Thoughts On A 2005 Pickup With 5.4L

[RedTruck]

My wife and I are looking at a 2005 F150 Crew Cab 4x4 with a 5.4.

Does anyone have any experience with this model good or bad? It is going to be her vehicle for hauling twerps around.

Thanks for any thoughts or discussion!

Paul

 

[pete350]

my wife has the 2002 supercrew, she loves it. lots of room for the kids etc. it also has the 5.4L and the milage is pretty good for the amount of stop and go driving she does. also going up to the ski hills the auto 4x4 is great.

 

[pafixitman]

We just got a '03 Expedition with the 5.4 as a mommy mobile. All I can say is wow! We looked at a 2000 Navigator and also the V10 Excursions.

She had a '96 Explorer w/ the 4 point slow V6 (now my daily driver). The Explorer got 16.5 mpg and she is getting high 13's (13.8) with the Expedition. The Expy is also a much more comfortable vehicle with plenty of room for the kids.

 

[Mike]

The only negative will be poor fuel mileage, other than that the F-150 is a solid rig.

 

[RedTruck]

Anyone had any bad experiences with the transmission or rearend slip/clunking noises? Or the plugs stripping out on the 99-04 5.4? Or not being able to get the plugs out on the 05-07 5.4?

Thanks for your comments. It really sounds like most folks who have them enjoy them. I thought about a diesel for her, but she has a 15 minute drive to work. I just couldn't bring myself to putting a diesel through that.

Thanks again!

Paul

 

[pafixitman]

I brought up the comments about the plugs etc. on both the 5.4 and the V10 to another member here who is also a Ford mechanic. Like anything else, some had issues but for the most part the 5.4 is a real solid motor. About the only things he told us was to avoid the 4.6 (power to weight ratio), avoid the Navs because they have full air suspension and the Excursions will ride like my truck minus two wheels (close enough to true). To give you an idea I bought mine w/ 89K on the ticker.

 

[RedTruck]

Thanks fellas,

We test drove one last weekend. We got terrible mileage. 13-14 mpg. I checked it twice and one time was strictly highway driving. I think the reason it was so bad was because of the cold weather...around 0.

Thanks for all the input!

 

[NJKen]

The whole plug thing is agravated by techs not changing the plugs on a stone cold motor. Ford sould have put a little more thread in the head but they did not. If you change the plugs on this motor, do it stone cold. If they do not come out nice and perrect, chase the threads with the appropriate tap. The best is the kind that threads form the inside out available from snap on or mac tools. Put a good coating of anti-seize on the new plugs.
Enjoy youre new ride.
Ken

 

[JLDickmon]

Thanks fellas,

We test drove one last weekend. We got terrible mileage. 13-14 mpg. I checked it twice and one time was strictly highway driving. I think the reason it was so bad was because of the cold weather...around 0.

Thanks for all the input!

a test drive is not enough to evaluate fuel economy, and that overhead Lie-O-Meter is called that for a reason...

 

[JLDickmon]

Put a good coating of anti-seize on the new plugs.
Enjoy youre new ride.
Ken

BELAY THAT PHAZER ORDER!

Anti-seize will change the resistance in the secondary ignition circuit and you could very well be installing a driveability problem. Plus, it will affect how the plug sits in it's seat.

light oil (weasel ***, 3-in-1, etc) and TORQUE TO SPECIFICATION!

 

[MUDKICKR]

if its a 3v then run as fast as possible away from it, i have worked on 3 of them that have had bent valves on the pass side for some reason

 

[MUDKICKR]

and those spark plugs love to freeze up as well, freeze up enough that pb blaster wont free them up, on those i think anti-seize is the only way to keep them from doing that

 

[towcat]

I haven't had one sieze up yet, but I've gotten the rides that have vomited a plug. fortunately OTC has a toolset that can swage(sp) in a new steel threadsert where the aluminum threads used to exist. And the beautiful thing is you no longer have to pull the head to do this

 

[RedTruck]

Sorry fellas. We decided not to get the 150, so I haven't checked this post for a while.

Here is the TSB from Ford-Trucks.com.

Plug Removal Technical Service Bulletin

It details the plug removal procedure. I know this is a problem, but I talked to a couple of different people about this and the trick is to let it sit in the garage to cool down for the day. Then at night crack the plugs loose and shoot each one with Kroil. In the morning, gingerly remove them (follow the TSB). Some recommended anti-sieze...some not. Either way with the number of miles on the pickup I was confident that I'd have no problems getting them out.

I checked mileage with pencil and paper. I had the pickup for a week. I checked it twice over the same route using the same gas station, same pump...13 mpg. I know this is low and I assume it was due to the cold weather, but that's even bad for cold weather. It was flat, no weight, no trailer, just my wife and I. I think I could have explained 15-16, but not 13

I would have enjoyed adding it to the fleet, but if Momma's not happy...

Thanks for the replies. We still haven't found anything. Still looking

Paul

 

[tractorman86]

I brought up the comments about the plugs etc. on both the 5.4 and the V10 to another member here who is also a Ford mechanic. Like anything else, some had issues but for the most part the 5.4 is a real solid motor. About the only things he told us was to avoid the 4.6 (power to weight ratio), avoid the Navs because they have full air suspension and the Excursions will ride like my truck minus two wheels (close enough to true). To give you an idea I bought mine w/ 89K on the ticker.

now i've had the exact opposite, 4.6's are ten times better in my eyes, we've had 3 5.4's and nothing but trouble and the 4.6 has been absolutely trouble free aside from some bad plugs from checker which is obviously not the motors fault. an f150 in general is a very good truck just like all the rest of ford's trucks, solid truck, good power, but mediocre milage, i think the pros out wiegh the cons.