Hey guys, I just bought a 2003 Expedition with a supposedly cooked engine. It's got a little over 300,000 miles on it and while it was rebuilt at around the 200,000 mile marker, it's apparently dead again. The guy I bought it from was driving it home and it made a knocking sound and then died. He says it won't crank now. I bought it because the rest of the truck is in great shape, but I'm new to the 5.4's and don't know their hot spots yet. I'd like to try to repair this engine if it's possible, but I trust the community here to help me figure out the best course of action.

My plans:
1. Pull plugs, pan and potentially valve covers and look for damage
2. Pull heads and look for valve collision or broken timing equipment
3. Pull engine and dig deeper

If the mileage is just too much for this block, let me know. I can't afford an expensive full rebuild, but I'd like to think the problem could be found and fixed.

$1200 for a nice truck like this was too good to pass up!

 

Also, if I'm better off replacing it, what years should I look for? Is there any benefit to looking to Super Duty trucks over the standard 5.4's? I know the 5.4s were in a lot of things, so are there certain engines that will and or won't work in this?

 

i would just replace that engine. if it blew at 200k, and again at 300k, that engine was not taken care of and abused.
i have one in the driveway with 265 on the clock that needs a flex plate for the trans. we have 2 at the body shop used daily as parts runners with over 300k on them and still run like new.

 

Thanks, I tend to think the same thing in regards to two failures. The old fail me once, shame on you, fail me twice shame on me mantra comes to mind. Now I'm just trying to figure out what 5.4's will be most compatible with the '03 Expedition. I don't want to end up with check engine lights and crap because some sensor was or wasn't on the new engine.

 

i am pretty sure 03 was still a 2 valve per cylinder engine. so i would just get an engine and swap all the sensors with the ones on the truck, this way you will know they will work, because they worked with the old engine.

 

Well that helps quite a bit. What year did they transition to 3 valve? I think I've seen some references to that in 2005

**Scratch that. Apparently I'm seeing that 2003 was the last 2V engine.**

 

Got the Expedition home today and gave the key a quick tap. Heard the starter hit the flywheel but no rotation. After checking some simple points, the oil looks old, but not burnt, no water. Coolant reservoir was empty, which makes me wonder if it didn't get hot and seize up. I'd love to not have to pull this motor, even though I'm prepared to fully replace it. I'll pull the plugs and start tearing into it soon, but I'll keep updating as I go.

 

I scored an engine from a 97 F150 that I should have in hand this weekend. Hopefully in the next week or two I can get it transplanted and get the Expy back on the road.

 

The 97 5.4 is 235hp and 335ftq, the 03 5.4 is 260hp and 350ftq. The primary difference in the two engines is the heads and the cams. I have my doubts about your 03 computer running the 97 engine correctly, due to the differences.

 

I'm assuming you're just referring to the engine timing aspect right? I would think that the sensors on the camshaft and crank would help align that, but I don't know. I wish I could resurrect the old engine, it would make things so much simpler. My only hope right now is that it hydrolocked from a bad gasket, but I'm not that far into it yet. Even then, who knows what damage could have occurred. I couldn't find an engine in the year range for my price range. No one in my area had a 5.4, let alone a PI 5.4. I finally found one a hundred miles away with decent mileage. I considered switching the heads which sounds like it would remedy this issue, but then I've broken the sacred seal and from all I've read, I would be asking for a future head gasket failure.

I've tried to figure out what else might hold me up on this swap, but most of what I see is 2V to 3V issues, not the PI to NPI. Figure I'll have to roll the dice and see what happens.

 

The various sensors should not be a problem, it's the timing curve and fuel map in the 03's computer I think might be a problem, but then again it might not. Good luck, I hope it works out.

The head swap would not be a big deal, in fact putting PI heads on a NPI engine gives a nice compression bump. As long as the mating surfaces are flat and true and the right gaskets are use, you should not have a problem.

 

I appreciate the warning and the well wishes. We'll see what happens!

 

If my 03 engine simply hydrolocked due to say and intake gasket failure, would I be crazy to try to resurrect this engine and see how long it lasts? I mean, I have the backup in the shop, I just hate to ditch this engine if it's such a simple fix.

 

The last hydro locked mod motor I saw torn down, had a twisted and snapped con rod. This was a 4.6 in a Vic that the owner tried to drive threw a flooded road. With that kind of damage, I would assume there would be damage to the crank and the cylinder where the rod broke.

 

A friend of mine suggested that I check out the timing chains and the heads before I do a full engine removal. Said that he'd seen this happen before and the issue time and time again was a stretched chain that allowed the cam to jump time, bad enough to cause a lock up. I figure I'll check it out and see. What's the worst I can find? If that's it, great, no engine pull, just fix/replace the heads and move on. If not, I just got some crap out of the way for the engine pull.