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Anything I need to know before buying an F150?

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The f-150 has not had a v-6 engine in a while. Skip the base 4.6 2v and 4 speed. Get at minimum the 4.6 3v and 6 speed. Should be fine for occasional towing. If you do a lot of towing, get the 5.4.

The 2011 engine line up looks pretty awesome. The 3.7 v6 will have almost as much power as the 4.6 3v. The 5.0 will beat the 5.4. and the 6.2 and turbo v6 are going to be quite nice as well.
 
and in the end most will still be able to do what they were doing with any of the engines here.

For every 10 people I see with a truck, only about half ever do anything more than a simple car could do. Only about 1/4 actually use it as a truck (boats, off road, etc).
 
WT said:
This. It actually dates back to 1998 IIRC, but was an issue with the Triton motors. I was interested in an older Ford until I read about that and saw the damage firsthand on two trucks owned by my friends.
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1997, but I was under the impression that starting in 2002 or 2003, the issue was resolved by having more threads in the head.
 
Thanks for all the advice everyone.

I don't think I'm going to wait for the 5.0, mainly because I don't want to buy new so it'd be a year at least before I could find what I want.

I'm looking for an 09-10 4 door, 6ft (or is it 5.5?) bed. I think I'm looking for a lariat - I want 2wd (do they come with limited slip?), black leather, and wood trim. I don't like the plasticish black and other options they have.

Also no navigation.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Thanks for all the advice everyone.

I don't think I'm going to wait for the 5.0, mainly because I don't want to buy new so it'd be a year at least before I could find what I want.

I'm looking for an 09-10 4 door, 6ft (or is it 5.5?) bed. I think I'm looking for a lariat - I want 2wd (do they come with limited slip?), black leather, and wood trim. I don't like the plasticish black and other options they have.

Also no navigation.
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Good luck. A lot of times you don't have the ability to be that picky with the packages. I was buying a new Edge for an uncle and he wanted cloth seats and the automatic lift gate. Go figure you can't get cloth with the electric lift gate.
 
Pulsar said:
Good luck. A lot of times you don't have the ability to be that picky with the packages. I was buying a new Edge for an uncle and he wanted cloth seats and the automatic lift gate. Go figure you can't get cloth with the electric lift gate.
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Yeah, I'm sorta seeing that - but I believe I'll be able to find close to what I want, it just might take a month or so unfortunately.


I'm surprised that the 1-2 year old used prices are *almost* what I can get a new one for. I know used leaves haggling room, but still..
 
Update in OP, I want a 'luxo truck' but don't like the fake wood, plastic dash etc on the F150.


Also, it doesn't really have as much power as I'd like. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it... it wasn't so much a power problem as I don't like how the automatic trans doesn't want to shift.. I pulled out, was going 10-15 and floored it (common situation for trucks, nothing in the back means you need to get a bit of speed before really getting on it to pass someone or whatever) and it seemed like it was in 3rd gear or something. This happened repeatedly, and would get annoying
 
crazySOB297 said:
The 5.4 isn't a bad motor at all, it's older, but it still pulls the truck and a trailer competently. The 6.2 feels all kinds of good 🙂
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here at my work the managers all drive newer F150s (owner is a ford guy). all but one have the 5.4, the other has the 6.2. definitely noticeable difference. the 5.4 will still haul a trailer with 3 quads and 4 kids very well (one of my PMs). the 6.2 does it better for worse mileage tho hehe. the funny part is, the actual crew work trucks are all chevy 3500 service bodies. the fords couldnt withstand the workload over time, and we found we were spending way more in repairs/ replacements when we had fords in the field.

Malak said:
Why not a Dodge Ram with a Hemi? Screw gas mileage.
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hell ya, i would love to get me one of those. i already have an old dodge ram 1500 with the 318 in it, only way to make it better would be going hemi. and more back seat room (quad cab)
 
hell ya, i would love to get me one of those. i already have an old dodge ram 1500 with the 318 in it, only way to make it better would be going hemi. and more back seat room (quad cab)
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Hemi gives me a semi.

In fact, I want to license that line to Dodge for their commercials.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
... it wasn't so much a power problem as I don't like how the automatic trans doesn't want to shift.. I pulled out, was going 10-15 and floored it (common situation for trucks, nothing in the back means you need to get a bit of speed before really getting on it to pass someone or whatever) and it seemed like it was in 3rd gear or something. This happened repeatedly, and would get annoying
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That is the one thing that bugs the crap out of me about Fords. What you described is how all the Ford autos shift, they are programmed for the best mileage, and the the day to day driveability suffers horribly. They short shift off the line unless you get in the throttle pretty deep. Getting them to kick down to a "passing gear" is an agonizing wait, and by the time they do kick down, you are going fast enough that you don't dont really need it anymore or it ends up screaming to the redline in first gear at 50MPH or a semi has already driven straight up your rectum.
 
