I bought a 2008 250, 5.4 last summer. Is it me, or is this truck seriously lacking power ? I also have a 2006 Expedition with the 5.4 and it will eat the 250 for breakfast ! I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of it again and switching to something else. I tow a 3000lb trailer for work, and really don't like hooking it up at all because of the extra pull. Any ideas wuold be really appreciated.

 

Try getting the 5 star tuner, its a great way to boost the 5.4, my 5.4 in my 06 is great, lots of power and all i have is a tuner K&N stock filter and she hauls a$$. Voids warranty tho if you get the tuner.

 

Your F250 is probably a 1,000lbs heavier than your Expedition. Maybe less, depending upon the specs.

I wasn't impressed with the 5.4 in my F150, so I can only guess how it feels in a heavier truck.

 

Regearing would probably be the best thing to do. I'm guessing it probably has 3.73 gears in it now, going to 4.10 or 4.30 would make a big difference.

However, the SD is meant to be a work truck, not a sports car. You aren't going to win any races, especially with a 5.4.

 

Yep, I think it's all about gearing.
Hate to say it, but mine's a slug. The only time I use 1st gear is when I'm hauling a heavy load or playing in the snow/mud.

 

Welcome to the forum!

What gears you running? What tire size?


biz

 

Look at the bright side. You could have an earlier truck that ran the 5.0L in-line 6 cylinder... Those trucks were totally reliable and got the job done - slowly. I had one of those. A 5.4L would seem like a hot-rod in comparison.

Gearing changes are not cheap, and my feeling is that you would not really get a lot of more performance with a swap unless it was to a much lower ratio. Fuel mileage would take a bit hit.

Sometimes I think that power and reliablity are inversely realated.

Lou Braun

 

Gears will help a lot and not change the fuel mileage it should actually help because the motor will not have to work as hard.

Here is a thread I started on 4.56 gears for a reference,

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...vs-10-5-a.html

 

Yep, the term "underpowered" is relative. My previous truck was 300 powered F-150, so my 3V 5.4 does feel like a hot rod. If I had been used to driving a V-10 or PSD I'm sure it would feel like a turd.

 

I love it when people say stuff like this. Of course logic would make you think that if this were true all the time the engineers who designed the truck would have specified higher gears from the factory.

But they didn't. Ever wonder why if they are more efficient?

 

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> I generally don’t answer things like this as they are nothing more then Flaming by a moderator of all people ? really ! ? . Yes, manufactures produce gear and Yes, manufactures have a EPA standard for emissions not the best gears/power range. But anyone with common sense knows that there is not one set of gear or a motor for that matter for any one situation.

This is why they offer so many motor options and gearing options once again Common sense or lack there of…….. in the Crazy011’s case.

The change in gear ratio is to get better performance out of your truck, The easier it is for your truck to work the better the mileage will be in most case do you really think in real world driving you will be able to tell a difference between 100 – 125 RPM ex 4.30 vs 4.56 gears with a full load NO ! do you think you will notice a difference between 3.73 and 4.56 gears a 400-450 RPM difference yes maybe. But in the real world most people do stop light to stop light driving not long haul and in stop light to stop light you need to be in your Torque range not RPM for efficiency and yes lower gears will help with around town fuel mileage in most cases because your closer to your motors peak HP / Torque rating and it is proven over and over on this exact forum that what I am saying is correct for the Modular motors not diesel Motors. On a long haul you want a the tallest gears you can ie 3.73 or 3.55 or lower so you can use as few RPH as you can and this will result in better gas mileage.

But please keep this to the original post of the 5.4 being underpowered nothing more. I would expect more from a moderator then the above post that was presented by one….

 

I'd love to pick this apart some, but I really don't have the time right now. You can say what you like, but I can participate in discussions just the same as you. Of course if you have a problem with this feel free to contact an administrator as referenced in the GUIDELINES.

 

Any larger tires or lift kits negate anything the designers factored into the original gearing. When you increase tire size re-gearing is mandatory. Not only to regain lost overall ratio but to correct the RPM band in which you are cruising. Too high of a gear and the transmission is hunting for gears all day long. Too low and the engines uses too much fuel. Driving conditions and loads vary by person and driving style. To the OP what size are the tires?

 

Are you kidding me? With the limited info we have, regearing MAY actually help his performance and MPG. Anybody who has spent much time on this site or has some history of performance invovlement knows this to be true. Many, many variables involved here but I was supprised to have a moderator respond like this. Uncalled for.

 

Well, you knew I would chime in...........

Underpowered? My 2007 F-250 easily tows 8000 pounds, a 28 foot enclosed car hauler (3500 LBS) + one of my early 60's full size Pontiacs (4500 LBS) in it. I have towed a LOT more. With that same trailer, I moved my household from SO. Indiana to NE Wisconsin. I didn't weight it, but I can guess I was well over 12,000 pounds on one trip. No, I didn't win any drag races, but I also NEVER was lacking power. I was always able to get up to speed before I ran out of ramp and had no problem cruising at the speed limit.

So, what is the story with yours? 3000 pounds should be a walk in the park.

One thing, do you have a bed cover on your F-250? I find that when towing my large trailer the bed cover really screws up my aerodynamics. My trailer feels a lot heavier and my mileage goes down the toilet, like from around 10 to just above 7 MPG. I also tried it without the bed cover and without the tailgate, got similar results, although not as bad.