a dog? Anybody own one here who can fill me in on the positive and negative aspects of an F150 with a 4.6L engine under the hood? I'm shopping around and I've seen a few but have no experience with them at all. Thanks!

 

No it's not a dog, but a 4.6L in a Reg Cab 2wd will be a little peppier than a 4.6L SCrew with 4wd. Just depends on what you're looking for.

It's a great engine if you're not towing heavy. Gets good mileage in town and on the hwy, and doesn't have the plug issues that we with the 5.4L have.

Give it a try if you want. I would have gone with the 4.6L had I not fallen in love with the FX4 styling.

 

I've got 93k miles on an '02 E150 van with the 4.6. It has been the best of four big vans I've owned since 1986 for gas mileage and has never failed to start or given me any problems since new. I changed to full syn oil (5W20) at 60k miles when the warranty was up and it uses almost no oil between changes which I'm now doing at 6-7k miles. TIGHT motor.

It would not be a good engine for towing or very heavy loads, and I miss the torque of my prior GMC Savana (with the 350 V8) a bit, but I do NOT miss the monthly problems the Savana gave me, and the gas mileage was worse with the GMC van.

In this day of $4 gas, I view the 4.6 as an ideal engine for a big truck or van that is not always heavily loaded. When I bought my van, the 4.2 V6 was available and THAT was not only a real dog but got worse gas mileage (both EPA and real life) than the 4.6.

There are a LOT of 4.6 cop cars, taxis, Town Car limos, and trucks out there with many hundreds of thousands of miles on them.

Good luck,
George

 

Not a bad motor at all if you don't tow often!

 

Strictly speaking of the SuperCrew here, the 300 hp 5.4L is described as "adequate" for this truck. Now the 4.6L, I'm not sure....

 

Gearing is relevant on any vehicle. I had a Scab with 4.6 and it was a great around town and work truck and did well on the highway when needed.

I drive a Super Duty F250 now with a 5.4. This thing is a Scab with the long bed and its huge compared to the F150, super heavy too. I run a 5.4, the older one with two valves per cylinder and 3:73 gearing and this thing flat flies. I dont think it will pull a huge load well but there is a goose neck in the bed that the prior owner had installed and this truck was like new when I purchased it at 67k miles, never had one break down, just all its regular scheduled maintenance.

I think a LOT of people are enticed to buy more power plant than they need and for most folks a 4.6 in the F150 is plenty. I dont like the 3 valve engines at all because of all of them that I see having engine problems in the shop.

Just some personal observations and opinion.

 

I have a '06 SCAB 4x4 with a 4.6L and I am very happy with it. I bought the truck with 44K on it and now have over 60K, with no issues whatsoever. I have trailored up to 4K and it does feel the load then, but normally it has satisfactory power. I get about 16-17 mpg average in mixed city/county road driving and about 18-19 when on just highway driving. It's a good solid engine.
If you intend to trailor a LOT, get a diesel. If you intend to drag race a lot, buy a fast CAR.

 

It's a great engine if you're not towing much and you have a smaller truck like a reg or super cab. If you have 4x4 or crew cab, I'd get the 5.4. They get about the same mileage and the 3v 5.4 has a lot more power.

Now the 3v 4.6 is a different story, but you'll have to get an 09 or 10 for that. Love my 4.6 3v 6r60 Explorer.

 

I have a 2008 4.6 2v, reg cab short bed 2wd, 3.55 Ls rear end, and I can tell you for what I use it for it has been the best truck I've ever owned. Unloaded I get between 17-20 mpg. It can pull my 16' stratos bass boat (heavy for its size) with a weeks worth of supplies in the bed like it is hardly even back there. I average just under 17 mpg on the interstate in Florida pulling that boat running about 70-75mph. BUT I have a 7x13 cargo trailer (lot of wind resistance) and it will pull it fine on flat ground but as soon as you hit hills at interstate speeds it becomes gutless and gas mileage suffers to around 10mpg. In this situation a 5.4 would out pull it and get better mpg doing it, but IMO the 4.6 will pull anything you would want to pull with a 1/2 ton truck. Mine is rated to pull 6,600 lbs, but I've pulled 12k one time and it did it no problem (although only a few miles at low speed, and I don't recommend it) I have been around a lot of trucks in my day and I have no complaints about my 4.6, I'm also one who doesn't like a gutless truck and I can tell you my truck will flat out move! I can't comment on a super crew, but in a regular cab I couldn't be happier. I think you would be happy with either motor IMO.

