Buying an 2003 E350 SD w/ a 16 foot box - 5.4 L
 

Hi all, new here as a guy who has owned quite a few fords. Bought a 89 lx 5.0 new, and a used 1984 mustang GT, used 92 f150, used 94 f350 dump and a used 78 cougar..great experiences with all.
The guy that i work with and myself ( we do junk removal and cleanouts) have put a deposit down on a extremely clean and lightly used 2003 E350 SD cutaway van with a 16 foot box on it..5.4, 103 k .
The owner used it 1 or 2 times a week for his furniture upholstery repair business and he bought it new back in 03.
He said he never had more than a few pieces of furniture in it at one time and was super religious with oil changes and recommended servicing...the car has been with him in florida it's entire life and the truck looks super clean...inside, outside and underneath .
Most box trucks get used and abused so this one definitely fit the profile for what we were looking for...up here in ct. these trucks are all beat up and rotted out.
I guess my question is pretty much whether or not a 5.4 2v is enough motor for this size truck...and i see a whole lot of these trucks out there with these engines.
Does anyone have on here have any personal experience with a large, commercial type vehicle and one of these 5.4's ?
Thanks for any thoughts or opinions !

Spark plugs would be my first concern---have they been changed at any time during its life so far? What rear gears are in this truck?

Weight-wise the E-350 is good up to just over 9,200# when fully loaded. I'd have the truck weighed empty to determine what cargo load you could safely carry. The rear springs could have a leaf or two added if you'll be carrying more than the stock configuration specifies. Tires are also important--is this a dual wheel drive van?

The first thing i asked him was when or if the plugs were changed and he did not know anything specific about them..so he's going to try to get the records from the shop that worked on the truck...hopefully they were done, because if not, at 103 k, i know it needs to be done as soon as we get it..which probably ain't gonna be fun.
The rear has 410's and it is dual wheels..if you look at my avatar pic, you can see how big this thing is...we should have the truck in ct by next week..thanks..

You should be able to carry between 3500 - 5000 lbs for a payload...Just remember, the 5.4 2V is not a race engine, it's slow...It's a work horse but you can't be hammering on the gas pedal at stop lights, that's what ruins these engines...my 03 F350, has 138K I run from Chicago to MS and back hauling a 12 foot enclosed dual axle trailer a couple times a year, I usually stay in the right lane and travel between 60 and 65 max, never a problem until the belt tensioner seized....New tensioner, new belt, on the road again, no problem....just drive it easy and it'll be good to you.

That truck should serve you well. Nice find.

The seller texted me today letting me know he found some service receipts showing that the coils and plugs were replaced.
He said that the place who did his oil changes and basic maintenance did not do this particular job in as he had a larger truck service place do it...so i'm taking it as a positive that they were replaced...feeling pretty good that it will be reliable going forward.

These engines will take torture driving 24/7 My work truck weights in at 11k all the time,I drive it like I stole it has 350k on the original engine and god knows how many hours of idling it has. Yes they are slow specially with 3.73 but take WOT all day long and not complain one bit. Mine usually is at wot (hilly areas) and sometimes close 17k GCW. I'ts one of my favorite engines for fleet use, low $ maintenance and never lets you down, I do 5k oil changes (easy to remember) and I use the cheapest price oil that is not even made here in the states. You won't be disappointed in its reliability, as for power you can always re-gear to something steeper like 4.30+ and mane it feel lime it got some huevos.

I'm thinking that the 410 rear and relatively small tire size should be a pretty good combo pulling some heavy loads...and i will definitely be doing the oil on this every 3-4 k with some 5/30 synthetic...and getting ready to order 20 quarts of tranny fluid to give it the machine flush...then she's gonna work.

Add to your list a large transmission cooler and trans temp gauge your trans will thank you in the long run.

Yeah..once the truck gets here i will see how big the stock tranny cooler is...probably will put a nice big one it...thanks

Lucky you, 4.10 gears, the only dually rear I could find some years ago was 4.63, I wanted what you have, I've never had trouble towing with my 5.4, have had the plugs changed twice without incident, tho I did worry, be ready to tackle the vacuum canister, it'll be leaking, you''l only have a defroster.

Will look out for that..thanks

Does anyone have a particular tranny cooler they would recommend for a van / box truck this size pulling heavy loads?..thanks..

Before you start modifying an already well designed transmission cooler install a temperature gauge and see what's actually going on when you're under load. Ford did a good job designing the transmission coolers they install from the factory. There's also an ideal transmission operating which you naturally don't want to exceed but you don't want it running "colder" either.

If you're still convinced you "need" a larger redundant trans cooler post your vehicle specifics and observed temperatures in FTE's Transmission sub-forums.

If the factory cooler is doing the job i certainly will leave it be...i will put the temp gauge in to see how high it gets under load..thanks..