Hello!

I also placed a post in the Expedition forum, but this may be the proper place to ask this question.

I am considering a 1998 Ford Expedition with the 4.6L V8. What is holding me back is I am not a fan of the Ford Modular V-8's, despite being a big Ford fan. I know these motors (4/6 and 5/4) are known to be plug spitters.

I have heard that the 4/6 does not pop them as regularly as the 5/4, is that correct?

Am I being overly concerned about this problem? The truck has 138K on it and has a rebuilt trans. It runs good and the body is decent, no major rust. The dealer will trade me even-up for my 04 Freestar SE with 70K, and if you know anything about re-sale on Freestars, it's a pretty fair deal.

Any help or opinions on my question regarding the 4/6 would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Greg

 

I don't have much experience with these modular V-8's so if anyone has any thoughts or opinions, I'd really appreciate hearing them.

I have heard that the 4/6's do not spit plugs as much as the 5/4's, is that correct?

Thanks.

 

It seems that more guys with 5.4L and 6.8L's spit plugs but the heads are the same on the 4.6 and 5.4 so it really shouldn't matter. There is more room with a 4.6L to replace the plugs properly though so that could be some of the reason. I'd be a bit worried that the tranny was burned up in those few short miles. If it was neglect then what else is about to fail.

 

Excellent, thanks galaxie! I appreciate that response! I'm starting to feel better about the 4/6. I may go for this deal. I have heard that the A4OD trans in these trucks is not the best, so that could explain why it went south. I have heard of many others with trans problems as well around this mileage....or is a more rare problem?

Thanks much! Any other thoughts on the 4.6?

-Greg

 

i have seen one , a squad i bought cheap and resold for a profit from a moron related too one of my son inlaws sister , that spit a plug . it was an 00 or 01 , and it was due to him not torquing it down right . a helicoil fixed it . but .......................the trans is bad ??? i'd say neglect on someones behalf . my bird has a 4r70w and was acting up / my buddy thought his wife and kid burned it up as the conveter was locking and unlocking at random , shifting strange etc. . i asked my cuz who was a ford specialist in a local trans shop for years and he told me if the fluid didn't smell real bad to buy the car change the fluid and filter { which i did twice within a month for insurance } and it should clear up . seems it's a common problem for peeps to not service them and the sensor for the converter lockup gets polluted and acts up and peeps think they're fried and they're not ................... so ...............

 

It would be a 4R70W trans in that Expy,and that trans is about as tough as they get for that class transmission. 99% of the problems in the 4R70W are from ignorance of the owner and neglect of maintenance. As for the 4.6L, I've personally put a combined 600K miles on 3 different 4.6L vehicles with the 4R70W. None of them ever had a single mechanical failure of the engine, and I replaced 1 trans due to previous owner neglect.
JL

 

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it.

 

Hello, the 4.6 is the better engine only in the 97 and 98 model years, in 99 the 5,4 went on top. The 5.4 no matter what year has more problems than the 4.6, the spark plug problem just to name one. The 97, 98 5.4 only has 15 more HP and gets on an average 3.5 MPG less than the 4.6. I have a 98 expedition with the 4.6 and wouldnt want the 5.4 in mine, actually when i went looking, I already knew things about the two engines and I would turn away from every 5.4 that I sw before I found the one i own today, it has 182,639 miles on it and I have no problems except it hurts when filling the 30 gallon tank.

 

The 2002s are JUNK! The tensioner fails on most of them. To fix that is about $1000 and if you blow the motor, like I did, the cost is about $2500 and up!!

 

Horse crap.
JL

 

Why is that horsecrap? I am a huge Ford fan but this model was junk. My Explorer had 108,000 miles and the transmission went out. Now the Explorer has 121,000 and it started knocking and the mechanic couldn't find out what it was. Well now we know. The tensioner was bad and I have seen on several websites that others have had the same problem.

Now on a better note on Explorers...I had a 1993 in which the transmission didn't go out til 193,000. I put a remanufactred one in and it was still good when the Explorer finally died. Which was at over 300,000 miles and never had to do anything to motor. It was an awesome vehicle.

 

Your previous post is a load of horse crap. A bad tensioner at 121K miles (which is a wear item, whether you believe it or not), will NOT blow the engine. Losing a trans at 108K miles is not unheard of (especially if maintenance was not performed, or use was not normal), and is not indicative of a bad model year anything.
Being pissed off at a failure is one thing. But to blame it blindly and ignorantly on a particular engine and year model is absurd.
JL

 

I'm just stating what the mechanic told me. In which I am not one. Like I said I tried to find out what was wrong with it before it actually blew clear up because I had no idea. I spent hours looking on the internet and found several websites with forums and there was alot of people complaining about the tensioner on the 2002. I was told (and by the way, I honestly couldn't tell you if what I'm being told is right--I'm just going by what the mechanic told me-so I guess I am being ignorant) that the tensioner cause the engine to jump time and the guides were ate up by the chain. The only indication I had that something was going on was the oil pressure light flashed occasionally that day. I live in a very rural area and tried to make it to the mechanics. They also believe the oil pump quit working at this time. But I do know that the maintenance was done on the transmission and engine. The same thing happened to my son's football coach's explorer. I was just trying to let the guy know to watch out for the tensioner. So please, settle down. I'm not hear to bash Forda, I am a huge Ford fan and even though I've had alot of problems (others too that I haven't mentioned) my next vehicle will be a Ford.

 

You're referring to the timing chain tensioners it appears. 2002 did introduce a new style tensioner, but they're not a real problem (not one that will cause an engine failure), they just cause some chain noise on startup.If you have guides that are worn bad enough to cause issues on that engine at 120K miles, then there's a serious problem with the oil change interval, oil weight, or other issue.I'll bet the oil pump didn't fail-most likely was the oil pump's pickup tube clogged with debris from damaged guides,etc.
JL

 

When they tore the engine apart, the timing chain was real tight on one end and real loose on the other and had jumped a cog. I don't know much at all about engines but I told my husband all along I thought the oil pump went out. When an oil pump goes, does the engine get hot, smoke or anything? Cause this one did nothing but lost power going up a hill then seized. I guess I really shouldn't complain cause I got my money's worth out of the first one!

You seem to know alot of engines. Can I ask you a question? Would a 4.6L out of an 04 P-71 Police Inceptor Crown Vic fit the 02 Explorer? The parts guy said if my VIN has a W as the 8th digit it will work, which I have. But I called the Ford garage and he said it probably wouldn't work-that I would probably need a new computer.