Yea that Ford oil is awful thin. I wonder what component in the lubrication system is requiring such a thin oil.

 

Been told the tolerances on these engines are TIGHT and the lighter oil very, very slightly helped with fuel economy (something Ford had been getting slammed for).

Seems the lighter oil would flow better and reach critical parts faster when the engine RPM is screaming too, IMO. Though, I could be wrong.

 

I've had one at 196k, and 226k, they both ran great. The 2000 f250 with 226k was solid as a rock. I shouldn't have sold it.

 

I have a '98 E250 with 184k. The drivetrain is alright, but the rest of the van is falling apart, mostly due to my dad beating the crap out of it for 80k miles. It's been a good van besides the 9 mpg, but I can't wait to get a nice GM van once i find a good deal on one.

 

200,000 miles EASY. I bought my F150 new in May of 2000 and it now has 210,000 miles. Uses a quart of oil or so between changes but thats all. The original tranny just shot craps, but at 60,000 miles I added 8" of lift, 37" BFG's, and 4.56.gears. I didn't think 1 tranny at 210,000 miles was bad at all considering 150,000 of those miles was after being lifted and bigger tires. My truck is well maintained but not babied by any means. I'm gonna go ahead and rip into the engine while its down. It really doesn't need it just yet, but I look to add significant horsepower while I'm at it. I don't feel real good about throwing an extra 100 horses at my stock 210,000 mile engine without a complete overhaul.

 

My first Ford at 39 years old and was a Diehard Chevy man until now. Couldn't touch a chevy with the options this F150 has within $10K, but I am happy to read your comments about the stability of the 5.4. I will be running Mobil1 synthetic like my other vehicles, any thoughts on this...

 

You know, funny thing is I was a die-hard Chevy man until 1994. My familiarity with them as I grew up with all my buddies hot rodding the small and big block Chevys in our cars and trucks was a large part of this. And, aftermarket parts to hop these up were cheap and plentiful back in the '80's. Young, dumb, and broke most of the time(the dumb part hasn't changed). In 1994, I finally got enough income to buy my first new vehicle and my step-dad just happened to be a retiree from the Ford Claycomo asssembly plant so I got the "Z" plan discount. Couldn't begin to touch that new Chevy truck I had my eyes on for the price of the F150 with the discount. I still have fond memories of that old truck. It was a 1994 regular cab F150 2 wheel drive with the 4.9 (300 CID) inline six. I drove the hell out of that thing, abused it, and sold it six years later at 130,000 miles to a buddy at work for his teenage boy. I know this guy I sold the truck to well and this old F150 is still going today. You just couldn't blow the thing up no matter how hard you tried, not even after 200+ thousand miles and a teenager at the wheel after 130,000. I haven't owned anything else, new or used but Fords since. Not that I have a problem with the Chevy product, its just been that reliability with the Fords has been so insanely good I wouldn't change back. With or without the discount. When I get ready for another new truck It'll be another Ford. I'm already eyeing that new Superduty with that new 6.2 mod gas engine. I'll probably give them a couple years to tweak and tune it and then spring for another new Ford. I've heard good things about that Mobil1, but personally haven't had good luck with it. My truck burns it for some reason. Changed the oil once with it and it used around 2.5 quarts during that change interval, and it wasn't real high mileage then, around 100,000. I have since changed back to the good old natural based Castrol I've always liked and the high oil usage went away. Not to say that the mobil1 is a bad product, I've heard lots of good things about it from lots of people, I just personally didn't have good luck with it.

 

Don't get me wrong when you read what I am about to write. I am a Ford lover although I'm not a bigot about car brands.

To begin with the 350 SBC is 55 year old technology. Comparing it to the Modular V8 is not a fair comparison.

A neighbor of mine has about a 90 model GMC regular cab four wheel drive with a manual transmission and a 350. He bought it with about 50,000 miles on it way back when. It now has 475,000 miles on it and has never been apart. It has a small oil leak at the back of the intake manifold, but other than that, it is in stellar conditon mechanically and cosmetically.

