Did Ford ever fix the timing hardware in their 5.4 3v engines

[GON]

Most everyone in the know, including me, will not purchase a Ford with a 5.4l 3v engine, because of the timing hardware issues. Ford did fix the two part spark plug design on or about 2008 (its is reported).

Ford released the 5.4l 3v engine on or about model year 2005. My question is, did Ford every fix the internal timing hardware for the 5.4l 3v, in later model years?

Please note, this is not a bash of Ford. I have a 2007 F350 with the 5.4L 3v and about 200k miles. It has not shown signs of timing hardware issues. I speculate that frequent oil changes of high-end oils may have extended the internal timing hardware life in my 2007 F350.

 

[Kruse]

For the most part, yes. However ALL replacement parts must be Ford parts. Avoid any aftermarket parts like the plague.

 

[b_b]

when they released the steel bodies in 09 they timing was revised and those trucks were very good trucks. they went to the Eco boost in 11 and those especially the early ones were a mixed bag. different story, depending on who you are talking too.

 

[D60]

No, not really. They just kept polishing a turd, making tiny incremental changes like revising the seals on the hydraulic tensioners, updating phasers, reducing oil hole size in the followers to increase oil pressure....and at least on the 2V's I thought they redesigned the chain guides but I don't recall if the 3V's got a physical redesign of the guides.

I've seen plenty of Makuloco vids where he's tearing into 2009+ 3Vs

It's simply a terrible foundation for longevity and reliability. When you build a house on fresh backfill you can keep reinforcing tiny places in the foundation but you're just constantly putting out spot fires when you should just raze it and start with an entirely new platform

Again, my wife dailies an '08 F150 5.4 so I'm not a blanket Ford hater. My other two trucks are '07 F150 (2V) and '11 F350 6.2

 

[Cujet]

It's simply a terrible foundation for longevity and reliability. When you build a house on fresh backfill you can keep reinforcing tiny places in the foundation but you're just constantly putting out spot fires when you should just raze it and start with an entirely new platform

Really, that's just not true. The later 5.4's came with improved phasers, tensioners, guides and so on. The real problem is that the engine is not well configured for 5W-20 oil and it's no surprise that the combination of 10K OCI's and insufficient viscosity leads to problems. Use at least a synthetic 10W-30 and 5000 mi OCI's and the engine will last. I've got a 2009 5.4L 3v coming up on 200K, no issues what so ever.

I've used M1, 10W-30 in this engine from new, and currently on M1 10W-40HM, as I could not find 10W-30 M1 anywhere.

There are quite a few 5.4L 3v engines north of 300K miles. The secret is above. I know of one with 440K miles.

Just an FYI, our local Ford dealership switched all these engines to 10W-40 more than 10 years ago. It 100% prevented warranty claims.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I had an 05 F-150 crew cab 4x4 with the 5.4 engine and ran it to 225,000 miles. The previous owner changed the oil every 3,000 miles and put a ton of road miles on the vehicle. It ran like a top when I sold it and I talked to the guy I sold it to and he ran it several thousand miles and it still ran great. I think the trick is keeping nice clean synthetic oil in the engine. I used a 0W-20 or a 5W-20 every time I changed the oil and the original owner used the Ford synthetic blend.

 

[D60]

I service an '04 (note: theoretically no updates in 2004!) with 406k on the clock. The owner bought it with ~80k and is on his second transmission and his 9.75 now has play in the pinion bearings but the motor is original he says.

So, unicorns exist! You can always find that one person who ate nothing but fried food, smoked two packs a day and drank like a fish and still lived to 98 years

But in general the mere fact that GON is asking means he knows ("If you have to ask .......") and examples of making it to 200k shouldn't be impressive or even worthy of mention.

Allegedly Ford says to do the timing sets every 150k but I have no link to actual Ford documentation on that.

 

[JavierH19]

They kind of did with the 12th gen f150 by updating the heads. Still wasn't a hit and was replaced by the 5.0 just a few years later

 

[Kruse]

Again, my wife dailies an '08 F150 5.4 so I'm not a blanket Ford hater. My other two trucks are '07 F150 (2V) and '11 F350 6.2

An '07 5.4 with the 2V engine? Is that a two-year leftover engine or what?

 

[stanlee]

They fixed nothing. They made revisions that last longer but will still routinely fail well short of acceptable. If you call revised well enough to last 100k miles and cam phasers/timing job then becoming part of 100k miles routine maintenance I guess they fixed it. The real fixed was putting in a 5.0L coyote mid (12th) generation in 2011. And I know there are going to be the 100s of thousand testimonials that made it to 200k miles miles trouble free but all you have to do is go to ANY engine replacement shop and ask how many they've replaced.

 

[ripcord]

My wife's 07 5.4l has 260K and never been open. It had 5k changes with mostly Chevron Supreme 5w-20 for the first 160k miles. After that it got whatever synthetic 5w-30 was on sale. That engine has never had any engine work at all except for new plugs. Zero. That rig has been on a rollback truck once in it's life and that was for a dead fuel pump. I guess we've been lucky.

 

[D60]

I watched this guy for the first time last night tear down a 5.6 Nissan. Then today YT fed me the 5.4 3V episode

I like him!

 

[cmarshall78]

My 08 5.4 was gone through by Brian at BSG (fordtechmakuloco) about a year ago. It's a complete different animal with the high pressure oil pump, upgraded roller followers and cam phasers. At this point the engine will outlast the body. Had a hard time spending 3k on a 14 year old vehicle, but was alot cheaper than a new one.

 

[wtd]

My 08 5.4 was gone through by Brian at BSG (fordtechmakuloco) about a year ago. It's a complete different animal with the high pressure oil pump, upgraded roller followers and cam phasers. At this point the engine will outlast the body. Had a hard time spending 3k on a 14 year old vehicle, but was alot cheaper than a new one.

Brian seems to be the go-to guy for repairing the 5.4L engines. I love his channel and he definitely knows his stuff. You are lucky that you were able to have him do the work.

 

[01rangerxl]

We have an '09 5.4 at work. I forget how many miles it has now, but it has to be closing in on 200k if it hasn't passed it. Most of those are from the past 3 years as it was purchased at yet another government auction with about 77k on it, the frame absolutely caked in mud. It has been a really good truck actually. I insist on 5W30 synthetic and usually get something like a NAPA Gold filter.