Hello all, And thanks in advance for the replies....
We are considering purchasing 2003 Bi-Fuel F-150 Pickups for my buisness. These trucks will come with the 5.4 Litre engine. They will be used in town primarily, But will see the highway.
We do HVAC and Electrical contracting. Average about 40,000 miles a year. Our city has HUGE incentives for Alternative Fuel Vehicles, And Propane is cheap here.

My question is about any known COMMON problems with these engines??
I have read a little and see head gasket and spark plug Blowing out problems?? Are these "old" problems or are they common to the new trucks also? Are there any other common problems?
How long has the 5.4 been around? Is the OHC setup prone to trouble? How many miles are they known to last?

Thanks for the input.....

ftwfred

""ADDED""
I just read the thread on how many miles...some good amounts in there...
ftwfred

 

Anyone care to reply??

Good engine??

Bad engine??

Anyone??

ftwfred

 

Fred, I think the problem with the question stems from the fact that not many of us own the bi-fuel or CNG forms of this engine.

I would imagine that all these engines are built identically except for the intake and head. With that said, if they have different heads, prehaps they don't suffer from the head gasket problems.

I would also like to point out that, while the head gasket may blow or leak on some engines, if the engine was that unreliable it would be a bad business decision to continue to sell this engine on Ford's part

They sell the CNG & bi-fuel configurations to mainly fleet customers, like your company. Large orders mean big bucks - if they make you mad with a lousy component, they stand to lose a large amount of business on resales.

Since the increase in HP in the 5.4 around mid 1999 for the gas models, I've heard less about the blown head gasket, leaking gasket, and passenger side back coilpack/coolant leak problems which seemed to be more prevalent in the '97 to mid '99 models.

The solid engineering for this engine has been around since '93 (Mustang redesign went with the 4.6 in 1995 -the smaller sibling of the 5.4). The 5.4 has been used in trucks since '97, when Ford changed body styles -officially January 1996.

-Kerry

 

CNG and bi-fuel motors "should" last longer than pure-gas motors. Less carbon buildup, lower combustion temps and higher "octane" (although there are probably no "octane" petro molecules in NG).

I believe the bi-fuel motors are the exact same as the regular gas motors. Not sure about pure CNG... The new 5.4's seem to be flawless according to people around here. If you buy brand-new you should be in a good place.

The 4.6L, the original OHC "modular" motor was introduced in '91, I think, in Crown Victorias. They had their share of problems, but Ford has ironed everything out since. I have two MN12's (tbird/cougar), '96 and '97 with the 4.6L and have NO problems beating the crap out of them. These are the light-duty Romeo passenger car motors and they have seen things that no F150 ever will (or should). But, maintained regularly with Castrol GTX 5w-30.

Besides a longer stroke, the 5.4L is the same as the 4.6L, but built in the Windsor plant (like the 351W). Truck 4.6L's and V10's are also Windsors. Can't go wrong.

art k.

 

Thanks for the replies fella's
I think it is basically the same engine and you answered the questions I had. I wasn't sure if The head gasket issue and the coilpack/ Coolant leak issue where new or old ones. I think the spark plug issue is irrelevant
I guess the 5.4 has been around long enough to prove itself and Ford has all the bugs out of it by now...

I am pretty sure we are gonna try one.

Thakns again for the replies..

ftwfred

Castrol 5W-30 is the my oil of choice

 

Please let us know how it works out! I'd love to hear about differences in drivability between Propane/NG and gasoline.

Comparison of costs between each type of fuel would be well received - especially by me... I've been interested in doing this for a long time but they stopped putting it into the 250/350 series a few years ago.

art k.

 

I work for the postal service maint. dept. and we have one,a 2000 with the 5.4 that runs on both NG and gasoline.I dont drive it and Im not even sure that weve ran it on NG yet.But its been trouble free, it only has about 30k miles though.