The 350 is outdated technology and AFAIC was not the end all champion engine that many folks claim it to be. That said, properly maintained and driven, most anything with fuel injection can go to high mileage.

There are so many variables involved, that there is just no way to know how many miles any particular engine is good for until those miles are behind it.

I expect that the 4.6 or even the more complex 5.4 is good for a half million miles if properly maintained and driven. By the same token, neglect it and drive it every day back and forth to work at a place that's only a mile away and it wouldn't surprise me to see it puke and die at 50,000 miles.

My preacher bought a 2000 model F150, 4.6 new. Every week he drives about 80 miles one way to his ranch where he works that truck to death. I put a set of plugs in it at about 100,000 miles and it MIGHT have seen a few oil changes along the way. If I've ever seen a more neglected, beat up truck in my life I can't remember where it was. In spite of almost complete neglect and getting bashed by a good sized bull a few times, it finally died with a locked up engine about a month ago with 175,000 miles on it.

This example of durability is unbelieavable to me because I saw how tough of a life it lived. To me it is the equivalent of me, the way I drive and maintain my truck, taking it to a million miles.

 

I work on county patrol vehicles and in some of thses patrol cars they are getting 200,000 before they put them down. Granted its a 4.6 but the transport vans are 5.4 and they have 2 of them with 230,000

 

I have enjoyed reading this thread, been a trooper for 31 years, last three cars were CVPIs with 4.6 and 4R70W trans, a '98, a '00, and a '06 (I got the '00 as a reissue in '02) ... the '98 was turned in at near 120,000 miles as it was due, the '00 went to 136,000 miles because my new car wasn't ready in time, and my last was near 90,000 when I retired January. Trooper has it now got it reissued, said it's better than his Impala he just gave up.

Never a hickup in those miles, long hours idling, radar where you idle in the summer with AC then WO for a mile or two to catch, maybe a short chase, then more idling while dealing with paperwork, response calls for emergencies down the road, across the county, maybe even half way across state.

I recall this wreck one day on I-81 NB, traffic heavy, lots of college students traveling home, cars stopping or slowing, vehicles stacked up ...
... young boy in the pickup his grandpa left him in his will ... he swerved off road to keep from rear ending this girl in a Cherokee. PU ran up a bank as rear skidded around, then as it stopped, it slow rolled over and came to rest on top of the Cherokee, roof to roof. Boy crawled out unhurt, girl was OK too. He didn't turn truck off and due to slow roll, the fuel pump inertia switch never tripped.

That truck ran upside down for nearly 45 minutes after my arrival before wrecker driver got in position to pull it up from the bank above. Fuel injection let it run, but oil wasn't in pan near pickup, so no oil pressure, still it idled with AC on ... boy was scared to crawl back in with it balanced on Cherokee, I don't blame him, lots broken glass. Just before it seized it squalled one gasp .... then stopped.

Was a bright red early 2000s Ford F150 with 5.4 ... had well over 100,000 as I recall. Boy was about ready to cry. I could understand. The girls parents were back in traffic, they took daughter on home after wreck cleared and the boy got his stuff and went with them, seems he lived in a nearby city where they did.

Maybe it worked out for him after all ...
... impressive how that truck just ran on though ...
... odd looking at an upside down truck ...
... watching the pulleys turning.

RIP

 

my f250 is on the second engine and its dieing just like the firstone at around 76000 miles the truck has 150000 on it and my vette has 177000 miles and runs like the day it was new and it sees some strip time now and again when my boys are in town.the overhead cam motors are not as tough as the old motors they replaced

 

Thanks for sharing this with us trooper. I enjoyed reading it. Also, thanks for your service.

 

DITTO above

 

my 5.4 f250 is pushing 470,000 the odometer rolled over now its at 139k, still running good just had a coil go out imma fix it and it'll be fine. sooner or later im thinking a rebuild.

 

I've got a 12 year old F150 with the 5.4. I had to replace just about every coil pack do to moisture a few years back but other then that I just change the oil and go. The engine is as stong as the day I bought it.