Elbow deep in it right now and if your intake is leaking or you have a gasket vacuum leak, don't hesitate to do it yourself. It is actually very straight forward. Getting some of the vacuum lines and connections towards the back of the motor is a little challenging, but not that bad at all. I took out the fan clutch and shroud, even though you don't have to if all you are doing is the intake, but it allows you to sit up on the front of the truck and makes it so much easier to work on it. The extra room makes a big difference.

It actually wouldn't be too much more work to get the engine out from here. Starter, AC, PS, exhaust at the manifold, torque convertor bolts, engine mounts and a few other connections and out she would come. If I ever have to do head gaskets, I think I would prefer to just pull the motor.

So far the only surprise is it looks like I have, or at least had, some kind of leak. The timing cover is caked. It isn't wet or dripping at all though. I think it is from the PS. I went through a few months where I was adding fluid to the PS reservoir. Ironic part though, I haven't had to add any fluid to it in a few years. Leak just stopped. I have never had that happen so I am very curious.

I probably won't have all my parts until early next week so I am going to start cleaning it up and see what I find.

Best part, easiest plug change ever.

 

the exhaust manifold’s are a PITA ...studs snap and need to be drilled out. just did the intake manifold on a 04 expedition 5.4. like you said not too bad and you are correct about removing the fan...laying across that motor sucks !!

 

I didn't lay across the motor, it was the stupid hood latch that ended up bruising my stomach. The second time I did it I removed the latch first.
Why a second time, well, I had a coolant leak at the rear pass side. All bolts were tight, figured a bad gasket on the new intake. Took it apart and found the knock sensor wire had somehow gotten wedged between the block and intake, not allowing a complete seal and ruined the knock sensor (but I had no knocking).

 

I put a bath towel over that damn hood latch...I guess I was too stupid to pull the 2 bolts out of it...lol

 

Now I know why mechanics always are using picks on newer vehicles. There is so many hard to reach electrical connectors.

Getting all the injector and coil connections undone is so much easier with a pick to help you out.

Watch out for those injector gaskets in the electrical plug, easy to lose.

As a matter of fact I am not sure #8 even had one.

Any way to buy just the read square gasket in the plug?

 

I never found a part number for that red gasket. I had lost one when I first got the truck, ended up finding it in the engine valley. I had just put a bunch of dielectric grease in there when I had no gasket.

 

If I can't find it I am going to go to pull a part and just get a few. I bet lots of fords have the same style injector. I also need a couple interior clips that I broke when pulling the interior to fix my leaky window.

If not, I like your fix.

 

I found the gasket. Everything at the back is not easy to get to. Doable eventually, but definitely the toughest part of the job.

Various length wobble extensions in 1/4" and 3/8" are very helpful.

Lots of cleaning to do now.

 

For those with 4.6/5.4 2V motors, make sure you are checking your spark plug torque.

Spark plug in #3 was pretty much only finger tight. I have no doubt I would of blown the plug eventually.

 

First casualty, plastic tab on coil connector broke. Just fell right off. I got the replacement, I'll splice it in this weekend.