Hi All,

I recently purchased a used 97 F150 with the 4.6 engine from a private party. This truck is in great condition but it does have 80K miles.

My question is: If these 4.6 engines are maintained properly and oil changed regularly, about how long (milage wise) should one expect before they require an overhaul?

Thanks,

Keith B.

P.S. I have heard anecdotal stories of the 4.6 engines going 200-250K with proper maintenance.....any truth to that...?

 

You have asked a very hard question to answer. You will get more "life" out of your engine if you take care of it than you would if you did not. Properly maintained engines of varying designs will last a long time given the proper attention. Your engine is from the new modular engine family from Ford. Early on they had problems(they do not want you to know about) with the 4.6L. The camshafts were hollow with the lobes crimped on the shaft. Yikes!! A new manufacturing process to reduce the weight of the valvetrain(and its cheaper). Result was cam lobes snapping off the shafts and spinning freely, no longer actuating the valves. This has been a few years ago and I have heard few problems since then. Manufacturers today "design" things to wear out in order to get you to buy more. They have been doing this for some time. Your answer: a neglected motor: 80K the fun will begin; a decently maintained motor 100-125K; a flawlessy, built on tuesday engine driven by grandma at least 40 minutes continuous a week: 150K-250K* (grandma hit by dump truck at 250K) That is my opinion and my story. You will hear all sorts of these. Take them all with a grain of salt. Including mine. Do not worry. Do you best. Take care of it and it will take care of you. Too much coffee today!!!

 

I haven't heard of any problems with the 4.6 (and we have a little over 7000 members here). The 4.6 is a great engine (beefed up from the Crown Vic). These engines see the abuse of Taxi Cab and Police service everyday and are well known for their power and longevity.

I used get a new car once I reached 100k or so, I expect to see 200k with this truck (maybe more).

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The Truck: 1997 Black F-150 Flareside. Regular Cab ORP and Towing Package
The Mods: K&N Filter, Eurolid Hard Tonneau, Profile Windstream Side Deflectors and Lund X-Terminator Bug Deflector.
The Site:
Triton's 4.6 Liter Web Page

 

Isn't there a member here who said he bought a used F and it already had something like 120K on it and was still going strong?

My theory is if you drive few miles (5k to 10k miles per year), an engine might last 10 to 15 years. If you drive a lot of miles, say 25k+ miles per year, an engine might last 10 to 15 years. That's if you maintain the engine properly in both cases.

 

I bought my truck a year and a half ago. At that time it had 164,000 miles. Currently it has 197,000 miles on the odometer. It has a Romeo 4.6. It still runs very strong, and the chassis is tighter than my brothers 99 Z71 was since new. The engine uses a quart of oil every 1500-2000 miles and runs smooth and quiet. There is some slight knock when it is cold outside. The noise is only apparent when the temperature drops below the 40's and can only be heard in gear at approx. 1500 rpm in gear after a cold start for about one minute. The fact that it is temperature and load sensative suggests it is a wrist pin or a piston slap issue. I don't think either way it will have much affect on engine longevity.

The only rear problem with the 4.6 is the plug wires. The wires are prone to arcing in the spark plug wells. Ford has revised them a number of times.

If the truck seems clean and well cared for, you have a good chance to see 200,000 miles also. I my oppinion Ford's automatic overdrive transmissions are much more likely to cost you money than Ford engines.

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97 XLT S/C Long Bed 2wd, 4.6 Romeo, 4R70W Trans., 3.55 LS, 195,000 miles

 

If I remember right, Ford designed the 4.6 with a 150,000 mile durability target that almost all of these engines should reach without requiring an overhaul. I think the typical target for engines is closer to 100,000 miles. This doesn't mean all engines will get there, nor does it mean they will self distruct once it reaches the target. That all depends on many, many other factors.

Like Bent6 said, the engine will most likely be the least of your worries on this vehicle. To date, nothing but regular maintinence has been done on the 4.6 plant in my truck, and she doesn't leak or use a drop of oil (except for the frame dripping after an oil change, but thats a gripe for another place and another time.). 200k should not be a major stretch for a well maintained 4.6! Good luck!

