Well I have got the dreaded head gasket oil leak. Mine is on the left side front of my 2002 F250 5.4. I thought this issue had been corrected. Stealership says don't worry about it...just keep an eye on it. I've read about the right back nightmare but not the left front....anybody else got this ? Can it be left alone? Truck only has 55000 miles on it.
p.s. Tritons really are junk

 

Triton motors are not junk at all. Sure they have a few issues but yet they're mostly trouble-free for the most part.

The oil leak is common with both heads since they're the same castings. The right side rear and/or left side front will leak, the difference being left side is behind the front cover and never really seen.

Apart from oil dripping onto your parking spot as long as coolant isn't being pushed out that engine can live pretty much forever as is. Keep an eye on the oil level, check at least every 1,000 miles and you should be fine.

I have an '00 5.4 in E250 clocking 272K miles and its one of the best engines I've ever had----nothing junk about that longevity IMHO!

 

With all due respects JWA, I don't here my Chevy friends complaining about spitting out or frozen/stuck spark plugs, intake manifold coolant leaks,noisy cam phasers, head gasket oil leaks, corroded/broken exhaust maniofold bolts, cracked cops. And that's just what comes to mind at this moment. Ya the Tritons appear to have a bullit proof bottom end and lots of bottom end torque...for a good truck motor but damn it, I don't want oil spots on my drive way from an engine with just 55000 miles on it. And don't tell me to go buy a Chevy....I haven't got my money's worth out of this one yet.

 

Oh that's right... GM, famous for piston slap. D'oh I forgot. Intakes those are prone to failure.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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While we are ruminating about GM; how about their weak front ends? If you drive a half ton expect a weak transmission. If you have a large GM gasser, hope you like buying gas. It will pass everything but a gas station. Aaaand it appears coolant leaks are more common than some care to admit.<o></o>
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My “junky” 5.4 engine is still strong with 233,000 miles. My 4.2 in a 05 has 175,000 miles and lots of life left in it. Neither engine leaves any oil leak in my driveway. Then again, I really wouldn’t take a 10 year old pickup to a dealership, I’d look to an independent shop. <o></o>
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Don’t expect a whole lot of help if all you want to do is trash a Ford engine on a Ford enthusiast forum. Also, it is “hear” not “here.” <o></o>
I've own enough GM products to appriciate Fords all the more.

 

And right back at cha with all due respect............

(In the meantime: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-equinox.html)

I'm a VERY long time Chevy performance fan and despite my first time reluctance buying a Blue Oval product--it being totally against my credo so to speak---I'd buy another and another Triton motor'd van without hesitation. Yeah they have issues and perhaps my dumb luck has found the three 5.4's with 200K + miles that run great, have no reliability issues and are just about as good as I expect something to be.

Mind you most of my GM experience is limited to pre-2002 so what they offer relative to a reliable drive train and general quality I'm lost to compare with what I've so far owned from Ford. Still driving an '84 Pontiac Pariseen (aka Caprice!) with the 305 CID and electric Quadra-Jet 4bbl and TH350, one of the all time great drive trains, IMHO anyway.

Now when we start talking about front end suspensions I'll trade the I-Beam design over upper/lower control arms and the plethora of bushings, shims, adjustments and other biatch things to change any day of the week or year!

All manufacturers have their strong and weak points but I go for my own experience with something and in this case don't really care what badge I'm running. Sure maybe one drive train not properly maintained has more problems than the bigger fleet or type. Triton's are not lemons and while I'm sorry you've had problems with yours I'd be equally sorry were it any other brand also giving you similar problems.

And again with all due respect is that ^^ offered!

 

Weak front ends! I'll take that any day over the "death wobble" And as for gas mileage....the 5.4 's appetite is nothing to brag about. And I don't recall hearing (hereing) about GM piston slap but seem to remember something about it in early tritons...the piston sleeves were to short or something like that. Anyway my gripe is that after an engine has been around for a few years it should be reasonable to expect any major bugs to be worked out...I guess 2002 wasn't long enough

 

The "death wobble" seems to come from any 4x4 with a solid front axle.

For your edification: What is Piston Slap For further edification: GM Piston Slap -- Like a Knock

You really need to get your facts straight or troll elsewhere. Ford replaced their engine, GM didn't.