Well, I have the worst motor Ford built the 5.4L. It needs its second head gasket on the right side in 49,000 miles. The engine has piston slap when started cold and it has been known to blow plugs right out of the aluminum heads. The door skins are known to crack and the rear slider window is pron to leak. I called the Ford dealership that did the work the first time (3 years ago) and they need to wait until the service manager returns to see what they can do. I called the other Ford dealership and they said bring it in and they "think" they can help me and it will only cost $150.00. I hope so its too close to Christmas for a $1700.00 service bill. I have heard GM is replacing motors on their trucks with the same piston slap problem. You try to buy an American Truck but I am so close to buying the New Nissan Full Size truck when it comes out. I have had Nissan cars and they are fast and trouble free. If their truck is built as well as their cars good bye American Trucks. Soon to be for sale one Ford Truck.
Ed - My experiences with those 4.6 and 5.4 heads is that they are very prone to cracking/warping. I used to see ALOT of small cracks in the combustion chamber, right near the valves. Not too impressed with the quality of the aluminum.
Well, atleast when yours does run it has some torque. My torqueless '99 Z-71 pi$$e$ me off every time I hook my boat up to it. Have you seen all of the "quality campaign(recall)" issues for the GM trucks. They are Junk. When you pay $31k for a new truck you dont expect the seat latch to break(so you slide back and forth until the seat decides it wants to catch, the driveshaft to squeek going over every speed bump, the 3rd door to not latch below 20degF, the 4wd to stick in lowrange, the buttons on the radio to lose their nighttime illumination, and the ABS motor to run until your battery is dead($900). GM I do admit does have consistant quality. These same defects are on most of their trucks. I have 5 friends with GMCs or shivy's and they all have the same problems with the exception of the 2000 model which also has the benefit of having the 'short skirt race pistons' that start sounding like a diesel after 30000miles. My last Ford a 92F150, has over 200000miles on it and the only thing it ever needed was a exhaust manifold that cracked, and a starter.
Sorry I got on the rant about the GM junk. My friend has a 97 F150/5.4 with 125,000miles and the only problem he has had has been 2 coils going bad. GM trucks are faster than the Fords but for pulling the Fords kick their buts.
ford truck my daily driver is a 1990 f-250. its got the 5.8L engine. just turned 97,000 miles and its never let me down. the problem i see is vehicle manufacturers always seem to come out with new engines instead of staying with engines that have had enough of a production run to sort out all the problems. same with transmissions. if you dont want trans problems stay away from chrysler trucks.
Hi Glenn- The Dakota had the tranny rebuilt at 72,000 and is only good for parade drives. It has no power at all. Fun but no power. Hi Rob- The problem with the head gaskets started in 98. I am glad your friend got a good one. Did he have his exhaust rerouted since it was in front of the right rear tire and discolored the wheel? I have heard GM had problems too. Well I will see how it goes because I do like the look for the truck.(Flareside)
A friend at work has an Expedition that blew the head gaskets for the second time. Now they say both heads are cracked. My daughter has a 2000 Cougar and the sunroof and power door locks went out. Dealer wants $1600 to fix the sunroof and $389 for the locks. My son's Dodge Ram needs a trans at 75K. Reaffirms why I like GM. They want me to fix the junk. I told them they should have bought GM them I'd be more likely to help. Sorry..... Bruce
Ed, sorry to hear of your Ford problems. I assure you, though, Ford's not alone. Also, when you build about a million F series per year, not all are going to be perfect. I gotta say that my 2000 F 150 has never been in the shop and has never had a SINGLE problem! I just change oil and fill 'er up; and it's a 5.4. It's also a huge truck that has the same EPA mileage rating as a Nissan Frontier. Previously, my wife and I had a '93 Toyota 4-cyl. pickup blow up on us after 60K miles, which is virtually unheard of. We bought the car new and maintained it religiously, as I always do. Turns out the head casting was defective. Point is, when it happens to you, no statistics can lessen the blow! I don't think we would ever buy another Toyota, especially because of the shabby way we were treated at the dealer, and subsequently, by the zone manager. They just couldn't have cared less. Better luck in the future! John
I thought the worst Ford motor was the v8 in the SHO: http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/SHOStopperDetroitFreePress.htm Did I mention that I have a SHO for sale? - Freed
I have a 2001 Silverado. It has the typical piston slap until it warms up. The rear side window almost fell out of it when it was 6 mos. old. The throttle body has been replaced (kept stalling at idle). The power window on the driver's side is toast. Other than that, it is a great truck! I think they're all junk. You just decide which problems you want to deal with, and pick that manufacturer. Ford- seems they have head gasket, cooling system, rear end problems. Chrysler has tranny problems. Chevy/GM, typical GM garbage fit and finish, and noisy engines. Toyota used to make a nice dependable truck (even though they couldn't really tow anything) until they started making them in Kentucky. Then their quality went too. What can you do about it? How about finding an old heavy duty truck and throwing a 455 in it. At least you could fix it yourself!
