Mis-understood / mis-heard cost of tuneup F150

[ddrumman2004]

I was quoted a price of around 700 dollars for a tune up on the 97 F 150 I owned a few years back. It had the 4.6 V8.

This included all filters and plug wires as well. No coil on plugs on this model.

I passed on that price.

 

[Schmoe]

A common blown plug on the 5.4 is number 4, it's the last plug on the passenger side. From what all I read, and can conform by looking at my trucks setup, is that one of the AC lines goes right over it and condensates which drops water into that specific hole. Cast iron heads with aluminum plugs plus water equals trouble. Those back plugs are the hardest to get to, you'd better be a flexible individual because I am not.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
A common blown plug on the 5.4 is number 4, it's the last plug on the passenger side. From what all I read, and can conform by looking at my trucks setup, is that one of the AC lines goes right over it and condensates which drops water into that specific hole. Cast iron heads with aluminum plugs plus water equals trouble. Those back plugs are the hardest to get to, you'd better be a flexible individual because I am not.


Heads are aluminum on all 4.6, 5.4, and 6.8L motors.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
A common blown plug on the 5.4 is number 4, it's the last plug on the passenger side. From what all I read, and can conform by looking at my trucks setup, is that one of the AC lines goes right over it and condensates which drops water into that specific hole. Cast iron heads with aluminum plugs plus water equals trouble. Those back plugs are the hardest to get to, you'd better be a flexible individual because I am not.


The rear heat AND the AC lines go right over top of #4 in mine. And yes, that's the hole that I had blow-out. It is a bear to get to as well. It is also probably the most difficult to get a torque wrench back into, which in and of itself may explain the blowing out of that hole.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
The 5.4 is a junk motor half of the plugs probably got stuck in the heads.


I believe that some of the 2008 and all of the 2009 and 2010 5.4L had revised heads and plugs to take care of that issue. I don't see any reports of plug problems with the last 2 years of that engine.

I drive a 09 F150 5.4L and the engine has been just fine. However, I will make time to check the plugs before I have too many miles on it and report back. The new plug style. Seems problem free.

The old style that got carbon'd up.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
A common blown plug on the 5.4 is number 4, it's the last plug on the passenger side. From what all I read, and can conform by looking at my trucks setup, is that one of the AC lines goes right over it and condensates which drops water into that specific hole. Cast iron heads with aluminum plugs plus water equals trouble. Those back plugs are the hardest to get to, you'd better be a flexible individual because I am not.


Heads are aluminum on all 4.6, 5.4, and 6.8L motors.


As they are on almost anything these days.

This whole issue is a classic example of "Internet Magnification". there are literally millions of these 'affected' engines on the road, most of which run nearly forever without any major service required.

But the few that require a plug insert get all the press on forums, thus it becomes a HUGE issue!

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: Cujet
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
The 5.4 is a junk motor half of the plugs probably got stuck in the heads.


I believe that some of the 2008 and all of the 2009 and 2010 5.4L had revised heads and plugs to take care of that issue. I don't see any reports of plug problems with the last 2 years of that engine.

I drive a 09 F150 5.4L and the engine has been just fine. However, I will make time to check the plugs before I have too many miles on it and report back. The new plug style. Seems problem free.

The old style that got carbon'd up.

The subs I have that run Ford's have nothing but problems with those motors. Plugs blow, they have a lot of valve problems, and they just blow. 150k is a lot on one it seems. Same as the Powerjoke. OMFG that motor is a POS, every mason dump or flat bed is in the shop all the time and its always over $1k to get it back out. The trick with those seems to be to trade them in as soon as the warranty is up.

The guys who run GM's and Toyota's don't cry much, Dodge guys cry a bit more, Ford guys...you just feel bad for them after awhile.

All the guys that run GM's go like 200k+++ with one set of plugs, a few oil changes and a couple air filters....

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy

The subs I have that run Ford's have nothing but problems with those motors. Plugs blow, they have a lot of valve problems, and they just blow.


I'd love to know what exactly is wrong with the 2009 5.4L in my F150. From everything I've read, they don't have the plug problems, the cam phaser problems, piston knock, or any other known issues.

If you have worthwhile insight, I'd love it. After a recent accident and body shop repair, I am at a point where I could purchase a new truck to replace it. Or I could simply keep it.

Just saying it's junk won't cut it.

My UOA results are significantly better than average and TrueDelta gives my engine good marks.

 

[Schmoe]

Dang....got that backwards....heads are aluminum but the spark plugs are iron....one of those days.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy


The subs I have that run Ford's have nothing but problems with those motors. Plugs blow, they have a lot of valve problems, and they just blow.


