Scherb90

Hey y'all, This is my first post so please bear with me. This is going to be a bit long but i need to give you all the background of my situation. I have a 2007 Ford F-150 5.4L 4WD with 140,000 miles. I bought this from a friend of a friend about 6 months ago. He drove it hard as a work and hunting truck but took good care of it. About 3 months ago I started getting some hesitation when it was in a low gear and under heavy load, like going up a slight incline. If I turned off the overdrive it would run fine. I'm not that knowledgeable about this kind of stuff but my boss said it was probably the spark plugs and that this is common for this model and engine. Well about two weeks ago the CEL came on (Cylinders 1 & 8 misfire) and the hesitation got considerably worse. I took it to the ford dealership yesterday to run a diagnostics. They called me back this morning and said they needed to replace the plugs, two coils, and that there was a bunch of carbon and sludge so they needed to "flush it out." So I said ok sure lets get it fixed. Now here's the part that I need help on. They called me back this afternoon and said they got the plugs and coils in and the system flushed BUT the thrust bearings bad and I need a new engine and its going to cost 9000$. Here's where it gets better, they said they couldn't determine this until they got the new plugs and coils in and flushed all the carbon and sludge out. Like I said earlier I don't know much about this stuff, But why could they not see this before they did 1600$ worth of work, which is a whole other deal b/c there's no way changing out plugs, two coils and flushing the engine cost that much. Does this sound legitimate to you guys? ANY HELP would be much appreciated. Thanks Y'all

gone postal

$1600 for plugs, 2 coils and WTH is a "flush"?

Fuel system cleaning? IIRC that was about $90 service.

Yeah, they're hosing you. Time to find another shop ASAP.

haha

You're getting screwed. You need to somewhere else.
Sad thing is you probably have about $100 in parts and the rest is labor.

How did the dealer know the thrust bearing was bad after charging you $1600?

1917-1911M

There is a long and winding thread around here somewhere regarding plugs in these engines. Another screw up by Ford and my dealer quoted me $1200 to replace them. I already knew the sad story on them but this still didn't stop me from giving him plenty of chit about Ford's poor engineering becoming my problem when it should be their responsibility to properly change the plugs at a normal price. Adding Seafoam or similar is part of the treatment for removing and loosening the carbon that has built up around the long ground electrode which makes these plugs stick in the head.

There is absolutely nothing about a plug change that should destroy your engine. There is a possibility of this sorry head and plug design causing the plug threads to strip. I have the same truck except '06 model with 145,000 miles on it. There is no sludge in the engine and Ford has yet to get their grubby hands on it. I did have to replace the $25 4wd vacuum module.

Don't get me started on the rusted diesel tank on my '07 F450 that caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to the injectors.....twice, even though we changed both filters twice within the 37,000 miles when the engine went south. So much for the warranty, 1,000 miles out of it on their fine diesel engine.

Funny, my 1970 John Deere tractor doesn't have a rusty tank, nor my Kabota tractor, not my two Bobcats nor my '96 Dodge 3500 with over 300,000 miles on it. Guess who will never sell me another truck. M1911

Scherb90

Thanks for the feedback guys. It sounds like y'all know what your talking about so I have another question. They did all that work and then told me the thrust bearings are bad and I'm going to need a new engine. Could they have checked the thrust bearings and Crankshaft before they charged me 1600$ to put in new plugs and coils?

papa tiger

I would get my truck out of there and then do a little diagnostics myself. If it runs good and seems road worthy it is a duck that looks like a duck. 200,000 miles seems to be a fairly reasonable hope for these motors before a replacement. I would look at a 5W40 synthetic oil now. It is available and will quiet it a lot. Starting in 2007 Ford made a better spark plug. You should have little trouble replacing them if you do it right. As far as the Cops go many do all of them with a spark plug change just to be more sure of a lasting tune up. That also is up for grabs as really a good idea. A good carbon removal treatment to the gasoline like a couple cans of Techron will help for sure. X2

DetroitDarin

Dude - EVERYTIME anyone goes to a Ford dealer for service there is almost NO chance you are being treated fairly. Never, ever, EVER trust a dealership service department without solid evidence; irrefutable evidence they are one of the very few shops who do business fairly.

lewissa81

The flush thing confuses me too. Even if they knew what they were doing, they would have known not to do an engine flush with these motors. I agree with everyone else that you should get your truck back before they screw something else up. Papa tiger is on point with his advice, in my opinion.

JimmyB1232

I've never heard of a dealership doing a flush on these motors, especially on a motor with that many miles. And I'm a little confused on how they determined it was the thrust bearing without tearing down the motor, and after they did all the plugs and cops. The dealership has to be familiar with the bearings going out on these motors so if anything they should have replaced the plugs and cops on the 2 cylinders that were missing first then gone from there. And as for the price.... they must need some drug money. The Motorcraft plugs are $110 for all 8 and the cops are $55-60 so the dealership would charge at least twice that and labor on the plugs calls for around 2.5 hrs (if no plugs break) But most places add on extra labor for 1-2 broken plugs. So even if no plugs break, you're still paying for the extra labor as if 1-2 plugs did break. So anyway you look at it, $1,600 is daytime rape. I'd tell them to take the plugs and cops out and you'll pay them for a basic oil change.

Jhprobst

1600 bucks for plugs, and a flush that doesn't even need to be done its been said that doing flushes on high mileage engines can be even worse for them. First the plugs if they are gonna do it for you make sure you get the 1 peice plug put in. I did all my plugs at 90k so i didnt have any of them brake but for the 190k mile change i didnt want to risk putting something that would brake in the head again. The 1 peice are a tad more expensive at 12 dollars a plug so 96 bucks. This job only took me 2 hours. So 96 for parts and 800 dollars an hour labor sound good to you. but your getting screwed.