Thread: My 5.4L woes!

Alright boys (and girls!), so here's the story.
I bought my truck on January 10th, 2012, with 117,034 miles on it. She's a 2004 (NEW body style!) XLT 5.4L Triton V8 4X4 SuperCab (As my name party states!).
Within a week of buying it, my front brakes locked up in town, they'd just been replaced, but they didn't do it right. Had to have a brake job done then, but other then that, I haven't anything other than minor maintenance done on it.

Time travel a year and a half.......she's been serving me well, and I've got 144k miles on her now. I'd had a slight startup squeal this summer, but I was sure it was just my fan clutch going out, because I could also hear it kick in and out as it was squealing.
I started up my truck to leave work last monday, and it sounded a little different, but i needed to get home. A mile down the road, my truck started shaking, crap, not sure what it is, I weigh my options, if it's shaking, any damage that could be done probably is. I made it my few miles home, and had it in to my mechanic early Tuesday morning.
I get a call from my mechanic Thursday afternoon, and my truck needs a new motor. My issue was related to the 04-05 (isn) cam phaser issue, cylinder #1 is totally scoured. It's gonna cost me $6500 to have him put a new motor in it, or $4700 if he gets me that parts and I do it.

After some calling around the last 5 or 6 days, i've found a remanufactured 5.4L for my truck, it's only going to cost me $3200, and one of my neighbors is one of the best diesel freaks in the area, and knows a ridiculous amount about gas engines too, he's forgot more than I probably will ever know about vehicles. He's offered that we can use his shop to do it, and he'll help me on it. I'll probably start pulling it out apart in our shop, and then move it down to his shop after he gets it cleaned up a bit.

So the short of it, is that I'm going to be replacing my motor within the next month or two, I may be on here to ask questions, and if you guys know of any other forums even that have details on pulling a 5.4L, I'd greatly appreciate a link!
Also, I'm going to be starting to do some stuff that I have debated about doing to my truck, if I'm going to spend around $4000 and put a new engine in my truck, I'm going to be keeping it for a while! Project let's make this truck what I really want!
Thanks guys!

Question, service manuals? Is the best shop/service manual you guys know of, the Ford Service Manual (printed by Ford/used by Ford techs), or is there a better one?

Thanks, Joe!

Is your's a 5.4L? Even if it is, it'd be somewhat different wouldn't it? 3v verses 2v, right?

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Hey, question everyone. I'm replacing the motor with a remanufactured engine, which equals new/reman block and heads, i put all my tin, wiring, etc, etc, on, as I'm sure most of you know. So my question is, while I'm replacing the major part (s), what minor parts should I replace as well, aka what sensors, etc should be replaced?
And just so no one thinks I'm going to base my decisions off of suggestions from people I don't know, and have not a lot of confirmation of knowledge (that being said, I know there is a ton of knowledge on here, that's why I'm asking!), I will be talking to my mechanic on anything I'm replacing!

Thanks!

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm probably ordering the motor tomorrow, and we're planning on putting it in this month, gonna try to just pull a long weekend, and do it that way.

I'm going to go ahead and replace the radiator, water pump, and thermostat for sure, as they're all actually decently cheap (radiator is the most expensive, at just under $200). Need to talk to my mechanic more on what sensors I should specifically replace, I'd love to do them all, but I really need to keep this as economical as possible. I want to do it right, but not break the bank, if you know what I mean.

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And has anyone other than Joe swapped theirs?

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Don't think I asked this yet, but maybe I did.....either way! What are the best shop/service manuals out there that money can buy? Do the Ford Motorcraft ones pretty much kick butt, or is there something out there that's better? And no, I won't take Chiltons for an answer, lol, they have all the info you DON'T need on everything, and none you do

I ended up getting the Ford Service manuals, the 4 volume set. It cost a pretty penny, but it looks like it will be worth it! Had to go to an 05 manual, because I just couldn't find any for an 04, they're all for the Heritages.

I picked up my reman motor from The Auto parts store, yesterday. $3,636 for that crazy 5.4L! I found out that buying a reman 7.3L Diesel for $200 cheaper! Too bad the 5.4L is such an expensive motor, but I'm planning on it running for a LONG time!

The plan is to hit it hard starting tomorrow, and get it done by Sunday! We'll see if that actually happens. Stay tuned!

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I ended up getting the Ford Service manuals, the 4 volume set. It cost a pretty penny, but it looks like it will be worth it! Had to go to an 05 manual, because I just couldn't find any for an 04, they're all for the Heritages.

I picked up my reman motor from The Auto parts store, yesterday. $3,636 for that crazy 5.4L! I found out that buying a reman 7.3L Diesel for $200 cheaper! Too bad the 5.4L is such an expensive motor, but I'm planning on it running for a LONG time!

The plan is to hit it hard starting tomorrow, and get it done by Sunday! We'll see if that actually happens. Stay tuned!