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1997 F150 XLT, Flareside , Moonlight Blue, 4x2, SC, Auto, 4.6L, 3:08, Cargo Cover by Century, Penda bed liner, Blue Oval reciever hitch plug, Driver Design bug deflector, Monroe Reflex Shocks, 235/70/16 Firestone Wilderness AT's, sliding rear window, captain's chairs, Valvoline Durablend Oil, Purolator Pure One Oil Filter, and 114,000 miles and counting!

 

yes sir they took the words out of my mouth. These engines were designed to last longer that a push rod engine. How many push rod engines have we seen that have 150K miles on them and still seen to run good? I work at a ford dealership and I have seen 10 or 12 1997 trucks with well over 100K MILES still running very, very good. BENT 6 is an example of what to expect. Mine has 50K on it and run great! The Police use a version of this engine and run the s%*t out of them with very little problems.

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97 F-150 4.6 auto, 4x2, 3.55 LS, WMS Velocity tube, Dynomax Super Turbo exhaust with Echo tube.
Oh yeah, it's Oxford White with crome wheels, Legacy shell & custom grill!

 

In 1994, the prison I work at bought a new crown vic. to use as a special patrol vehicle. The car was a certified Police model with the 4.6L. The car ran 24 hours a day except for down time for maintenence. The car had about 120,000 miles on it when they got rid of it in 98. Because of the slow speed at which the car was constantly driven(15-20mph)and the recycled motor oil they used, the motor developed some problems. Engine would rattle like crazy when starting from a dead stop and smoked pretty bad, used alot of oil, but it still had good power and would still get up and go when you took it down one of the back service roads. Even though I'm not really a ford person, I'm still impressed with the power that car had with as many miles and the driving conditions the car was used under.

The car was in pretty rough shape when they got rid of it. It had aftermarket bucket seats in it after the originals were shot in the first year. I think it went through two trannys and had the front end rebuilt after someone drove it into a ditch at high speed. Instument cluster had to be replaced due to the odometer quit working.(we had to keep track of miles drove every shift). Interior was a mess and the exterior had a few dents. Check engine soon light and ABS light always stayed on and they didn't seem able to fix either one. Overall, it was a very tough car.

Our regular patrol vehicles are 2 base model 1/2 ton trucks with six cylinders and auto trannys. 1994 was the first year we started using patrol vehicles and they were 94 F-150's with the 300 six. They seemed to hold up well. In 96 we got Dodges, and they were the biggest pieces of crap. Always in the shop for something. toward the end, the engine in one of them sounded like it was going to blow up. In 98 we got chevrolets which I think held up the best, though I never got to drive them. This year we again got chevrolets and they seem to be holding up well so far. These trucks are driven under the same conditions as the crown vic was and they usually have between 70-100,000 when we get rid of them. These kind of driving conditions will let you see what makes have what weaknesses.

 

Hi folks, my brother has an f-150 1997 that he bought used with 17,000 miles on it, and uses it for work, it now has 390,000 miles on it and we just had to pull it to rebuild it . It started loosing power and would hardly run. after tear down it still has hone marks in the cylinders, no ridges, the main and rod bearings are just starting to get into brass. never did find a reason for power loss yet the block is in the shop getting checked now. will keep you informed if you want.

 

well let me put it this way almost 200k on my 2000 f-150............no complaints she gets new fluids the first of the month. What are you doing saturday I can let you change her and see for yourself!!!!! With the lift all you do is crawl on all fours up to the filter and give her a spin and let her drain from the pan and giver about 6 quarts of that 5x 20 and off she goes again!



oh yeah and bang on the K&N a bit so she don't cough.

 

Sold my 98 4.6 with 122,000 miles in 02. Only thing I replaced were the fluids, filters, tires and brake pads. It had piston slap and I still see it driving around town.

My current truck 02 4.6 has 97,000. I have replace fluids, filters, new tires at 80,000 and still have the original brake pads.

 

Hey? did I read that right? did u guys say that the 4.6 engine has NO push rods? So? its an overhead cam? driven with motorcycle chains? What about those chains? they wear out, stretch, break?

 

And pushrod engines don't have timing chains? WTF are you talking about?

 

Yes, please keep us informed. This is the interesting information we are looking for. I would be interested in the condition of the ring groves.

There is a lot of indication from oil analysis that there is very little wear in these engines. What you are seeing shows that. How much power loss are we talking about? Did you do a compression test?

 

97 is at 90000 and just seems like it is gettin broken in. We use it hard right along with the diesel, cept i have a little more confidence in the 97 cuz of the handshaker.

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