
If your future truck has just the bigger tires and the same stock rear end, expect the time to increase up to 12 seconds.

Fritz

it may sound funny but the 4.6L is faster then the 5.4L in every possible race... if it wasnt why is the 4.6 the one with high speed records and the engine holding the fastest 1/4 mile times.... well the 4.6L the bore and stroke are same dimensions. so the RPM builds much faster then on the 5.4L the 5.4L is same bore but longer stroke. so the 5.4L builds RPM much slower. making the 0-60 slower and the 1/4 mile slower. argue it if u want but with the 5.4 and the 4.6 F150's having the same transmission and rear end gear ratios the 4.6 will leave it.

I knew the rpm's would build quite a bit faster with the 4.6 however I thought the extra torque and horsepower would make up for it. Faster150, do you know of any magazines that tested the times out for each pickup equipped with the different motors? Just for proof, not that I don't believe you(because I do), i'd just like to see the actual differences.

i found it long time ago back in 2003 but cant find the website anymore cause now all they post are times for the 2004-05 models which are incredibly slow in the 17.4's but. to best of my memory the 4.6L ran a 16.5 and the 5.4L ran a 16.7. i'll see if i cant find the info from ford next time im up at dads work i currently have a kidney infection:( so im staying home

I have a 2001 supercrew automatic 4.6 weight is 5200 lb. stock the truck ran 18.15 at79.8mph 0to60 11.11 second after a few mods a relativley cheap powerdyne supercharger and most importantly the Troyer custom tune the truck now runs 14.21 at 94.8 mph 0to 60time 6.33 I might add that truck is a dependable daily driven work truck And gets better gas milage than when it was stock when you drive normaly if possable although you do need to use premium fuel. local driving 16 to 17 mpg. rear wheel horsepower is 358 engine 429 hp and app 460 ftlb torque, not bad for a 4.6 daily driver.

12 seconds, ouch! I know that my Jeep is at least 9 seconds because I have a video of me doing a 0-60 run, I stopped the video at exactly 60 and the video is 9 and half seconds long with a half second delay in the beginning before I punch it.

18.15 again ouch, do you remember what size tires you had on? And that’s a pretty impressive time you a running now with the mods.

Smithdogg1, please note that chucks bp's truck is a four door supercrew which weighs I would think atleast a couple hundred pounds more than one that is not.

Fritzthecat's numbers would be the ones to go on. With the power these engines make the truck seems faster than it really is, like I mentioned before my moms van seems fairly quick to me, even with about a 12sec 0-60, the 0-40(about where the transmission shifts into second) is pretty darn good though, and I have no problems passing anyone when doing above 55mph. (speeds between 40-60mph is where it could be improved imo.)

I wouldnt hesitate to buy the truck if you can get it at a good price, if it's a little slow to you, you might have to spend about a grand or so to knock off 1.5-2 seconds to get it to where you like it. You should really try and get it for a test drive, or atleast have him take you in it, do a 20-70mph run onto an interstate(if you are near one) or something similar to get a feel for it's power, or lack there of depending on your perception. Though you did say you have driven it before and it felt "strong and tourqey". Which is exactly how I would describe it. :shrugs: You've got some time to think it over. :lol:

Truck has stock tires p255/70r 16 axle ratio is 3.55 truck weight is 5200 pound sitting no driver 3/4 tank of fuel. A good custom tune alone can do wanders for these trucks, the thing that hurts them the most is the lack of going into open loop quickley on accleration and the torque reduction before during and after the one two shift.