How good is the 4.6 V8?
 

Hello fellow ford addicts. I come from the OBS section, please don't tell them I'm here...:-innocent

I am looking into a 2010 F150 to replace my project 1992 F150. Need a more fuel efficient truck and something that doesn't require a ton of work every week! The main thing I'm seeing is most of the used ones have the 4.6 V8. How good in the engine? Power, torque, 0-60, freeway speeds, etc. Going from a big 5.8 to a 4.6 scares me a little. I still want to haul a loaded 6x12 trailer, but thats never too often.

Any info would be appreciated :-wink
Thanks!

I equate the 4.6L as being as reliable as the 300 I-6. It's a great engine but it lacks the grunt of your 5.8L and the MPG's won't be any better when pulling.

So pretty much slow and no power?

It has some power but not as much as the 5.4L and it gets more or less the same mileage as the bigger engine that makes more power and low end torque.

Not mine, but a buddy had one in a '99 I think. ECSB 4X4. That thing would scoot, got 20-22 hwy empty and pulled a 27' travel trailer pretty regularly. I would think the new 3 valve would be even better. Oh yeah, 3:55 rear and he could spin the tires from a stop. Had a couple hundred thousand miles when he traded it in.

IIRC the 4.6 has 292 hp and the 5.4 has 310? Not sure on tq #s but one of my buddies here has one (4.6) in his SCab and loves it. If it doesn't have quite enough "grunt" you could ring up Mike Butler @ 5Star tuning like he and I have :D He wrote us some nice lil tunes

OK, allow me to give you an example.

I have an '04 Expy 4x2 with the 4.6L. It's been perfect for us. She's hauled our family and up to eight of us at once on a trip to Maine from Va with all of our gear and a turtle top on the luggage rack. She performed beautifully and returned me 19-20 MPG's cruising at 75 all day long. She never broke a sweat, or really seemed to lug down too much in the hilly areas.

On the return trip I added a small single axle U-haul trailer to the mix. The truck handled the trailer great because that's what Expeditions do. But the little 4.6L was working it's behind off. She did the job at a whopping 14 MPG's or worse and she would only hold speed on flat stretches.

A couple years later I rented an '07 Expy for the exact same trip as above, it came with the 5.4L and 6 speed tranny. I pulled a larger trailer and even though the gas mileage still sucked, that truck pulled the trailer like it wasn't there.

So for me, if I were looking at a truck and only intending to haul t he occasional load of whatever and never tow, I'd opt for the 4.6L because I know it will last with proper maintenance.

Having owned one 4.6/4-speed in the form of an Expy and several 5.4/4-speed F150's and now my 5.4/6-speed, I can state the 4.6 will NOT get any better gas mileage while also not having anywhere near the power of the 5.4.

So go with the 5.4 if at all possible.

I have been selling Ford parts since the mid 80s. In my opinion the 4.6 is one of the finest engines Ford has ever built. Look at all the police/taxis that the 4.6 has powered over the years. Built tough!:-X22

Well, we have run the gamut of opinions. Time for you to test drive one I guess and decide for yourself :-X22

One thing that should be pointed out here is that there are two different variations of the 4.6L.

There is the 4.6L 2 valve which has been used in Ford trucks since the late 1990s, and then there is the 4.6L3v which was only used in later model Ford trucks a couple of years prior to the new engines relese in 2011.

Here's some video clips of the 4.6L2v and 4.6L3v doing 0-60 so you can see the difference.

4.6L2v 0-60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVWQeaSWmZ4

4.6L3v 0-60
2010 Ford F-150 0-60 - YouTube

(And here's one of a 1992 351 F-150 for comparison)
Brand New 0-60 92 F150 Flareside - YouTube

The 2v 4.6L is generally considered underpowered. It makes 248hp and about 300lb/ft of torque. Its not particularly fast, however I think it might outrun a 1992 351 V8 because there is a considerable power difference between the two...248hp in the 4.6L vs 210hp in the 351. From a towing standpoint the 351 has a little more torque...I beleive they made around 325lb/ft of torque or so out of the factory, so it might be a little bit better in that sence.

The 4.6L3v makes about the same torque as the old 351 and almost 100 more hp, so I think you would see better 0-60's and have more reserve pulling power in the 4.6L3v.

As far as mileage go's, NONE of these engines are known for their incredible fuel mileage however I think that the your best bet is once again the 4.6L3v as it was the only 4.6L ever offered in the F-150 with the 6-Speed auto...The 2valve engines only came with a 4-speed auto.

So if its going to be a 4.6L I personally think the 3v is the best way to go.

I agree with 640 on the 4.6 3V. The 4.6 is tough and robust, but in the trucks, the 2V versions are not hot rods but they are capable.

Coming from another parts guy, I completely agree. Not saying the 5.4 are a bad engine, but where the 5.4s would have issues (spark plugs blowing out, head gaskets leaking oil, etc) you rarely those issues in the 4.6.

As far as reliability, I'm not real sure how well the 4.6 3Vs have been compared to the 5.4 3V, but the 4.6 2V (vin W) have been excellent (09 & older I believe)
-Mike R

Well, everybody is entitled to their opinion no matter how wrong. So here's my 2 cents based off my personal experience. I bought a brand new F150 with a 4.6 in it. It was, without a doubt, the worst truck motor that I have ever experienced (at least when it comes to Ford engines). It was terrible. It barely had the power to move the truck out of it's own way unloaded, got crappy MPG considering it's size and lord help it if you tried to pull a decent load with it. Thank god for truck lanes. And turn off your CB. You don't want to know what the truckers are saying about you while passing you up every grade.

It was so bad that I turned around a few months later and traded it in on another truck optioned out the same way except with the 5.4. Yeah, I took a bath on the deal and it took me a few years to recover from it. But the 4.6 was unsafe for what I was doing and I had to get rid of it. Between the 4.6 and 5.4 there are no comparisons. The 5.4 is far and away the better motor, gets the same MPG (in my case a little better) and should be your only choice if you're looking at this generation of truck.

Keep this in mind also. Compared to the old push rod engines, these are totally different animals. Don't expect the same off idle torque. These engines make some good power but they are free revvers. Especially when pulling. Were our old push rod motors will grunt down low the MOD motors will kick the trans down and move the load with a bunch of RPMs.

The 5.4 3v makes 90% of its torque by like 1,900 RPMs... Pretty low RPMs to be making 320-350 ft lbs (depending on gas/e85 blend). The 5.8 never had that much torque that low in the RPM band. It is true, however, that these SOHC motors do rev up a lot quicker than their push rod forebearers.