Ford 5.4l and 6.2l V8's

I have had a 2007 and a 2010 F150 with the 5.4, I liked the power and reliability just make sure you change time set at 175,000. I now have a 2017 F250 with the 6.2. same thing good power, I only have 115,000 miles on it so not sure on long term reliability. They all like to drink their gas but that is a lot of my fault as well. Forgot to add both my 5.4s I had between 250k to 275k on them and I am notoriously hard on trucks.

Buying used is always a crap shoot.  You just never know how they've been treated.  My sister-in-law's 5.4 blew a spark plug in my driveway but that was one flogged truck.  (The '09 may have had this fixed).  The 6.2 has 16 spark plugs...that tells me it's overly complicated and not cheap to maintain.

My brother bought a 2012 150 with the Coyote.  Decent mileage, power, comfort.  That's all I got.

To me its a toss up. The 09 would be like my 10 and I liked that truck, and $6k less would be nice. Just curious are they 4 doors? Because the 1 complaint I had on my '10 was the 5.5 bed. The '07 had a 6.5. I could not bring myself to vote in the poll as I am torn.

8' beds will be nice, I do most of all work on my own vehicles but with the history of taking plugs out of a 5.4 I took it to a local shop that I trust when they needed plugs. We did a job in Warren Oh when I had my '10 and I pulled a trailer with 12k of steel on it there and I ran I90 at 80 mph all way no problems.

Hey Early!

I want to start out saying up front, that I am NO Ford mechanic and all my experience is strictly as a shade-tree guy capable of doing a lot of my own maintenance! 
I have had two different 5.4 V8’s…both were stone reliable and were still running strong when I sold them BUT one was a 1997 & one was 2001 which was the earlier 2-valve version.
Ford changed to a 3-valve setup in 2005 and those engines had some serious longevity issues as the miles piled on!

I have two separate friends that have BOTH had to have a NEW ENGINE put in their vehicles… Both guys are hard core moto guys and are meticulous in their maintenance but despite their best efforts, their 5.4 made it to about 160k and had to be replaced. 
One was a 2011 Ford F150 4x4 crew cab in immaculate condition, and the other is a garage kept Ford 2014 E-350 Econoline moto van. 
The buddy with the F-150 texted above, he is an aircraft mechanic/technician and a damn good auto mechanic (I have watched him remove/rebuild/reinstall the engine in his daughters car out in his shop with my own two eyes!) and even he was unable to prevent the inevitable flawed issues built into that particular generation 5.4 V8. 

I would strongly encourage you to research the specific issues mentioned above before making any decisions! I am a huge fan of Ford and have had Econoline’s all the way back to the 80’s, hell I am still squeezing every mile out of my 2006 E-350 (with 6.8 ltr) but the 5.4 from the era you are considering have known serious issues to consider before investing in one!

Good luck and I hope this can help you out!

The 5.4L has issues with Oil consumption which causes your timing to go out as well as when it needs a tune up Ford did the dumbest spark plug design known to mankind. They essentially have a 2 piece spark plug that will break in the cylinder head and be a fiasco to pull out. So what happens if you need  a legit tuneup is they will say hey we get you need plugs but we may need an extra 2 hours per cylinder to retrieve the plug if it breaks off. The porcelain on plug can destroy the cylinder walls. So they soak it overnight in hopes that it wont seize on its way out. 

Here is the tricky part of a 5.4, the variable timing is adjusted off of oil pressure, so if the oil pressure gets low the cam phasers will not adjust correctly which will grenade the engine. That is why it is so important if the engine recommends 5-20w oil. People make a mistake and run 5-30w because 5-20w is like water (not saying that's always the problem) I was told that ford ran to tight of tolerance on the 5.4 and oil passages are not large enough so if they get a little sludge in them the oil doesn't flow properly.  Just my experience. 

The 6-Deuce is an amazing engine. It’s the engine that was in all of our Gen 1 Raptors…well, except for the very anemic 1st year flexi-framed 5.4s…

First off, I assume we're talking a Super Duty here, and not a half ton?

In an SD, I’d certainly go with the 6.2. 

I'd do the 6.2 or if I was going back to 2009, V10. 

IMO 5.4L is awful. Cam Phasers, timing chains, plug issues... you name it.  Not a good design.  6.2 while doing nothing well has reliability. Just ticks like a mother idling lol

Yeah, for sure. Well, from experience on several fronts with these things, the 5.4's were a bit out of their league with 7000lbs of truck to pull, and it is an engine that has been out of production for 14 years. The plug issues weren't a thing by 2009, and phasers go out on everything with variable timing eventually, it's a big, expensive job to be sure, but the 6.2 (or 6.8, if you can find one) is just the better motor for the application and will be easier to keep going in the long term. And are almost as reliable long term as the old 2-valve modular engines.

Some dumb reason I thought 1/2 ton when I saw 5.4. I would definitely go with the 6.2 in a 3/4 ton.

Have you ever heard of the Triton tick? Yeah, that’s the 5.4.

Go negotiate a good price in the 6deuce…you’ll be a happy man. 

Speaking of Ford...

325k

https://www.motor1.com/news/716464/ford-mustang-gtd-applications-open-u…

180k on my 13 6.2. Still as crisp as the day I bought it.  Burns MAYBE a half quart every 6k. 

The only good 5.4's are the 2 Valve 2001 through 2003. They had improved heads with more spark plug threads. In 2004 Ford screwed the pooch and added variable valve timing with oiling holes so small they can get clogged and take out the cam phasers. Steer clear. The 6.2's are Way better.

I by the way have a 1999 2V 5.4. Engine has 219K on it with the original plugs. Afraid to touch them and hoping they are corroded in place. lol. Other than that super tough and reliable. Ford was damn good when Bill was running things. 

My old 2005 5.4L, 3-valve, uses oil, ticks like a timex watch at 169K. Done plugs many times, both exhaust manifolds and can't recall how many coil over plug units have been put in it.