5.4L opinions and lifespan

[shadetreevanman]

Some good ideas here. I’ve owned my 2012 E350 5.4 for over a year now. AC has never been stellar, even though charge test okay. But the longer I’ve owned it the warmer it’s gotten. I too do not remember hearing the fan. Think I’ll check that first thing. Would be nice to have the AC working in this heat.

[Bbasso]

Originally Posted by winmag4582001

Sorry, I should clarify.

Taking a bone stock motor and putting a "tune" on it will gain you no power. I firmly stand behind that comment!

Again, wrong.
I no longer have my dyno plots from the Intregra Type R I owned for 9 years but it was on the dyno multiple times.
Just fine tuning the ignition and fuel curve gained 11 hp. Then I added I/H/E and tuned from 164 stock to 191hp without opening the motor, just simple bolt-ons.

Do you honestly believe the car manufacturer pushes the tuning for HP or longevity? Since they dont want to have any warranty claims and get emission limits they tune back 99% of the cars. Resulting in Hp&tq left to be extracted.
Anyone who knows what to look for can always squeeze a few more Hp from just about any vehicle on the road these days.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by shadetreevanman

Some good ideas here. I’ve owned my 2012 E350 5.4 for over a year now. AC has never been stellar, even though charge test okay. But the longer I’ve owned it the warmer it’s gotten. I too do not remember hearing the fan. Think I’ll check that first thing. Would be nice to have the AC working in this heat.

You might find a reputable vehicle A/C specialist shop, one that will/can test all parts of your system, not just the state of charge and pressures during operation. Any one part of the system could be slowing failing causing your lack of cooling.

Any part from the blend door inside the evaporator case to a partially clogged orifice tube to a very dirty condenser can affect your A/C's ability to cool.

Daily temps and humidity also factor in as does your vehicle speed---very few systems with R134a refrigerant cool effectively at an idle.

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by shadetreevanman

Some good ideas here. I’ve owned my 2012 E350 5.4 for over a year now. AC has never been stellar, even though charge test okay. But the longer I’ve owned it the warmer it’s gotten.

In a fit of crappy design work, Ford installed the A/C evaporator in the same housing as the heater core. The heater core receives a continuous flow of hot coolant any time the engine is running, so it's always (very) hot. That in turn heats the entire housing, including transferring heat to the evaporator, even when you have the A/C on. The two are separated by the blend door, which can leak, and even when well sealed will transfer heat to the cool side. The solution is to cut off the flow of coolant to the heater core when the A/C is on. In a fit of desperation during a heat wave, I clamped the heater core hose shut, and immediately realized at least a 10deg reduction in the outlet temp at the vent's. Clamping the hose is not really recommended though, but it worked fine at the time. Read through the links below to find a better solution.

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...hose-4221.html

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...nts-13588.html

[skoronesa]

My 2006 5.4l is currently in the shop because of the transmission tailshafthousing. This apparently is a common problem now with the 2wd fords. There are ears on either side that get bolted to the crossbeam. Rust grows between the beam and the bottom of the housing pushing the middle up while the bolts hold the ears down. Eventually one ear cracks at the case and it leaks fluid.

I had to buy a parts van to get a housing. None of the junkyards around here had them and ford is backordered.

The alternate solution is to get a 4wd transfer case and shorter driveshaft. For me this would have been more expensive and slower than a 1000$ parts van. Now I have a bunch of spare parts including an extra set of wheels, three good tires, new drivers seat, and a rear axle which will go on my trailer.

[JebTN]

Just for information, I priced a Ford factory rebuilt 5.4l for my 99 E250 a couple of weeks ago at a Ford dealer. They gave me a price of $2900 with 3 year unlimited milage guarantee. They wanted another $1500 to put it in. I was just checking worse case costs if some further testing and checks came out bad.

[bec_n_em]

SierraHawk, were was that great picture you posted up of your SMB and Airstream taken? Very fun!

[arctictraveller]

[QUOTE=JebTN;230607]Just for information, I priced a Ford factory rebuilt 5.4l for my 99 E250 a couple of weeks ago at a Ford dealer. They gave me a price of $2900 with 3 year unlimited milage guarantee.


That seems like a reasonable price to me. I suspect if I did the rebuild myself, with the machine work subcontracted out, the cost for parts and machine work would be at least $1500 if not more, depending on how worn the engine was.

[moorefc]

Originally Posted by Cruzliife

Hey guys,
The only thing bumbing me out was being limited off road. My intention is not to do anything crazy just charge the washboards better and get across some sandy dirt. So yesterday I dropped her off at Action Van in San Clemente for a 4 1/2” lift, new tires and rear limited slip diff lock.

Back to the original post, you haven't mentioned airing down. I find with my E350 and previous E250 SMB carrying a good compressor and airing has done a world of good for offroading in Baja over the years. I can get myself in as much trouble as the 4WD folks, but 25# in soft makes a huge difference. Just have to watch the sidewalls for rocks....I have Cooper AT3s.now but had Hancook stocks on the E250. Both work altho the Coopers are a significant offroad confidence builder.
Also I may have missed it, but didn't your SMB come with limited slip? If not limited slip makes a HUGE difference....
Engine life has been thoroughly wrung out here...lots of miles my E250 is still cruising with 250K+...Also subscribe to the Mark Kovalski (Ford factory trans engineer) tranny flush JWA mentioned.

[luked]

Originally Posted by SierraHawk

Since about 2007 we have put over $20,000 into the front Dana 60 axle.

sweet baby Jesus tell me that is a typo