So earlier this week i took my truck in for a check engine light and a issue when i would pull up to a Red Light my truck started knocking like a Diesel motor. I quickly put the truck into neutral and the issue went away. Took it to the dealer for repair after they had it for the entire day they asked for my service history. THANKFULLY i kept all of my oil change receipts. They tried pulling the card that my motor wasn't under warranty for taking it to LUBE X and Mister Lube. I called bull **** and told them i wanted to speak with a manager. After talking with them they deiced to look after this under warranty.

Is there an issue with the 5.4L motors mine only had 69000km and was properly maintained with an oil change every 8000km?

 

Sounds like the same hydrolock my dad's 04 had...fuel poured into cylinder filled it up and then busted the rod. Dealer did no charge full engine replacement even though he was over 100k....and then we have an 08 5.4 at work with over 600k with no problems

 

An 08 with 600 thousand miles on it? Seriously? I need photographic evidence of that. If its true it is very impressive. I have a company truck for a few weeks playing foreman again, 2005 F250 5.4, with 168,500 on it. We have many that are in the upper 100k range before they get replaced. Believe it or not, I was instructed to top my old F250 work truck with the oil we use in the equiptment- 15-40w. They wouldn't spring for the right oil except for an OC. That one had 148k on it when I turned it in a few years ago and ran fine. Only problem it ever gave me was a fuel pump and the COP's.

 

I was at the dealer today and some poor ******* was on the hook for his diesel engine due to no reciepts. *******. 20k later

 

At that point just buy a new truck.

Just a question to the OP: What warrenty do you have to get a full motor replacement? 69k is beyond the 3/36 and the 5/60k powertrain. Did you buy an extended? If so, thank goodness, eh? How much was it if so? Ive got less then a year left on my 3/36 and am considering an extended warrenty.

 

^my 2010 came with 100k powertrain. i extended the original to premiumcare to 75k and should be in the same boat if something happens.

 

In terms of really long life for a 5.4, there is the guy at the millionmilevan.com website who got 1,299,986 miles out of a '97 2 valve 5.4 before it lost oil pressure and gave up the ghost. No work inside the engine, ever. The website is still up there, and all of his repairs were documented. I do think he shot out a spark plug or two in that time, needed a trans rebuild at 1.2 million miles. Went 500k miles on the original serpentine belt. The dude DEFINITELY got his money's worth out of that van.

The 3 valve engines are likely more problematic but the basic mod motor design can be incredibly long lasting. That is 1.3 MILLION miles.

George

 

Hey Soundwave...OP is Canadian, and it sounds like their powertrain warranty is to 100,000 kilometers. His engine failed at 69,000 kilometers, which is only 42,000 miles or thereabouts. Way early for a failure.

As for extended warranties, I bought one to 5/60 on my '02 E150 (4.6) when the warranty was 3/36 on everything including power train. At ~42k I had heard a ticking noise and the extended warranty got me about $4000 worth of brand new cylinder heads under a factory TSB for the early Romeo PI heads. (Pure luck and also too early for a failure!) If I had not bought the warranty, it would not have been covered. I also got some new ball joints, tie rod ends, an idler arm, and a timing cover seal out of the extended warranty that I bought, so I came out great. The service manager was really good to me because I brought the van in for oil changes, and he and I really hit it off from early on. He knew I took great care of my van and that I was a knowledgeable car guy. Face time makes a big difference when there is any kind of question on warranty work.

I have also done great with extended warranties on a few other vehicles (mostly GM vehicles--my late stepdad worked for GM and I used to get the Option 1/2 discounts). My '96 Savana van had probably $10,000 worth of work done under warranty....3 transmissions, 7 valve bodies, starter, alternator, 2 fuel pumps, power windows, 4 oxygen sensors...it was honestly the Van from Hell! But on other vehicles like my wife's 98 Sable, and her current 07 Honda Civic, I did not get my money's worth on extended warranties that I bought. It's all a matter of luck. In general, extended warranties are priced so the company selling them makes a profit.

I have never felt bad about not having to use my life insurance, but I have paid for it for many years....

George

 

Sorry it's 600 000 kilometers and and it's a E450 cube van workin hard every day to boot... it runs 860 k per day and purrrrs..... orig tranny rear end only thing done was head gasket....we switched from diesels to gas and it was well worth it. our last Ford 6.0 was in the shop more than on the road

 

Oh ya and oil change every second Saturday

 

Well, fortunately or unfortunately, like the million mile van, that would be a 2 valve 5.4. I suspect that these may be longer lasting than the 3 valve 5.4's because of their simplicity.... No variable cam timing.

George