I was talking to a guy at work, and he mentioned a romeo 4.6 engine, and others have mentioned a windsor 4.6......Is there a difference? Which do I have? How do I tell??

 

There is a code, either W or 6, in your VIN, that will tell you which engine you have. The W means Romeo and I am not kidding. I think it's the 6th digit but I am not gonna bother looking it up--you can find it searching this site or the internet. Your truck is 16 years old, so if it's still running, you have the right engine

They are different in many ways and you need to look on the Internet to find all of those ways if you really want to--things like 6 flywheel bolts instead of 8. None of them are significant in terms of performance. My van has a Romeo. Your F150 probably has a Windsor. Ford is crazy sometimes, like when they had a 351 Windsor, a 351 Cleveland, and a 351 Modified engine, all different, or about 6 different versions of 427/428/429 engines. I think they did this to give people who were into trivia something to do....

Good luck,
George

 

6th digit is a 1......but the 8th is a 6! I got a windsor!

 

Well then, do some Internet research if you care to know the subtle differences. Not important unless you are rebuilding the engine or doing a swap. After 43 years of driving and over 50 years of being a car freak, I have no clue why Ford allows two similar 4.6 engines like the Windsor and the Romeo to pursue different development paths with neither being "better". (Likewise I wondered why they had three 351's in the 70's.)

I frankly think that Ford was crazy to create differences in two almost identical engines for NO reason. I mean WHY???? They seem to be starting to catch on to not needing different platforms for different continents, so why make two different 4.6's in plants that are 100 miles apart? It's not like one is the "performance" version and the other the "luxury" version. You should have been focused on making bulletproof transmissions or something useful. Hell, you should have learned to put more than 3 spark plug threads in aluminum heads.

The Mustangs, Explorers, Crown Vics/Town Cars (cop cars and taxis and limos) and vans (like my E150) usually had Romeos, trucks usually had Windsors. But there were exceptions to make it more confusing. Both factories are less than 40 miles from my house. Again, if you feel like learning trivia, do some Internet research, but otherwise, just be aware of which engine you have when you buy parts.

Good luck. The Mod motors like the 4.6 are both great motors and can all go hundreds of thousands of miles. I don't mean my response to be smartassed in the slightest, but if you have a healthy engine, just drive it, treat it well, and it'll run a long time for you.

George

 

My Dad had a dodge in the 50"s or 60"s and when he rebuilt that engine he had to have the casting number on the block to get the correct bearing set. It seems that Dodge was having some problems grinding their crankshafts at the factory and reground many crankshafts, so that you needed to know the size of the journals to get the correct bearing set.

 

I remember when Romeo made tractors and not engines.

 

I've rebuilt 2 windors motors, mine and another and both of them have a BIG fat "W" on the drivers side lower aft of the block right above the oil pan.
I think windors are better....why? because I got over 386000 miles on mine. That's good enough for me.
Now I have about 300 miles on my newly rebuilt and still going......who knows how far.