militarybuilt

Yea the old 2V was a dog. We got some work done today though.

BUILTTOLAST

This^^

Also,people opting for 4.6/5.4 instead of the 5.0 for reliability?

The 5.0 blows the latest 4.6 3v/5.4 3v out of the water on all fronts,reliability,fuel economy and performance.Id venture to say most 4.6 3v/5.4 3v have or will suffer from their notorious cam phaser failure/timing chain failure and if not caught/fixed early on will take out the engine.
In fact,a few months ago I came across an article "Top 10 Pickup Trucks Not To Buy" and I forget where it landed in the list,but one was "Ford Trucks with the 5.4 3v" ,going right into detail on its known engineered short comings of poorly designed oiling system and poorly designed VCT system.

As for the 5.0..
"Some" 2011-early 2013 5.0 had cylinder bore distortion,just a bad batch of them (not all them in that build range) and is easily noticed in a good test drive IF the particular 5.0 has the problem and typically happens early on in the engine life.
As for 2013-2014+ 5.0,they are cylinder bore distortion free/and really trouble free.Ford caught the problem by then.

Do yourself a favor,turn and run from the 4.6 3v/5.4 3v and get a 5.0 (5.0,32v,DOHC,TI-VCT) to be exact.

IMHO,anyone looking for a later model V8 F150,there's no reason to buy a 4.6 3v/5.4 3v.They are down on power/tq (even unloaded they are not quick on their feet) ,lazy,most times are not reliable and they are not not great on fuel especially despite their poor performance.

I know there are some die hard 4.6 3v/5.4 3v guys out there that will disagree and that's fine.

RL1990

The 4.6 was the stronger of the two engines durability wise. All those Crown Vic taxis and police cruisers vouch for it's toughness. The 5.4 was good but not as reliable as the 4.6. Ford took the DOHC version of the 4.6 as the starting point to create the 5.0. The 5.0 is really the latest version of the original 4.6 modular V8 that debuted in 1991. With that in mind I think the 5.0 engine will be just as strong as it's 4.6 grandfather.

BUILTTOLAST

True,the 4.6 3v did seem to prove more reliable than the 5.4 3v,but it still suffered from cam phaser failures.Same thing goes for the 4.6 3v in the 2005-2010 Mustang GTs.

The 5.0 is based on the 4.6,but it's really a completely different engine.Ford just started with the 4.6 as the base to keep tooling for manufacturing relatively the same.

BlueSpark

Well, it just so happens that I dropped the 2011 5.0 Lariat 4x4 off for a water leak and "tapping noise".

Water leak was the 3rd brake light (and now I have stains on the headliner, dammit!)... I'll scope another thread.

Tapping noise is either a piston skirt or a rod. $2.5K for a teardown or $8.5K for a new motor (I'm assuming, installed). That doesn't thrill me at 108K miles.

militarybuilt

Just run it until it blows, if it ever does.... I'm at 286k and mine has been "tapping" since almost new in 2011.....

BlueSpark

Haha. Wouldn't be my first. I've smoked a 289 and a 390 in my 67 Mustang. The 289 was catastrophic (Sheared piston, split cylinder)!

Koolponycar

On the contrary, Ive been waiting for mine to get worse or make the usual knocking and it has actually been pretty quiet for almost 2 months. The temps here have been unseasonably warm, until this morning. i have the normal usual tick, but the intermittent knock has subsided for now, can't explain that. I have the stethoscope in my truck handy for when it does do it. I have narrowed it to the passenger side #2 or #3, just want to be sure and have it more consistent like it was in the summer.

Cokesda1

I have a 2013 stx with 160k and it runs like new still.

rdallimore

217,000 on my 2013 5.0, runs great just a catalytic converter.