I Had a 1999 4.2L and the 300 Inline 6's were amazing!!!! now I got a 4.10 in a 5.4L V8

 

New here.
I just picked up a 1997 f150 short box 5 speed 4x4. It has 198,000 on the clock. Guy i got it from just put new heads on it. So far it seems OK.
The thing is in great cond with no rust. I paid $1200 for it last week.
Also have a 95 t-bird with a 4.6 in it. That has 82,000 on it and is my daily driver.

 

should i be changing head or intake gaskets?
i have a 2000 F150 4.2L V6 that gets, on a good day, 13 mpg in town. at about 2700-2800 rpm, 65+mph in 4th, just before the 5th gear upshift, i can hear valve clatter.
is this a sign?

other info: 70,000 miles, 3.55 open axle, 245/75R16 goodyear kevlar mudders, leer camper on a shortbed regular cab. only mod is the gotts mod, which made no difference i can see. i do carry a good set of offroad recovery tools, but i'd be surprised if it was as much as 500 pounds. this truck has the heavy duty payload and towing packages.
it threw a code a while back, which was some vacuum valve on the intake or something like that. i wiggled a connector and the code went away. I recently replaced the fuel pump and its relay.

what do you guys think?

 

99 F-150, SWB, Auto, 2WD; 178K miles. Items replaced?
Motorcraft plugs & wires, starter, all 4 O2 sensors. minor tune up type parts.

Still have a catalytic converter code but she keeps on going.

Oil changes every 3-4K miles. Motorcraft filters only.

 

My 97 F-150 threw a rod at 126,511 miles. Changed the oil every 3000 miles myself. Always had it serviced when it was due. Before the rod went, i had had very few issues with the motor. The only thing that i needed to replaced was a leaky radiator hose. I changed the belt after 100,000 miles because of a minor squeak and i replaced the plugs and wires after 115,000 miles. I didn't have ANY issues with the motor until December. Every now and then it would start hard or start and idle rough. One day in March i went out to start it and i heard a loud clunking under the hood and came to find out that it was a rod. Had it sent to a shop in StL to get the motor replaced. Just got it back on saturday. The new 4.2 under the hood runs and sounds great! In addition to the new engine, i had them replace the catalytic converters and switch it to a y pipe configuration. Just need a nice sounding muffler now...

 

Just bought a 98' E250 with 151,000mi. Runs great so far, planning on babying it. Good MPG.

 

Our 97 f150 is at 325,000km (about 202,000 miles).

We bought the truck in '99 and it already had 80,000km on it. It used to be a park ranger truck in alberta.

To date we're only had 3 serious problems:
1. The water pump started leaking. (covered by the extended warranty we bought)
2. a plastic pipe that would create some sort of vacuum in the motor cracked, and when it headed up the motor would bog down and stall out when idling (also covered by extended warranty, although it took 3 trips to the dealer to find it...)
3. The relay that controlled the wipers would randomly short and engage the wipers with no warning. (also covered by the extended warranty)

We are still on the original motor, AND the original automatic transmission. We change the oil every 20,000kms, oil filter every 10,000km, and we only use Castrol 5w-50 Synthetic Oil. This truck sees daily use, and it was our towing/hauling vehicle. We would load it up with our Atv (Honda 500cc, about 700lbs) on the bed, and hook up our 24' camper (about 4500lbs) to it and pull it up the coquihalla. Drop it in first gear, 40km/h up hill no problem. The only real modification we've done to the truck is install airbags in the back to help level the truck when we load it up. This truck has not had an easy life

 

2000 4.2 L V-6 133k runs smooth.

 

03 F150 4.2l... Bought it used with 125,000 on it and it now has 165,000 miles and ran great up to about 2 weeks ago... For more info on what went wrong you can see my thread in the F150 forum about cats going bad...

 

I have a 2004 F150 XLT with over 283000 miles.. and still runs good...

 

Briana, In response to your request. My 2006 F 150 is about to turn 164,000 miles. It has been am near perfect vehicle up until now.
I had an ignition module go bad,changed the starter because of a grinding start, and just started noticing an oil leak ( I beleive it's from the top of the oil filter mount, seriously just started the other day) I am also noticing a slight rough idle . I will have it in the shop this week...first time since I bought it with 1,500 miles on it. That is other than routine maintenance. Original timing belt/ chain, original serpentine belt, hoses, alternator.
It is my only vehicle, and I have found it to be very, very reliable even with a full load of tools 24/7. You can have a V8...if you want to spend more money on gas...I love my 4.2 ! Hammerer2011 aka Chris

 

Reading this thread has been encouraging...I have a '05 Ford Freestar that I just picked up (4.2L) 105,000kms, and I'm trying to sell my Aerostar, which has over 300,000kms on it...I also have a Nissan that has over 300,000kms.

My secret with those cars? Changing the auto trans fluid every 2 years, and the oil usually twice a year at minimum...more if I've done some trailer towing.

I hope to see similar kilometerage (is that a word? Mileage...) from my 4.2. Lots more guts than the 4.0 in the Aero has.

 

245,000 miles and still going fine.
No problems. No complaints.

Oh yeah.......
Still original serpentine belt.

 

i have a 2000 f150 XLT 4.2L about to turn to 221,000 miles at 207,000 power steering pump went out at 218,000 i changed the water pump other the that the truck hasnt been touched....truck still runs great no problems with it

 

Just rolled over 401,000km, headin for 500,000...