2009 E-150 4.6 engine swap - free 5.4 and 6.8

ShuttleShuttle · 06-20-2023, 09:34 PM

I bought a 2009 E-150 from a Copart auction last year. Clean Title, 88,000 miles. Fiberglass top. Previously a hotel shuttle in San Antonio. A previous owner did a decent job converting the high density shuttle seating to two captain chairs and bench seat.

I've been daily driving it for 10 months (about 5,000 miles) and these are the only problems so far.

1. Ejecting a spark plug out of cylinder 3. I live in Memphis, but I was 1 hour from my dad's shop in WI. I limped it up there and they did the fix with the threaded insert.

2. Replaced the fuel pump after the fuel gauge stopped working.

3. Replaced #8 coil pack after a flashing check engine light and an abrupt change in engine smoothness.

4. Bank 1 head gasket is leaking.Someone attempted a repair with epoxy, but some coolant is still leaking a little bit. The coolant level isn’t going down, but I do need to add a quart of oil about every 1000 miles so I’m not sure what is happening there. And the heater core seems to be partially blocked so there is probably some sort of stop-leak product in the engine and radiator as well. I flushed it a few times with little improvement.

The engine needs to come out to fix the head gasket. I’d spend the $3000 I was quoted to have it done in Memphis, but I have a unique opportunity in WI. My dad bought two damaged hotel shuttles 6-7 years ago with the hopes of turning them into one good shuttle. That never happened and never will at this point. One is a 2014 E450 cutaway with a V10. The other is a 2012 E350 cutaway with a 5.4 V8. Both ran when parked with low miles. The 4.6L V8 I have now gets the job done, but why not upgrade since I have access to these donor vehicles.

The VIN from the E-450 is 1FDFE4FS3FDA06903. I don’t have the E-350 VIN. The E-150 is 1FTNE14W79DA91088

Is either swap possible?

deserteagle56 · 06-22-2023, 10:18 AM

I believe you'll have to swap engine and transmission together...if I remember correctly the V10 won't work with your current transmission.

The V10/5speed auto (5R110) in my van have been flawless.

ShuttleShuttle · 06-22-2023, 09:32 PM

Thanks. The transmission is available so I could swap that too. And I think I could use the PCM from the donor vehicle as well. One problem I am aware of is a difference with the catalytic converters and catalyst monitor sensors between the E150 and E450. My E150 has two cats and 2 catalyst monitor sensors. The 2009 E-series Workshop Manual shows different exhaust routing for the E450 with one cat and one catalyst monitor sensor. I'm not sure if that will matter, but I assume the PCM uses those sensors for something.