I bought a '10 Dodge RAM 1500 Hemi Quad Cab SLT Big Horn 4x4 brand new for $27k IIRC. (Yeah, say that one five times fast!) I would go that route. I love the coils in the back!
 
MBentz said:
I bought a '10 Dodge RAM 1500 Hemi Quad Cab SLT Big Horn 4x4 brand new for $27k IIRC. (Yeah, say that one five times fast!) I would go that route. I love the coils in the back!
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Everything I've read says that the king ranch is much much nicer, and the platinum I'm looking at is even nicer than the king ranch.


I can get a 2010 platinum for $32k+TTL...
 
If you can wait, then it may be best to just grin and bear it with the Ranger for a bit until the real-world reviews of the v6 engines come out. It may be more in line of what you are looking for.

That being said, I do miss the old straight 6 that the F-150 used to have. I would take it over the 302v8 any day.
 
Sluggo said:
That is the one thing that bugs the crap out of me about Fords. What you described is how all the Ford autos shift, they are programmed for the best mileage, and the the day to day driveability suffers horribly. They short shift off the line unless you get in the throttle pretty deep. Getting them to kick down to a "passing gear" is an agonizing wait, and by the time they do kick down, you are going fast enough that you don't dont really need it anymore or it ends up screaming to the redline in first gear at 50MPH or a semi has already driven straight up your rectum.
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I would agree that is true for the 4 speed, but the new 6 speed(2009+) and the 5.4 work quite well together.
 
charrison said:
yup.

Most people with a truck only make weekend runs to home depot and back. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
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Never heard anyone complain that they have "too much truck" or "too much engine" for whatever job their vehicle is doing.

I'd always rather have a more powerful engine that's loafing most of the time than a less-powerful one that is even working moderately hard, much less straining.
 
Pacfanweb said:
Never heard anyone complain that they have "too much truck" or "too much engine" for whatever job their vehicle is doing.

I'd always rather have a more powerful engine that's loafing most of the time than a less-powerful one that is even working moderately hard, much less straining.
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I wont disagree with that. However, most people that have the largest v8 never even come close to using it.
 
I've also been looking for used F150 and started running across stories about changing spark plugs issue with these trucks. Seems there's quite a few horror stories out there on when it's time to change the plugs, the stock plug tend to break which requires special removal tool to get the core out or pull the head. A simple plug change could run into thousand for repair and Ford service people seems to know this. Any one can backup or debunk this?
 
When people buy a truck they suddenly think they are mechanics and a truck requires no special treatment.

If you do break off a plug in any engine, it's going to take a special tool to remove it right most of the time.
 
My friend had a new '07 F-150, and told me that it kept shifting into four wheel drive mode at random after about 18 months. I don't see anything on Google about it, but I'm not sure what I'd be looking for. Something to check?
 
alkemyst said:
When people buy a truck they suddenly think they are mechanics and a truck requires no special treatment.

If you do break off a plug in any engine, it's going to take a special tool to remove it right most of the time.
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You know, I bet a lot of people aside from myself are tired of you trying to answer questions when you really don't know the answer. It's not helpful, and you end up steering people in the wrong direction.

Some of the early Ford 3V's had an issue where build up between the plug and the wall and glue the plug in place. When the plugs were removed they would break the cylinder head and require a lengthy and expensive repair. Not something Ford could really test for in the short term, but there ya go.

Older vintage 2V / 4V's had the plug ejection issue. This is being report to have been caused by less threads on the spark plug and spark plug holes.

These appear to be both 4.6 and 5.4L issues.

From about '04 on, it appears you won't see any of these issues. In addition, at this date, there are no lawsuits regarding the issues that I've been able to find. All the information I posted here is public knowledge that can be found with a little google work.

That is NOT to say, by the way, that all the Ford engines from that era (4.6L 5.4L) had this issue. I know a huge number of people who own vehicles with these engines who haven't had the problem at all.

It's a bit of crapshoot though. You change your sparkplugs, what, once or twice over the life of your vehicle (unless you're a maintenance fanatic or your engine eats plugs for breakfast). There are a lot of other issues out there that happen far more often, and not just to Ford. This one seems to have been getting some play lately though in the press.
 
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