I'm thinking about buying a newer F-150 with a V8. What tpyes of problems have you guys been having as they get older(or just heavier use)? Particularly along the lines of electrical?
I have a '85 F-250 diesel so I obviosly don't have many electrical problems. I was just concerened.

Also, What kind of milege have yall been getting with a V8/5speed/4X4 for exapamle

Thanks alot,
Brian

 

Well, the 4.6L engine I had in '97 was excellent. Absolutely no problems. The 5.4L I had in '99 was almost as good. Had a problem with missing, but that was cleared up eventually. The 5.4L in my '01 is as flawless as the 4.6L was.

I haven't had any electrical problems. No major problems with anything, other than leaky rear windows in the '97 and '99. The '97 took 4 tries to fix. The '99 was fixed on the first try. The '01 is leak free.

If at all possible, I would avoid the manual tranny in these trucks. First of all, you can't get it with the 5.4L engine. That pretty much is a good indicator why you should avoid it and go with the auto tranny. The manual can't handle a lot of torque and towing. In fact, the tow rating for the manual is something like under 3,000 lbs. It's over double that if you get the auto.

One major problem with all the Triton V8 engines. Changing plugs is a real biotch.

 

Not so: sometimes the plugs will just decide it's time to change themselves.

Chris

 

theres a few minor probs with each:
4.6:
some ping, mostly 97-99 not real sure on solution for that.....


5.4
some have misfired but i dont know how its fixed-obviously pretty easy to fix.

 

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Pete

 

Things to look for:

Start the vehicle up when cold. Listen for piston slap. It will sound like a sticky valve. The 5.4 engines are notorious for having this. Some claim it will never hurt anything but some say it will, who knows.

Look at the passenger side of the block. Look for any oil leaks. Some 5.4s have problems with sealing the head gaskets. I guess Ford used the wrong surface finish when they machined their blocks/heads on some of the motors.

There aren't too many electrical problems noted on these trucks. I have heard of some 5.4s missing on idle, I never had that problem and also never read about what the cause was.

These trucks seem to blow out U-joints in the drive shaft fairly quickly. They also go through brake pads like mad, but heck this is one big truck to stop.


That is all I can think of for now. I got 60,000 on my 99 F150 and I have been pretty happy. However I had the engine swapped out at 30,000 miles due to piston slap and the head gasket leak. However the new engine started to slap as well but no gasket leaks.

kev