The post you just replied to showed the plugs from an early 3V which does NOT blow plugs. It was the older (2002 and older) 2V that launched them. The EARLY 3V engines had a problem with the plugs sticking, the complete opposite of your complaint here...

Quote:
150k is a lot on one it seems.


Weird, we have two of them with a fair bit more than that on them(the old 2V ones with the suicide plugs) and they run as good as new. We've owned 3x 2V 5.4L's and 1x 4.6L and we have ZERO complaints about the engine other than the potential for it to launch plugs (of which only mine has done it and it was only one plug).

They also don't have lots of valve problems. There were a few that got rough timing chain tensioners that needed to be replaced but that wasn't overly common. Some of the 3V engines had a tendency for the VCT phasers to rattle a bit, but it wasn't a reliability problem.

I'm sorry, but our rather extensive (close to 1,000,000Km's between the three Expedition's we've owned) experience with the 5.4L does not in any way resemble your opinion on them.

Quote:
Same as the Powerjoke. OMFG that motor is a POS, every mason dump or flat bed is in the shop all the time and its always over $1k to get it back out. The trick with those seems to be to trade them in as soon as the warranty is up.


The 6.0L and 6.4L were certainly problematic, but the 7.3L that came before it was very reliable as is the new Scorpion diesel.

Quote:
The guys who run GM's and Toyota's don't cry much, Dodge guys cry a bit more, Ford guys...you just feel bad for them after awhile.

All the guys that run GM's go like 200k+++ with one set of plugs, a few oil changes and a couple air filters....


Hmmm, looks like I'm going to have to have a talk with the Expeditions and the work trucks and tell them to start being unreliable piles so that you can feel sorry for me

 

[hattaresguy]

One guy had an 05 and by 190k it sounded like a diesel from the VCT phasers or whatever they are called.

Sticking or blowing I have seen both, doesn't matter its a problem that shouldn't happen.

Ford has been building V8's for a long time and got a lot of their other V8's right. You don't hear about any problems like this with their V6's, and 4.6 V8 as well as the 5l.

I can only report what my couple dozen subs cry about, and the Ford guys with those motors do cry.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
You don't hear about any problems like this with their V6's, and 4.6 V8 as well as the 5l.

I can only report what my couple dozen subs cry about, and the Ford guys with those motors do cry.



The 4.6L and 5.4L shared the same heads.... The 5.0L is the different one in that little list.

And the 4.6L and the 6.8L V10 also had the three-thread 2V plug launch problem. But for whatever reason the 5.4L seemed to have it happen more frequently.

Your vicarious experience with your subs is certainly vastly different than my first-hand experience with these engines since about 1998, and different than our experience at work. Not sure what to tell you there, but the obscene amount of mileage that LEO, Taxi and Limo service put on the 4.6L, from the same engine family, tell me that my experience is a lot closer to the reality of the situation than what you are hearing from your subs.

 

[bdcardinal]

I laugh when people blame the 6.0 and 6.4 Powerstroke problems on Ford. The Ford built parts on those trucks are bullet-proof. It is the engines sourced from Navistar that have all the issues.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
You don't hear about any problems like this with their V6's, and 4.6 V8 as well as the 5l.

I can only report what my couple dozen subs cry about, and the Ford guys with those motors do cry.



The 4.6L and 5.4L shared the same heads.... The 5.0L is the different one in that little list.

And the 4.6L and the 6.8L V10 also had the three-thread 2V plug launch problem. But for whatever reason the 5.4L seemed to have it happen more frequently.

Your vicarious experience with your subs is certainly vastly different than my first-hand experience with these engines since about 1998, and different than our experience at work. Not sure what to tell you there, but the obscene amount of mileage that LEO, Taxi and Limo service put on the 4.6L, from the same engine family, tell me that my experience is a lot closer to the reality of the situation than what you are hearing from your subs.


Meh I'll just stick to GM and the petty annoying problems they have.

When my business partners 04 F150 blew up at 80k a couple years ago he bought a Silverado and well that ended the trips to the shop.

In the last year he owned the truck the rear end went, a brake caliper seized up, he had a bunch of electrical issues, and one of the cylinders lost compression. Not bad for 80k...I guess...

In the 60k he has had his Silverado....lets see OH he had to replace the wiper blades...

I'm not a truck guy and dislike all of them. If I didn't need one for work I'd sell it and never buy a truck again. But I do, and like drills, saws, and excavators if I'm forced to own one, I want it to not bother me with broken [censored].

 

[kkreit01]

The key is, don't ask dealer for a "tune-up". You'll see $$$ inside his eye sockets. Ask for a "plug change only". This assumes you can change your own oil, air filter, etc.