Greetings Ford lovers!
I am relatively new to the Ford world. I did a dumb thing and purchased a vehicle with out having a mechanic check it out and got burned as it died on the first drive home. I knew the guy and trusted him but should not have. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/i...lies/frown.gif I was so discussed it pulled it out side and it has sat or the last couple of years and I now need to get it back among the living I intended to give it to my son for a HS grad present but glad it died when I was driving it not him.

So the pickup is a (I think) 97 the door sticker says 7/96. The 8th digit vin # is L and its a 5.4 L Triton in a F150 4x4. It was a nice clean truck before it broke. I pulled the engine to find out what was wrong hopping to fix it and it broke a piston rod trashing the block. That leaves me with needing to replace it. I would like to get your guys opinions on what to replace it with. Should I find another 5.4 for the same year. Is there a later year with improved engineering that I should look for? I have read that I could replace it with a 4.6 plus ECM swap but that might make it gutless. I would like the replacement to be as plug and play as possible. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated! thanks

 

If it were me I'd look for a 97 otherwise you could end up doing a lot of extra work if sensors are different in later years. Maybe a 98, 99, or 2000 would be close enough, but in later years you start getting into valve differences, 1 vs. 2 sensors of this or that. Ford is not known for being overly consistent in these design matters.

 

97-98 would be the best choice here. 99+ deals with a different PCM, fuse box, etc. Plus, there's always the GEM too...

But as Alloro suggested, toss in another known good 5.4 and call it done. One thing I would suggest doing is TimeSert-ing every spark plug hole before dropping the engine in. It's FAR easier without the firewall in the way. The last thing you want is for it to spit a plug and have your son stranded somewhere.

Other than that, they're good trucks. My 97 Expedition with a 5.4 just hit 300k last month and is still running strong.

 

Nice, it just goes to show what taking care of something will do for you.

 

Thanks guys! I ordered a used 98 and plan on throwing a rebuild kit along with the spark plug inserts when it gets here.