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New Engine or rebuild?

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Old Oct 19, 2009 | 02:05 AM
  #1  
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New Engine or rebuild?

Hi.

My daughter gave me her 2004 F150 Lariat last year with 220Km's on it and the engine just started knocking this year.

Must be my driving style

I've read around that the 5.4's are known to knock both upper and lower cam phaser. Local Ford dealer
said it would be about $2300 to fix.

Question, would a 2010 5.4 fit into the truck? Meaning buy a new engine and tranny even. Sure would probably cost 10K, but cheaper then 50K for a new truck.
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Reason for question, like the new 6 speed tranny gas milage, and the high Km's are due to a lot of highway driving my daughter did at old job as enviro tester at rigs.
 
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Old Oct 19, 2009 | 08:39 AM
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IMHO..........I would buy a used engine / tranny. Not new!

You will never get back your investment. Put a new engine in an old truck....you still have an old truck.

You will be needing other work on the truck that will put you further behind. If something like a wreck or theft happens.....the insurance will still look at it as a 6 year old truck. I would not do it!

Check out a 2009 leftover and see what rebates they have. See if you can get 0% financing.

Look for a 2wd regular or supercab with no extras....the price may surprise you.
 
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Old Oct 19, 2009 | 10:05 AM
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Thanks George!

Good reply, and you are correct, new engine, old truck akin to new wine in old wine skin.

Just was shooting in the dark if anyone has tried it with other years.

cheers
Tom

Originally Posted by george6488
IMHO..........I would buy a used engine / tranny. Not new!

You will never get back your investment. Put a new engine in an old truck....you still have an old truck.

You will be needing other work on the truck that will put you further behind. If something like a wreck or theft happens.....the insurance will still look at it as a 6 year old truck. I would not do it!

Check out a 2009 leftover and see what rebates they have. See if you can get 0% financing.

Look for a 2wd regular or supercab with no extras....the price may surprise you.
 
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Old Oct 20, 2009 | 03:11 AM
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you could do the swap. right now a guy is putting a 5.4 4v GT500 motor into his 2005 F-150.

if he can make that work, damn near anything is possible



however, the 2009+ 6 speed transmission has it's own "brain" called a TCM that works in conjunction with the motor PCM. That alone would make the swap a major PITA. And then the 2009 PCM has the RSC & TC crap to deal with that your 2004 truck won't have the system for.



mechanically, the 2009+ 5.4 3v motor is the same as a 2004-2008 F-150. The only real difference is the placement of the MAF and the wiring harness. You could pretty much take a 2009 longblock and it should start right up using all of your 2004 accessories.





I personally would grab a lightly used 04-08 5.4 3v from a junkyard. direct plug n' play. just be careful grabbing a 07/08 motor. they have a different harmonic balancer and the pulley setup is tweaked slightly. you'd have to use your 04 stuff 100%, or convert your current accessories to the 07/08 setup. still rather easy.
 
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Old Oct 21, 2009 | 01:58 PM
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Thanks!
Here's a secondary question then, how about hooking the tranny with the new TCM to the old engine and just change the cams or lifters (whatever is causing the noise)?

I mean basically anything is cheaper than a $50,000 new truck.


Originally Posted by tylus
you could do the swap. right now a guy is putting a 5.4 4v GT500 motor into his 2005 F-150.
if he can make that work, damn near anything is possible
however, the 2009+ 6 speed transmission has it's own "brain" called a TCM that works in conjunction with the motor PCM. That alone would make the swap a major PITA. And then the 2009 PCM has the RSC & TC crap to deal with that your 2004 truck won't have the system for.
mechanically, the 2009+ 5.4 3v motor is the same as a 2004-2008 F-150. The only real difference is the placement of the MAF and the wiring harness. You could pretty much take a 2009 longblock and it should start right up using all of your 2004 accessories.





I personally would grab a lightly used 04-08 5.4 3v from a junkyard. direct plug n' play. just be careful grabbing a 07/08 motor. they have a different harmonic balancer and the pulley setup is tweaked slightly. you'd have to use your 04 stuff 100%, or convert your current accessories to the 07/08 setup. still rather easy.
 
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Old Oct 21, 2009 | 03:40 PM
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I say new sure it costs more but a ford engine has a 3yr/100k warr. I know if i were looking to buy a higher mileage truck i would be more interested in the truck with warr.
 
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