There is a video on YouTube from South Main Auto that he welds nuts on the studs. He does use a wire feed welder and he explains what a good heat sink aluminum heads are. The heat of welding helps loosen a stud besides giving you a nut to turn. He makes three tries at it before he is successful but like he says if I can do it you can do it.

I believe you have to move the fender skirt and stuff out of the way to get access. From what I gather most people put stainless studs back and use nickel anti seize on them.

I haven't had the Jack the engine up for any work, haven't done an exhaust manifold yet. But I will be sure and follow your progress as I have an 05 with 200,000 on it. I like my truck it is a work horse but I don't wide open throttle it. I do tow and it has scratches and bumps on it. I am more worried about the transmission at this point, I will get a rebuild if necessary. It is just a question of when.

 

I got my truck done, it was a job my father let me use his welder. thanks for the help. Now the window switch is inop. when will it stop.??

 

Never. It's an 05 5.4. At least you got the melling pump and seem to be correcting the most common issues, but at 200k, things will start to happen on every vehicle.

I had my front passenger window switch go out, then the rear driver side door lock actuator, had to replace all bulbs with LED's due to plastic melting and such, not to mention, a complete reman drivetrain overhaul and then some. Runs good now... but if I would have known from the start I would have avoided it. If I could have just put the melling stuff in and followed fordtechmakuloco's fixers, I would have, but mine was so badly scored it just made sense to replace it, and I was having tranny issues with hard shifts too. So when I got the reman I put the melling stuff in it to avoid future problems. Mine was OEM. Now the little stuff like trying to replace the 3rd brake light with an LED but Ford's geniuses connected it to the cruise control and the lower power draw caused the system to think the bulb was out, therefore the cruise control would not work. I did get kind of lucky recently in finding a very good set of OE zinc plated brakes with powder coated calipers from Callahan Brakes and a leveling kit with everything down to the tie rods/shocks included for a decent price (comes out to just under 700 for everything). So that is next. Overall though, these year trucks are by far the worst engineering I have ever seen. But, I own one so I'll make it work because as much as I hate spending the money, I do like the work and the result of something fixed right and maintained more meticulously than something inside Jay Leno's garage

 

 

 

I replaced it with aftermarket ,the drivers side door is opened to the weather and used so much . I also lost that door window regulator which is a lot more work . .The wire in the drivers door jamb also break inside the insulation and have to be spliced after so many years .
Make sure you replace fpdm ,rear axle oil,trans fluid ,Injectors should be changed for new as they can kill the engine ,don't use reman .
I had to give up on led headlights as Florida heat destroys them in a year . Spent nearly 400 no go .
But I don't have any rust so I will keep repairing it . I am due to change all pulleys and belt tensioners ,maybe water pump and I did put a lower degree thermo it it with no ill effects . Just did a 600mile round trip she did good .Should change out coolant and brake fluid ,as well as power steering fluid .
I do a engine flush every other oil change and I run 1 quart marvel m oil in 5w-30 syn and change out at 5k .

 

Yea did that too lol. Both doors on driver side were like that. wth...

I am due for a flush as well. Did the water pump with the rest of the work but great idea on the flush. Since it is a regular 30 degrees I am waiting til summer to do all the flushes. For some reason, these idiots put green coolant in it and I didn't realize Ford wants the 50/50 until about a month ago. It's fine for now, but I am and always was skeptical about the fluids they used. Especially putting in a reman tranny. I just flushed it (the lazy way admittedly) and put mercon v in. I am 100% sure they skipped the transfer case too. So that is on the list to remove and inspect it. Those seals fail so often that is the last thing I need to happen with all the money I spent. Sadly, no easy way to change that fluid regularly. But I steer clear of the oil additives, for the most part. Lucas is the only one I will use a quart of every 30k. Marvel, or anything with that consistency (viscosity?) scares me. If it was an older engine, absolutely. But one and done.

To the OP:
Did you do O2 sensors and check the cats as well? Pretty common on these trucks and being that you are at 200k, you should at least replace the O2's. Also, inspect the rest of the exhaust. I mean get up there and wiggle it around hardcore. Last thing you need is something to fall off after doing the manifolds. I overlooked that and the damn exhaust rusted clean off at the muffler. That is what drove me to doing the entire system.

 

Proud owner of a 05 FX4 5.4 (ticking) Triton...

I swear sometimes it does seem like one problem after another with my ride. On the up side, I’ve learned a lot (and I do mean A LOT) since I fell in love with this blue oval beast.
All in all, I still love the darn thing. I’m not gonna lie; it’s pretty freakin cool when I get to put my mechanically inclined brain to use, get my hands dirty, & fix at least some of the stuff that my husband tears up

And for my next trick.... Vacuum system overhaul. New lines all around, IWE, hub assemblies, & all points in between. 👍🏻