TxFord150

my truck has the dreaded 5.4 I have taken care of this truck since day one it has 210,000 miles on it. am always worried about the cam phaser issues with this truck so am looking at new 17. my question is it possible to have one of these motors that won't have a issues or is it just a matter of time?

tareed94

The 5.4 really is a nice engine. I had an '07 with it, I even did the phasers on it. I would say run it until it starts having issues. I sold my '07 when it was on it's third transmission with a whole host of other problems. I could have fixed them all, but I didn't have anywhere to truly work on it and a shop in town was creating more issues with it. That engine never died on me, even when one of the plugs was misfiring. Some hate it, some love it, some have issues, some don't. My recommendation stands, run it until it starts giving you a little trouble then reevaluate unless you just really want a '17. I miss not having a truck payment.

TxFord150

Yes, I really enjoy not having a truck payment

tareed94

Then I'd advise sticking with your 5.4. Trucks are insanely expensive these days.

TxFord150

Yes that's my delimaa, if I hold on to it too long then am looking at dropping $5K to $7K for a new motor and still have 14yr old truck. Or go ahead and sell now while I can get about $5K for it and add to the down payment.

5.0nly

Here's my '09 King Ranch with the 5.4L. 212K when I sold it. Only problem I had was an exhaust leak on the passenger side. Serviced every 6-7K with Motorcraft parts only.

It is a good motor, IMO. Just a little maintenance sensitive.

tareed94

If the engine goes I'd look at selling for parts, or selling to a scrap yard. What would be good is save a truck payment per month until you decide to buy, then put that in as a down payment. Pretty likely it'll be a bigger down payment than trade in on the truck would be. I only got $7,000 trade in on mine with 181K on it. Mine also had rims, tires, level, sound system, custom headlights, etc. Not saying you can't get $5,000 trade, just saying I'd advise not banking on your trade in. Sounds like your engine is holding up fine, so I'd do the truck payment thing that I mentioned. Any of the 5.4 problems that tend to pop up, don't immediately cause catastrophic failure. People run with phaser ticking for thousands of miles before it jumps time.

650NutKase

You have a 2004, which is the most susceptible to phaser issues. Honestly, I'm very shocked it lasted to 210k before you had issues with them. Obviously, you are doing something right. IMO, do the full timing job and have a truck that will last you another 200k. The new Motorcraft phasers are a better design and LESS prone to fail. Oil changes every 5k seem to help them last longer. If nothing else is wrong with the truck, why dump it and get into debt for $50k??

tareed94

Same thing I'm saying. Wait till you've got some phaser tick, redo the timing, and keep rolling. I owe around $37,000 on my truck after 6 months of payments at $750/month. (Sticker is ~$56,000, talked down to $43,500 due to previous hail damage that was repaired) Trust me, debt and a truck payment is good to avoid.

TxFord150

Thanks I did not no that I figured once the phasers go it was catastrophic failure and you would be stuck on the side of the road.