Have a 2002 e-150 with the 5.4L and 198,000 miles. I am the second owner. Use it to tow my enclosed trailer to the sporty car races. What should I be doing in terms of preventative maint on this vehicle? Runs great but really only gets used May - October and then only on weekends. Suggestions?

 

Is it new to you? If don't know the history or have service records:

Change the Oil

Drain Radiator fluid and replace with 50/50

Check the serpentine belt for wear, replace if necessary.

Transmission Flush

New U-Joints

Check wheel bearings and ball joints for play

Pull couple of spark plugs and check for fouling

Drain Rear Differential and replace fluid.

Probably wouldn't hurt to do a water/seaform induction cleaning.

Most importantly listen to it. You will be able to detect a lot of problems like that. I was able to identify a bad PCV valve and exhaust manifold by ear on mine. Get underneath and listen to the transmission for bad torque converter or flex plate, listen to the engine for rod nock.

 

same as any vehicle

 

This will be my third year of owning - have put all of 20,000 miles on it. Was thinking about fuel pump, alternator, starter etc. No service records although it appears the previous owner kept it in good shape.
Thanks for your quick response.

 

Unless you're having issues I wouldn't replace the alternator or starter.
You should check if the alternator is charging sufficiently, however.

Other items to check/replace would be engine air filter, brake fluid, and PCV valve it if has one.
And yeah, definitely do a top end cleaning like seafoam.

If you have access to it a fuel injector flush would be helpful, a bottle of Techron 2 tanks in a row would be good too.

 

if it ain't broke, don't fix it
just do maintenance

 

Yeah! I agree with"if it aint broke don't fix it" Ive had 4 e-150s and a e-350 and did almost nothing except oil changes. Main issues that you will always have to address at some time. If its missing 90% its a coil. If its pulling one way or another Ball Joints and tie rod ends. If you have a firm vibration in the front, Bearings. If the rear end shutters when turning, put super slick rear end additive. be careful not to put too much, a little at a time till it stops. That should cover 90% of the problems you will ever have with these. Great vehicles, rarely ever leave you on the side of the road.

 

Use Royal Purple for your rear diff, it has everything needed for a locker or limited slip and is cheaper than Motorcraft, far superior too, it's required every 100,000 miles, green antifreeze is every 3 years BTW, it gets acidic and will eat the core plugs from the block when ignored, the first to go is always the most difficult to replace.

 

RP oils are not worth a damn !
Even the teams they sponsor won't use it

 

I go by Bob is the oil guy, when it costs less than what is required, use it, those who seem to hate it, never have used it, go by hearsay.

 

HaHaHaHa that's pretty bad when they wouldn't even use it when it's free!

I'm always leery when the "gimmick" is the first thing you see. Maybe "Royal Purple" should make a grease called "Royal Jelly", I don't think the bee's would sue them. Their ad copy could claim, "this difficult proprietary process take thousands of workers to produce a few pounds at a single manufacturing plant". Professional engine builders agree, "there's nothing like it".

 

I guess I should have saved the burnt bearings to mail to you.

 

Been in mine several years without issue, read storys from many others the same way.

 

PLACEBO EFFECT

 

Sorry, there are not enough documented failure data, I looked!