5.4 Engine Problems
 

I have a 2004 (bought new 11/1/2003) F150 with the 5.4 liter engine. At 94,000 I am in need of a new engine. Due to the amount of miles driven, I used a local Lube Center for oil changes. They used 5W-30 oil instead of 5W-20 as required by Ford. Does anyone think this may have contributed to the engine failure? My local dealership feels it is a strong reason why the engine needs replacing.

Why do they say you need a new engine? Is it seized or just noisy?

What exactly happened to your engine? That oil weight would have nothing to do with any engine failure...

No way. It may have had a little more top-end noise, but there's no way in hell running 5w-30 instead of 20 killed the motor.

Your dealer is full of dumba$$es. I mean, that's some serious stupid there, wow.

I would seek another dealer ASAP! There's no way I would let anyone that stupid work anywhere near my vehicles.

yea, they just used that so they wont be responsible... And they are just stupid. I wouldnt trust my ford dealer to vacuum the carpet!

Get it in writing from Ford that the oil used caused the problem then go after the Lube center for repairs :coffee:

I have a 2000 with a 5.4. The perscribd oil was 5W-30 for my truck so how could this weight hurt your engine?

Your engine should not need to be replaced at 98,000 miles due to oil unless it ran out of oil or very low on oil. I would say Ford engines have run millions of miles on 5W-30. Modern engines should run over 200,000 miles with few repairs doing proper maintenance.

we have the older 5.4,s at work in 1t vans and have put over 200k to over 300k on 12 of them.very hard miles w/only a few tranny problems.that was the reason i bought mine.keep the oil clean and the wieght of the oil should be no problem.just my 2 cents

5.4 Engine Problems
 

Thanks for all your responses. The morning the problem arose was about 35 degrees. The engine had no power, was backfiring and then would "catch" and the RPM's would jump to 2,500 to 3,000 at twenty miles per hour. When we ran the diagnostic on it the computer can up with 18 different codes. Timing was advancing or retarding as much as 20 degrees to offset the engines problems. I am not sure what all of the codes are, but the motor has no power and sounds as if it is coming apart at any minute. As for the engine running out of oil, unless it burned all of it out within oil change periods, the oil was changed no more than every 3,500 miles - typically 3 to 4 weeks driving for me. I have really been happy with this truck, but I am disappointed about this issue.

Considering engines these days rely totally on sensors and computers to run, and the symptoms you describe indicate a problem with ignition/fuel issues.

An "oil" related problem would be a seized motor for the most part!

My best 'guess' at this point is probably a bad computer or PCM or whatever the 'brain' is called for engines these days!!;)

Good luck!

Mitch

Doesn't sound like a mechanical problem to me, sounds like fuel/electrical, take to another dealer or a good (non dealership) shop and see what they have to say. If you were able to post the codes on here we might be able to pick through them and shoot some suggestions out. There is just a lack of info right now. Could be something as simple as the coils going bad, or egr valve stuck open, they can throw a LOT of codes at one time, especially if it was driven under those conditions for some miles.

Not to knock on your knowledge, but perhaps the dealership saw you as an easy mark, get someone who knows a thing or two about vehicle mechanics, bring it to another shop and let him/her talk to the service people, you'd be amazed what a difference it can make in how they talk to you and what they come up with for a diagnosis.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too.

I don't know of any blown motor which exhibits such symptoms.

5 w 30, 5 w20. 10w 30 etc.. engine wont blow,unless you ran it dry. or never changed it etc.. real neglect