Have a '05 F150 with the 5.4 in it that i believe is dying. It's a beater truck i bought just so i had a truck at the house. Mechanic said it was "running out of time". So it runs, 4x4, good transmission, new starter and flywheel...everything else is fair. Would i be better off to try to part it out, sell it to one of you mechanically inclined folks or give it to a dealer in a trade in. My mechanic (who stays covered with just oil changes and tire stuff) said it was too time consuming for him to do the cam phaser and timing chain and all that junk replacement. What would yall do?

05, 5.4L.......if it needs a head gasket, drive into a telephone pole.

KEEP as a backup or sell cheap and buy another.

So what else does your Mechanic do besides changing oil & fiddling with tires

I was wonderin the same thing

Is it otherwise driving ok for the time being? If so, trade it in.

Mech does most all stuff, he's just a general small town mechanic. He just dont wanna deal with the headache that is the 3v 5.4.

I'm interested in this thread. Has anyone ever purchased a crate 5.4?

I'd have a hard time sinking money into a known turd.

My factory 5.4 has 260,000 miles without any major issues. All I'm concerned about is early retirement and building wealth. I'll spend 5k on a new 5.4. I refuse to pay 40k for a new truck if I dont have to.

I'd wouldn't be opposed to a 5.0 or 6.2, but would assume the cost of that swap would be rediculous.

My FIL had a factory 5.4 crate motor with all new components, AC, Power steering, ect dropped in his 04 F150 by the Ford dealer for around $6K. The original motor had over 300K and the rest of the truck was in great shape. After checking prices on new ones, he jumped all over the $6K for a new motor. He probably has around 250K on the crate motor with no issues.

Yeah I know it would be crazy expensive. I understand your [point. My limited experience with the 5.4 is that it runs great, until it doesn't. Then it's gonna be lots of money to fix or replace. I guess that's pretty much any motor these days. You could find a later model used 5.0 for not too much more.

That math works for me!

It’s not worth buying the needed tooling to do a 5.4 timing job right unless you do a bunch. Nobody does a bunch except the dealer and folks who don’t know any better. You can do it without a timing jig and get it right sometimes but nobody that has to stand behind it and can make a living doing other stuff with any sense at all is gonna do that.

Hogging- how ridiculous would the cost of a 5.0 or 6.2 swap be in a 05 f150?

Not that bad really. You can buy a holly x controller for it for $12-1300. From there is just mounts and exhaust

Put a 6.0 or 6.2 Chevrolet in it and it would be well worth it

Strip it down and put a Harbor Freight motor in it

I asked him about doing this, cause i'm like yall, I like the sound of $5k way better than $25k. He said if it were him, he wouldn't. Hence why i came here getting opinions.