Tyro

Hey guys, I got rid of my 5.4 2001 4X4 X-cab for something with better gas mileage (2WD Sport trac) a couple of months ago. While the sport trac does drive tremendously and comfortably its just not the same lol. I found a 2003 FX4 Crew Cab with 2 inches of lift in my area with 138000 miles on it for 5400. I know a steal of a deal, while it does need some body work IE: new tailgate and a bullet hole from a hunting accident and the drivers seat is torn. However there is a slight knock in the engine. I am going to look at this truck tomorrow with my mechanic to see if he can identify the problem. Ive had sparkplug and coil issues with my last truck and its not anything like that its much more subtle and there is no engine light. Its just a little knock when I get on the gas. It may be nothing, Ill find out tomorrow. Anyways are there any common problems I should look for in the engine I never experienced with my last truck? Also how much do you think it would cost to get a new tailgate and fix the hole in the door my self with bondo?

Tyro

Well my mechanic looked at it and said run away from that truck, said it had a bad engine and an exhaust leak just from looking at it for a few minutes so I guess I'll keep looking. Shame too, its hard to find one with so few miles.

Jbrew

Pays to take someone that knows with yuh donit.

Don't worry so much about the miles on the engines. If maintenanced correctly in the past, a 200,000 mile engine can be just as good or many times better than one w/50,000 miles.

The 5.4L's with higher miles are worth more than the smaller V8 modular motors in a like situation. The 5.4L's normally don't work near as hard as the 4.6L's throughout it's life. In-turn, engine longevity is higher for the 5four. Mpg's are identical for the two engines.

1968dave

I loved my 5.4 they supposed to be great motors. However I had terrible luck with mine. I had 80k babied miles and followed all maintenance on it. I had a valve spring crack and it caused chaos and a chain of things to break. I had half top rebuilt and it never ran the same. I ended up trading it in for 2011. Now on the 5.4 defense I have never heard of this happening to any other truck.

03f15012

Could get a used motor for a decent price, but labor would be terrible. Unless the truck was not taken care of, I'm a bit surprised. 2003 was supposed to be the best year for these trucks where a majority of the issues were fixed.

Jbrew

Correct, little issues tho. Nothing compared to the 3V issues 04,05's -O7's lol.

Not all 03's were updated, - perhaps 1/2 - most of them.

The intake manifolds composite make-up was strengthened. Not really a big deal, they are still inferior to metal and can still break. The 99's are THE BEST in that area anyway.

The heads,- plug chamber update was a waste of time IMO. Okay, it may help some, -for those whom own a tenth gen model year truck w/under 50,000 miles and never had the plugs changed. Yea, no worries now, if it's an 03. Other than that, just re-torque the plugs once and it's fixed....

So yea, any of these engines are great, -very easy to work on and figure out. What's harder to figure out, -just how long these things will last with proper maintenance ?? 319,000 miles and I'm not there yet, and the damn thing runs strong!

Tyro

My last truck had 188,000 and only ever needed coils and spark plugs and ran like new. The coils were probably my fault for going through giant mud puddles at high speeds...

Jbrew

, right, that's a little Ford problem as well. Not the coils, but the lower splash guards in the wheel wells. Ford used crummy push tabs to hold them on. - They fall off in no time, then the engine compartment takes a hit.

It's easy to make your own guards, - most people just let it go tho. Most likely because they don't know anythings missing...Well, until the engine starts doing so anyway.

You can cut new guards out of mud flap material, -like a tractor trailer mud flap and you can get GOOD push tabs @ Autozone on the rack, -or what not.