After talking with my mechanic...Im thinking of buying a 04-08 with the 5.4....he said one thing to look for would be many hours to miles ratio indicating lots of idle time...can cause a valve problem? Just wondering what all you have for miles and hours on your trucks and has anyone had any issues? Also the whole spark plug issue I dont like but thats another issue I guess.

 

every one makes a big deal about the plugs. i did my own in my driveway in 3 hours broke 2 and they were the back 2. the tools work great to get them out. so i wouldnt worry about that part

the miles and hours im not sure about im at 109k miles. and im not sure how to check hours

 

Also cam phasers they make the truck sound like diesels but if your alright with that than our fine

 

Are the cam phasers that big of a deal? Is there a fix or upgrade? How much would new replacements run? I'm rather disappointed in what I have been hearing...is my feeling justified or none of these really anything that should keep a person away from buying one of these years?

 

Guy to be honest. I really dont know alot about them except i got it lol. But i heard you can get it fixed from $700 all the way up to 1300 but ive heard if you drive it. It wont mess anything else up and i also heard it would so i really dk. Ive had my truck for 10,000 miles and it had it when i bought it. And it still runs great all but the noise. O and some people think you have a knocking engine. Well atleast my buddies give me **** about it. But its faster than there trucks

 

Go with an 07 or 08. No cam phaser issues. Actually I think they had that under control with the later 06 models. Anyway the plugs are not a big deal and with the 08's you don't have to worry about it. When you buy your truck go ahead and change them to be on the safe side. Follow the instructions below and you will be fine. These are great trucks. I love mine. Stock power plant is pushing close to 500hp to the wheels with no issues. Never heard anyone mention idle time and valve issues on these trucks. Thats a new one to me.

 

Every truck out there has flaws. The f150 has what people bitch about. The plugs n phasers. Plugs on a bad day + phasers = $1500-1800 ish. That's not that bad. And that's a worse case. The gm 5.3 has terrible fuel pump reliability and are Spendy to fix. They all have pros and cons. Only thing you can do is buy new or find one that was taken care of. Proper maintenance means everything.

 

another thing I was wondering.... from pictures of plugs that have been removed, I have yet to see any that look very bad. The damn electrode strap on those things is huge, I cant help but think they could easily go much further than the 100,000 miles before changing? To me they almost look like a .. well almost considered a non-wear item, they look like they should last for about ever. Anyone run their truck 200-300,000 miles WITHOUT ever changing plugs and have no issues? Maybe I am making too big of a deal about the plugs, it does concern me.. I mean you could be talking $800 or so for what Im sure many have thought going in would be a $50 simple plug change like it should be. I tend to worry too much, over cautious, but maybe thats what gave me 260,000 miles on my 94 with basically no problems. Right now she does have a slight knocking sound, but I am 99% sure I have traced that down to a leaking exhaust manifold. Right now she is sitting in my shed, I still drive her on the weekends, but pretty rusty body as well due to 18 years of Iowa winters. Plan is to start restoring her this winter, but would like to get a newer truck as well. The reason I am looking at these years is I like the body style, and quite frankly I just cant afford a brand new truck.. Sure, I could get one, but I like not having any payments. So, Im not at all ashamed to say i just cant afford a brand new truck, but Im not wanting to get into something that is going to shortly hit me with some pricy repairs. Seems the newer the vehicle, the less a person can do their own repairs unless you lay out the cash for specialty tools that you may only use once or twice. Dont get me wrong, I want one of these trucks, and maybe I am things out of proportion. If there is a permanent fix for these issues, Im willing to pay to have that done... I guess I have a bad taste in my mouth about these years at the moment, and not sure that is even justified. I know there probably hundreds of thousands of these on the road, and like most things you hear the horror stories but not all the ones that have been trouble free, repairs and things go as they should etc... Just not sure what to do. Gut feeling is I am thinking too much and hard about a couple issues I really shouldnt be so concerned about.

 

I have similar feelings to you. Financially, I could certainly by a new truck, but I don't want a payment, and quite frankly I love the body style of the 2004-2008 and the newer ones... not so much. When I first started looking, one of the used car dealers I talked to told me he wouldn't sell the 5.4L because it had reliability problems, and had a nice 4.6L he was selling. So that is certainly one option... if you don't need to tow anything, then get a 4.6L and bypass these two issues entirely.

But then I looked into it a little further and found that the power of the 5.4L was quite a bit more, and I do two a boat that has some weight to it. Looking into the "reliability" problems I found that it was primarily the plugs and cam phasers. The plugs issue is not really reliability, but just a pain in the butt when you need to change them. Given the life of plugs, I figure that "might" happen once during the time I own the truck. So, to me, this is just a maintenance item that costs a little more than on other vehicles, and its not something that is going to break and leave me sitting. Its the price of admission, and like I said... maybe something I'll have to do once.

The cam phasers is from what I've read, more of an annoyance than anything else. They are just noisy after a while. People get them fixed, and then after a while they get loud again. There is a "how to" I saw on here somewhere where they removed them entirely, but I'd be a bit more concerned about something like that vs. just letting them be loud.

Bottom line is neither of these problems appear to be things that will leave you at the curb, just annoying... but every vehicle has its annoyances. I had a car one time that the ignition switch wore out about every year and cost about $400 for the part.

By the way, I just bought a 2005 5.4L and love it so far.

 

Yep, just about every vehicle has it's flaws, which is why these forums are valuable. It allows a potential buyer to do their homework and avoid those troublesome and expensive model years. Case in point: your price mentioned to change plugs and phasers is bad enough...that's a few monthly payments, or a morgage payment at the very least! If I was in the market for a 5.4, it would be the later years, or one that has already had the work done. At the very least, I'd use it to negotiate a better purchase price if the work had not been done. Good knowledge to have at your side when buying.