Ford 4.6L Durability?

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I know there are millions of Fords out there with high-mileage 4.6L engines, still going strong. I used to have a '99 F-150 with that engine, but traded it before 90K miles. I am looking at a 1-owner '06 F-150 that looks great, but with 211K miles; the majority were highway commutes and regular maintenance was done. Just curious about the engine's durability, in particular SOHC timing chains and any other areas. TIA
 
I've done a ton of Timing Chains & Guides on SOHC/2V 4.6L's in my career. Is it a common failure that every 2V 4.6L will experience......I would say NO.

Listen to the engine very closely....If it has worn through/broke Guide Shoes, You will hear it.
 
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A family member has an 03 Ford F150 with said 4.6 engine. It's very reliable. No problems whatsoever. I've read numerous reviews about this engine. I believe the engine changed in 2004. If it's the same engine as yours.

Parts are not expensive compared to my Mitsubishi. Maybe our Master Tech Mechanic Trav can enlighten us. Mechanics would know. But, from personal experience, not one problem from the engine. Just my experience!

Good hunting!

Respectfully,

Pajero!
 
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
Not as great as a good ol 302 or 351!


How do you figure that? People seem to recall the past while wearing rose colored glasses.
 
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
Not as great as a good ol 302 or 351!


How do you figure that? People seem to recall the past while wearing rose colored glasses.


Those are some pretty legendary engines. I know not all of them were installed in hot rods, but the 4.6 was not even close to the GM gen 3. That 4.6 2v non-pi is so lame that it taints it a bit.

EDIT: The 4.6 spits plugs, too? Yikes.
 
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Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
Not as great as a good ol 302 or 351!


How do you figure that? People seem to recall the past while wearing rose colored glasses.

It wasn't really the too far past. You could still get the 302s and 351s up till 1997, when they switched to the new body style. Look on the roads, there are 5x more early 90s Fords than late 90s Ford trucks on the road. The tritons were spark plug spitters AND eaters. I knew a few people that had those problems.
 
The launch application for this engine was the '91 Lincoln Town Car, followed by the Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis in 1992. It is a tough engine, and definitely one of my favorites.

Depending on year and application, you may have issues with plastic intake manifolds leaking coolant (1996 - early 2001), or with the nylon timing chain guides the bean counters at Ford thought was a brilliant idea (2001 - 2003). Spark plugs flying out were a concern with engines produced between 1997 - 2008.

The timing gear was replaced on my '01 before I bought it, but it did still have the plastic intake manifold that I replaced before it got failed. Over my ownership experiencing of 5 different Panther platform vehicles and an '03 Expedition with the 4.6L 2V, I haven't had any issues with the spark plugs. When I was building the engine on my Grand Marquis though, I did go out of my way to proactively fix the issue.

Originally Posted By: Pajero
Parts are not expensive compared to my Mitsubishi.


I wouldn't even compare the two - you need a gold mine to buy Mitsubishi parts compared to what similar parts cost for my Fords. $9.90 for the OE oil filter (MD352626), $26 for a PCV valve (MD104723) and $84 for a fuel pressure regulator (MD305927) when the same parts for a 6G72 built by Hyundai and sold by a Hyundai dealer are $3.30 (26300-35503), $4.60 (26740-35004) and $18.50 (35301-36050) respectively. That's exactly what I paid for them yesterday.
 
Originally Posted By: Pajero
A family member has an 03 Ford F150 with said 4.6 engine. It's very reliable. No problems whatsoever. I've read numerous reviews about this engine. I believe the engine changed in 2004. If it's the same engine as yours.

Parts are not expensive compared to my Mitsubishi. Maybe our Master Tech Mechanic Trav can enlighten us. Mechanics would know. But, from personal experience, not one problem from the engine. Just my experience!

Good hunting!

Respectfully,

Pajero!


In the event Trav doesn't see this, clinebarger is an expert tech as well.
 
My experience with 4.6 ford v8 , 96, 03 , 06 , and a 2010 grand marquis ,, the only engine problem ever was the intake manifold on the 96 .Ford did pay for the repair . total mileage on these engines over 600,000 . I believe "bullet proof, " at least in my experience ,is an appropriate description .
 
The 4.6 is one of the longest lasting conventional gasoline engines ever made. 355K on my old 98 F150. Not one engine problem.
 
What's the one with spark plug issues, the Triton 5.4? Avoid that one, but I think the 4.6 is fairly decent IF WELL MAINTAINED. That means regular coolant changes in addition to everything else.
 
Just a small point: While plastic timing chain guides are "inexcusable"...it isn't the first engine which needs such guides replaced.

Now spitting spark plugs over a 12 year production period is INEXCUSABLE.
 
It’s a very reliable engine. While the spark plug blow out issue CAN happen on any of the 4.6 2v engines the majority of issues I have dealt with were from improper installation. I’ve definitely seen it happen to the factory plugs as well however not as frequent.

In late 03/04 they added extra threads to the spark plug holes in the heads. Lessening the chances of plug blowout.
 
There are thousands of NYC taxis running 4.6 Ford engines to extremely high miles (300 to 400K)....many are ex-police vehicles that were purchased with over 100K miles. I think it's an extremely durable engine.
 
I had a 2005 4.6 Crown Vic. Sold for 1500 bucks with 301K miles on it. No issues with the engine. Did not use a drop of oil between the 5-6K mile oil change. Used Mobil 1 5w20 [only] with Motorcraft Filters. The 20 year old I sold it to still owns it.

Only issue was the accumulator with the a/c. No other work was done on the a/c. Had a independent mechanic fix it. The 4.6 is the best engine ever built. Just IMHO.

There will NEVER be a low maintenance vehicle [and very comfortable riding vehicle] like the Lincoln Town Car,Ford Crown Victoia or Mercury Grand Marquis ever again. Not going to happen.

I also owned 1988 Lincoln Town Car with the 302. That was also a trouble free vehicle.
 
2V were the scenario where spark plugs would eject from the head and take the threads with it.

3V were the scenario where the bottom of the spark plug would break off in the head and require a tool to extract the plug. 3V also had issues with cam phasers that would shuck/click at idle.
 
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