I'm looking for a truck and just trying to get an idea about what I may be getting myself into. I talked to a ford service manager today and he said that the 4.2's are too small for the 4x4 and that causes the engine to burn up...

any feelings/experience with this?

thanks.

 

No experience but some feelings......

I do not believe a 4X4 truck will cause the 4.2 engine to "burn up".

I'd ask him what he means by "burn up". As the Service Manager at a Ford dealer, he should be able to provide you specific details as to what particular components fail when the engine "burns up".

Abuse and neglect can ruin any engine, but just being in a 4X4? I don't buy it.

Going thumbnail: The 4.2 engines tend to be pretty reliable.
Their weak link seems to be lower intake manifold gaskets.
Pre '99 models: the gaskets could fail as early as 50,000-60,000 miles.
'99 and newer, they appear to be good to at least 150,000-160,000 miles.

Aside form that, there are no real common high failure items. At least none that I can think of.

Let me search an see if I can find an old thread.....

edit to add:
Found it https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...hydrolock.html

This is a summary of my experiences with a high mileage 4.2 and the gasket failure. It'll give you some idea of the biggest issue involving the 4.2.

 

thanks Brian, I really appriciate it. I've learned a lot from this site in the past few days.