Nah these gen 5.4s are great its the 04+ with the 3 valve DOHC that have the problems

 

I have a 99 and it has never broken on me. I love my truck and I wouldn't trade it for the world . As long as you keep up with the regular maintanence you are fine

 

I feel the same, love my 2000 to death. Rust is going to kill it long before any mechanical failures take it down.

 

If we are talking about 4.2's, it's a decent motor, but the gaskets that were put on it are just terrible, I've had to replace water pump gasket, timing chain cover gasket, I have a leaky oil pan gasket, and now my intake manifold gasket is bad. I don't have the time to fool with any of it. Plus I need 4x4 and a bigger cab for my growing family.

 

Well say what ya will and it diff episodes and likes of others but personally I love my 4.2 have had it since 08 it an 02. I've not had one prob. Just reg maintenance it's got a lot of pep for a 6 banger. It's a longbed reg cab and it's the best trick I've ever owned.

 

What about the 4.6? Besides being a little short on power compared to the 5.4, from what ive seen it seems to be very reliable. 3 years, 30k miles (got it at 111k) and the only problem ive ever had was an evap emissions code. I dog it pretty often and it sees alot of deep mud and light towing.

 

I would consider a 4.6 if I could find a decent one, them seem pretty scarce in my area though. It's either a 4.2 or 5.4 around here. There are some on Craigslist but I don't trust anyone on there for real.

 

Exactly what I'm saying. But hopefully that will be a long time away

 

If you do your maintence yourself keep a log of it so you dont forget. Also if you ever do plugs DO NOT USE anti-seize. The plugs need to be torqued and anti sieze will never allow a proper torque setting.

 

One thing I've noticed in addition to the plugs spitting out of the head on the 5.4, is a weakness in the elbow from the throttle body to the PCV valve, causing a pinhole vacuum leak. A lot of posts here on that. I have a 4.6 that was idling high, and looked at that first, but to no avail. 5.4 owners chasing down the same issue report that it was that elbow (and like ALL V8's, is a pain to replace - just like those back 2 plugs...). Just another thing to look out for.