The Mustangs are built to handle the abuse. Granted mine isn't a 4.6, but the 302 in my car sees 5500 quite a bit and she is still kickin hard at 151k.

The f150 is a work truck, but it rarely does any towing. As I said, I also have a powerstroke, so it does 99.9% of the "hard" work. From day one I had the oil changed every 4-5k at a Texaco quick change. Ford says that is why the truck died. Texaco says they only used the oil that Ford recommended. Ford said that I should never use anything but synthetic oil, so I started changing it myself with castrol syntec. The second engine didn't even last as long as the first. One thing I should also mention... When I was rebuilding the engine I took the heads to have the valves installed at a local machine shop. The machinist said he had already done the same thing to 8 other 4.6 engines that year. Exactly the same thing happened to them, the cam toasted the aluminum head.
Now, I am not a ford basher. I love Ford. It is the only brand I will even consider buying. I just haven't had any luck from the 4.6. The 5.0 however, greatest engine I have ever owned. "Uncle Jessie", my white '89 f150 has over 300k miles and still fires right up today. And I have to admit that after I bought the '97 I never took care of Uncle Jessie at all. The oil got so thick once that I had to fill the engine with diesel just to thin it out enough to get it to drain. I only used it on the farm, never even tagged it, so I stopped taking care of it. Somehow though, he still goes. Truly built Ford tough.

Thanks for the reply. What grade of oil do you use? I'm just curious because I bought this coupon book for service from a local shop, and it included like 6 oil changes. They only do 10w-30 and I figured that as long as I get it changed every 3k miles (while I have the coupons), their oil couldn't hurt. I'm going back to 5w-20 after I run out of coupons. I did notice one morning I heard what sounded like a little cold engine piston slap but I haven't heard it since.

I was just curious if you use the 5w-20 or something else.

We are talking about the 4.6L Modular, not a big ol' 460

my 02 cv has 213,000+ and runs like new, my 93 merc has 175,000+ and runs like new. My 97 f-150 had 180,000+ on it when I sold it and it ran like new. Mod motors are the best.

i guy that sharpens our blades at work has a e150 with the 4.6 and to my surprise he just passed 250,000...not bad

My 97 F-150 just rolled into 201k the other day. Only issue I had was the passenger side cam bearnings loosened up causing the lifters to drop out of place on one of the cylinders.

I don't beat the snot out of it though, basically for light duty hauling of stuff for around the house.

Took me forever to diagnose, a few hours to fix (well more like 6 but I'm fairly inexperienced)

'98 Expy 2wd 4.6 it just turned 170k and I run it HARD!!! My wife drove it the first 25k but ever since the pedal is mashed to the floor whether in town or on the highway or on country roads. I drive it like a Mustang! Towed enclosed motorcycle trailer for 3 years all over the eastern USA. It uses a quart every 1500 miles. I change it as close to 3-4k as I can. Plugs, wires, coil pack and an alternater a month ago are the only parts failures. I had to clean a bunch of carbon out of the EGR ports and the starter wire corroded and broke one night. The original battery lasted 8 years! I've went through about 6 sets of front brakes and 4 rears. Just replaced rotors and calipers.

Depends on your maintenance habits...

I just traded in a 98' F-150 4x4 with the 4.6L Triton. I did basic maintenance, added a K&N FIPK, Accel Supercoils (2), Flowmaster exhaust, and bigger tires.

It ran great. Never had any major problems. I'm generally hard on vehicles and this one went wheelin' several times a year for at least the 4 years I owned it.

Traded it in with 158K miles and it ran like a new one. If my new truck wasn't so cool, I'd miss that F-150.

Mine Just turned over 200012

I must have had bad luck, first engine blew at 202 thousand second went at 153k both engines never missed oil changes never over heated im not a fan of the 4.6 but the tranny is still going strong

Even without knowing the history of your 4.6s, that’s not particularly bad luck. Maybe not record setting numbers, but the factory power train warranty was 5 years/60,000 miles back then.