 

I gotta say,Ive had 2 4.2,s and while they are definately NOT a powerhouse,they have been VERY good to me.My old 97 had one,and now my present one has it also.IF I keep my foot out of it,I can get around 21 MPG.Towing indeed is a different matter.Im sure the 4.6 is somewhat "spunkier",but I would Never call the little 4.2 a dog

 

I dont think they are a dog at all. I recommend them to 90 percent of my friends looking at ford trucks because they do not tow anything heavier than a gigging boat. I have a buddy with an 05 crewcab 4x4 with 33s and he loves it. Has plenty of power to haul dead deers, fishing poles and softball equipment even with the oversize tires.

 

4.6 and 5.4 have the same fuel economy... 5.4 has stronger transmission.

 

I've had 3 police cars with 4.6s, a '98, a '00, and a '06 and I never had a hint of motor problem with any of them. I was a Trooper in a county with two interstates. The '98 had 115K when turned in, the '00 had near 130K when turned in, and the guy who came in on transfer when I retired got my '06 with 86K on it, he told me last week it's at 136K now. It has a rattling heat shield on a cat.

The 4.6s aren't super power houses, but they are tougher than the day is long. Idling in summer heat or winter cold, sometimes for hours, then WFO maybe a mile, maybe 100 miles. I was a recosntructionist and we often got calls over 100 miles away to go and assist with a serious fatal or homicide scene or maybe a riot, strike, prison riot, etc.

I had to replace an alternator on the '00 and Ford replaced the brake booster on the '98 once. Those 4R70W transmissions never gave a hint of problem either. Those Crown Vics, like all my older police cars, carried a lot of stuff that I might need on calls. Ammo, guns, several cases flares, haz mat gear, stingers, first aid gear, books, paperwork files and forms galor, radios ... it all adds up fast.

I liked the '98 so well, was so impressed, that I bought a '01 Mercury Grand Marquis for a personal car, we love it and it's been trouble free though it only has 70K on it now.

Back a few years ago I get a call to a wreck on 81 NB, heavy traffic, spring break and a lot of kids on the road. Traffic slowed and this girl in her Cherokee went to the left shoulder because she was afraid of getting hit. Guy behind her in a '99 F-150 with 4.6 was looking in his mirror, then ahead and saw traffic stopping so he also went to left shoulder about the same instand, not knowing the girl in the Cherokee was. He swerved harder and went up a steep bank and the F-150 slow rolled over and landed upside down on top of the Cherokee.

Traffic all stopped, then most moved slowly away. She and he and their friends got out OK, no injuries. Truck had slow rolled almost at a stop, just tipped over and down the bank it rolled a half roll. He had to come out back window as doors were jammed, one by the bank and the other because of pressure resting upside down on Cherokee.

Due to traffic backing up, I had to drive up the shoulder for a ways and by the time I got there, likely they had been there 30 minutes. I called wreckers and got my info for the accident report and maybe wrote a ticket, wreckers took another 30-40 minutes at least to get there.

When the wrecker went up the bank in 4wd to set up and pull the F-150 up off the Cherokee, I told him to take note, the engine of the F-150 was still running (couldn't hear it out there on the big road, didn't want him throwing a hook or a hand near the crank pulley / belts) .... even while upside down and while all oil was up in top of block / cam covers, etc. Oil certainly wasn't at pickup. That motor idled and didn't overhat or show any signs of distress for and hour or more upside down.

It did finally "KLUNK" to a stop just as they were pulling it up off the Cherokee. Boy explained that it was his grandpa's truck and had been left to him in a will, had about 150 thousand or more miles. Boy looked like he could cry when it finally locked up.

The slow roll wasn't enough to trip the fuel switch as an impact I guess. That was a tough way to kill a 4.6.

 

Great story
We still have a couple early 90's 4.6 on CPD. As far as I've been told the only problem is the valve seals.

 

I was thinking about this thread today when a buddy showed up for coffee at the Exxon, he has a short bed std cab 2wd F-150, early 2000s (before 04) ... pretty red too .... with silver lower accent, and as he pulled up I realised I had forgotten all about his truck when posting. I was thinking it was a 5.4 the way it run so today I asked .... it's a 4.6 with 3.73s. It runs great!

Yeah, I think it was up through 95 or 96 that had problems with valve seals .... due to shorter valve guides I'm told. I also have a '95 Tbird with 4.6, it uses a little oil past the valve seals. Not bad, it's only got 65K plus on it. Keep threatening to replace them, even bought the tool. Still many 4.6s approach 250-300K in taxis service, etc. I know several that have seen near 200K as police cars bought at auction from the state and used locally without an engine rebuild.