I have a 2000 Ford F-150 Regular Cab 2WD with 5.4L and 3.55 rear axle ratio with 9000 miles. My questions is from a stand still the truck will hardly ever break the rear tires loose. I wonder if Ford has something to prevent the tires from spinning at take off for better hauling or is there something wrong. I have installed a K&N filter and use full synthetic motor oil (Valvoline 5W-30). I am not disappointed in overall performance, after it is going it will run very well. And it is the best pulling and hauling truck I have drove.

 

Hey martinfan, I felt the same way you did about my 5.4. I am at 5000' elevation, so that doesn't help either. I recently added a Magnacharger Intercooled S/C Kit, it is very similar to the Gen II Lightning. It wasn't cheap, but now, even with 285 60 18 tires, I can "light 'em up" from a stand still! It's awesome! Shoot me an email and we can chat, I can give you a good source to buy from.

---
2000 F150
-5.4, Magnacharged
-4x4 w/ lowering kit
-Gen II Lightning Wheels
-285 60 18 B'Stones

dwh@dynojet.com

 

Hmmm... Your rig doesn't have traction control, does it? (I didn't think that was an option). I have a 2000 E-150 with less than 1,000 miles on it, and if it wasn't for the limited-slip differential (3.55 gears too), my 5.4 would be spinning the tires every time I took off... and I live @5400 feet elevation. I'm a bit concerned about it though, seems that when I make a sharp right turn from a dead stop that the inside-rear tire "lights up" TOO easily... but, I think I'll wait 'til I get more miles on it before I complain to the dealer. Does your truck have the limited-slip rear end also? If you block the front wheels,put your trans in "N", jack up a rear wheel and try turning it by hand, you'll find out. If you can't turn it, then you have a "posi" and shouldn't be able to easily spin-out on take-off. I'd be curious to know either way.

And as a side-note, I'm planning on doing the first oil change next week-end after I hit the 1,000 mile mark. I plan on sticking with the recommended 5W-30. I'm an old-time mechanic with the old-time mentality, so using a motor oil as thin as water is a big leap of faith for me. At work, we use 15W40 oil in EVERYTHING (from fire trucks to the 4.6L cop cars) and never had any oil related failures. SO, the nagging question in my head is: why do people use synthetic? With a 3-4,000 mile oil change interval (mostly in-town driving), the cost of synthetic for me would out-weigh any fuel savings. Oil gets contaminated long before it begins to break down, so keeping fresh oil in the engine makes more sense to me than extending the change interval with a higher priced synthetic. Is my thinking antiquated? Is there benefits to synthetic oils that I'm not aware of?

 

The big difference that synthetic makes is not in length between oil changes. It can withstand much higher tolerances as regards to heat. It breaks down less under high thermal loads. That is why racing motorcycles can run endurance races for 8 hours at up to 16,000 rpm. Synthetic oils are what prevent these motors from eating themselves up.

If you do not have high loads or high rpm for extended periods of time then you probably won't benefit from synthetics.

 

I wonder if this is not a computer chip related issue. Its quite possible that Ford designed the chip to limit the engine RPM based on the drive shaft speed, rear wheel speed etc. This would be worth investigating with some of the guys that have installed aftermarkets computer chips. I would be curious to see what you find out as i am suppose to take delivery on my 2001 F-150 (5.4L) this week. When i test drove them i noticed the same thing, plenty of cruising power but no real tire burning power from a dead start.

 

I have also noticed a low-end power problem.
I have 99 F-150 4X4 with a Borla exaust, a K&N cold-air induction kit, and Gibson headers. I've heard this stuff might mess with the computer, but I only have noticeably lowere power when the air contitioning is on. I will be using a Hypertech power programmer when they come out with it. Otherwise, when the A/C is off, it runs and pulls bad-#####.

 

I appreciate all the information that you have given me. I now have 14000 miles on the truck. I have added a K&N FIPK, Flowmaster muffler and Superchip and I know have the opposite problem. It will now break the tires loose pretty easily from a stand still. I have timed it from 0 to 60 in 7.5 sec with some feathering of the throttle to get it to take off. I had a 99 GMC with 5.3L and my Ford I feel will totally dominate it on performance. All I can say and everybody else that rides with me is WOW. It will do 105 mph in OD at 3000 rpms and has a lot of throttle left.

 

So just for my own knowledge are you saying that changing out the computer chip made a big difference?

 

Try and check if your truck has a limited slip diff. The limited slip diff. locks both wheels together for added traction . The 5.4L is a hard puller, it's not a race car like the Chevy which dies while pulling. Fords have grate low end which makes them grate trucks, not like Chevys which makes only high power and no low end torque. There seams nothing wrong with your truck. It's good though that you added a K&N and use syntetic oils.

 

I have noticed this too. In my eyes it all has to do with the rear end. My buddy and I own 2 identical trucks, except I have a Limmited slip dif and he does not. I never spin from a stand still and he will spin all of first gear(only one wheel of course)

 

You got that right. This summer, I had the pleasure of tugging a fairly large trailer across Canada. It showed me that the 5.4L triton also has enough high-end power. It was really impressive to be able to accelerate and pass from 55 mph to 70 mph with that much ease. My truck has the stock 5.4L Triton in it.

 

I have a 2002 F-150 5.4L regular cab 4x4. It also has the 7700LB payload package giving me the 3.73 limited slip rear-end. The first day i got the truck i took it to a parking lot. When i nailed it from a dead stop the tires "lit-up". I looked back to see a dual 5 foot burnout. I swear i wasn't even trying to light em up! I must say i was impressed.