Not defending the Taurus (or picking on Freed), but these people buy a USED car from a used car lot and have problems? I'm not surprised. I don't think they have quite the same arguement as buying a brand new car that hasn't been ratted on. For all they know the car could have been owned buy some ruthless being who punded the car to within and inch of its life and then sold it to the dealer who in turn sold it to the people we see here. We had an '89 Taurus, and I can vouch that it was a money pit (replaced tranny twice and AC system once), but someone having problems with a used car doesn't really strike home with me. On the issue of trucks, we had a 97 F150 (with the 4.6) and traded it in in 2000 with 98000 miles on it for an Excursion. It was in the shop once.... for a lugnut recall:laugh: . I'd recommend Ford trucks to anyone. I believe GM has a power advantage, but more power doesn't do much for you when it's in the shop. :Comp:
I guess I should be happy with my "old-school" '96 F150. The last of the breed with the venerable 4.9 litre straight six. I've heard this engine will last forever. I only drive it about a mile one way to a bus stop for work although I used to drive it 50 miles a day. I may be driving this truck in 2096! I bet my ticker gives out first. I'll leave it to a great-grandson. After 76,000 miles its only issues have been warped rotors and a leaky clutch master cylinder (under warranty), a bad O2 sensor (just after the warranty ended :af: ) and a shot radius arm bushing. All told, only 4 shop days since Feb. 96. The only more reliable vehicles I've owned are Toyota and Lexus products which usually never go to the shop except for occasional routine maintenance. As any self-respecting gearhead would, I change all the oil myself. What do I notice between the Ford, Buick, and Lexus? At 3,000 miles the Lexus oil is always clean appearing. The Ford and Buick oil is always trashed. I figure the Toyota produced engine is built to a much higher quality standard based on the fact that it doesn't pollute the oil. The metallurgy, tolerances, and probably ring seating must be substantually better than the domestic products.
No offense taken. Actually my biggest bitches about the SHO are the suspension and the cost of regular maintenance. Apparently most Taurus family cars have problems with the suspension settling to the point where they can't easily be adjusted back into alignment. The springs settle, the camber changes, and the camber isn't adjustable. To fix the rear you just have to put in different, off-center bushings that allow you to change the camber, but in the front you have to drill out the welds in the top of the struts and turn them into camber-adjustable struts. We had this done about 2 years ago, and ever since it has been impossible to keep the car aligned. We chewed up yet another set of front tires this year, this time with less than 15k miles on them. As I drive the car now, I can hear another problem starting to develop in the rear suspension. Maintenance is the other huge expense on that motor once the mileage gets up. It has 100k mile plugs in it (good news) but changing the plugs involves taking apart the entire intake system to remove the valve covers and get at the plugs. $200 in parts and 8 hours of labor, I've been told. Just replacing the alternator I've been told involves putting the car on a lift and taking apart the front suspension just to get at the thing to replace it. 6-8 hours labor. I imagine you would probably need an alignment afterwards too, since you had to take the suspension apart. I'm just anxious to get rid of the thing. - Freed
Lets see, I have a 99 GMC Suburban. New rear end put in at 30k, intake manifold leak and gasket replaced at 21k and its in the shop today at 59k putting another intake manifold gasket in due to it leaking again!! New front disc pads every 17k. GM quality!! These are known problems with these babies, yet GM does nothing about it except to issue TSB's on how to repair or replace. Think they would nip in the bud in the beginning. I ahve a 97 Ford p/u with 98k and its still has its original brakes. I have had 5 Sub's over the last 15 yrs and they all eat front pads. But they are nice vehicles:Brow: Hence I am a glutton for punishment.
No, never said GM was perfect but some of this other stuff is a joke. Alot of it is the dealers BS. My daughter took her Cougar in (6 mos ago) (service light was on but running fine) they said it was the oxygen sensors (all 4 of them!, 2 of which are impossible to get to as far as I can see) and BTW they say the fuel pump is weak. I told her to bring it home and I'd pull the batt cable to clear the codes. End of "problem". My 97 GMC truck has 80k on it and the only thing that has gone wrong was a trans cooler (in rad) that blew and took out the trans. Lots of hard miles towing on the little 305, too. Bruce
BQUICK, you hit the nail right on. GM is not perfect, and yes there is a lot of junk out there in one form or the other. My neighbor has a 500 SEL (500 something) Benz and that car lives in the shop---My GM cars are a lot cheaper than his headache!!:Brow:
Best Fix? I've got 95K miles on my 99-5.4L motor. When it's fix it time has anyone gone with a "new" shortblock? It's a ton of work to do a motor in a van and once will be enough. Anyone have an inside source for a shortblock as that would be my plan if the motor dumps tomorrow.
I have a 99 F150 with 108000 miles (5.4L) and no problems. It EATS gas though. I also drive a 98 E350 Cargo Van with the 5.4......it has 130000 miles. The only thing I have preplaced is the radiator hoses and a tuneup. I like ford trucks. But I also like the Silverado Duramax.
