Calm down!

There are problems witht he 4.2 liter engine, all right, but not ALL of them have it, only a small percentage. You will not find happy 4.2l owners post all over the place, telling you how great their engines run. You get to hear about peoples problems ONLY on these lists, that is their nature!

There are similar horrible stories from 4.2 and 5.4 liter engines. Eg. smoking on the 4.2 and piston slap on the 5.4. Go trhough the archives and you will see.

I can assure you that you will get good service out of your truck and that there is NOTHING you need to do but change the oil. Ford trucks are the best selling truck for a reason. Many companies have them as work trucks. If they would be that horrible, those companies would buy something else.

My friend has a 97 4.2 and 100k miles with no problems.

The transmissions are all the same on these trucks. I have an automatic behind my 4.6 liter and it has 155k miles.

The only thing I recommend to do is check if the timing cover gasket has been replaced. This was a recall on some years. Check if yours is one of them and have it done if it still needs it.

Hope this helps. Have a cold one and relax.

George