I've a 2008 ford F150 with a 4.6 L Engine. The truck also comes with a 5.4L engine. I,ve been told that 1 of them is not so good. Which 1 of them have I got?
just

For a 2008 F-150, choose the 4.6L V8 for reliability and lower maintenance costs, or the 5.4L V8 for towing power and better low-end torque. The 4.6L is generally considered more durable, while the 5.4L is prone to expensive cam phaser and spark plug issues but superior towing.

My friend that just retired from a company engineer job from Ford told me to look for a 4.6.

THe 5.4 had spark plug getting stuck issues on some years. Mine is old enough not an issue. Do have coil packs that go out about annually on a cylinder but it is over 20+ years old and still my daily driver with just over a 100,000 on it. I simply plug it into code reader figure out which cylinder and replace the coil pack.......could likely do all of them but more sporting to do one a year.

The 3 valve 5.4 is a POS, go with the 4.6.
Had an engine replacement at about 60,000 miles on my 5.4. Got rid of it shortly after and bought a 5.0 coyote truck. Love it.

This ^^

You have the better of the two (4.6)

the 4.6 is what they put in all the cop cars all those years.


the problem 5.4 were 2004 to 2010 the 3 valve 5.4 Tritons


I had a pair of 5.4 2 valve tritons go a lot of miles 2000 and 2001 , the 2000 is still going to this day and gets a ton of miles. , sadly I let the 2001 go in 2019 when the brake lines rusted out , the ac wasn't working and we had no idea the poop show cars were going to be the next year. had I know that would have fixed that old rust van for sure.

I had a '98 F150 for 24 years with the 4.6 and had no issues whatsoever.. You have the most reliable engine of the two you mentioned.

I'm currently driving a 2009 4.6 two valve been a good engine so far, think I'm at around 212k on it doesn't use any oil in between changes. Had a 2004 f150 before that with the 5.4 had 270k on the engine when the transmission went out decided to junk it ,engine still ran good but was starting to get the typical exhaust manifold leak.
Had two 4.6 trucks before that.

The main thing with these triton engines is to stay up on your oil changes to avoid the cam phaser issues
Granted some guys had troubles with that at low mileage but it wasn't the norm among all the guys I know driving them

Best old forf engine was the 300 inline 6,bulletproof engine.
Owned a couple of them,last one was a 93 f 150 I sold it to a logging contractor with 300,000 km and it ran a good while after that.
First one was a 78 f-100 short box.rolled it on the highway one night and the insurance co wrote it off.I sold the drivetrain for a good buck after the ins payout.
We had the same engine in the large RR man haulers on the steel and tie gangs,man would those big manhaulers ever fly down the track,lol.

Those ford in line 6’s had some crazy torque!

I had both. a ‘98 with 4.6 and an ‘08 with 3v 5.4 L. The plugs on the 4.6 are ridiculous to get to. Overall I never had a repair with 107k on the 4.6 and 189k on the 5.4, maintenance was always timely though. I still see the 5.4 driving around town 7 years later.

Have owned a pile of the 2 valves one 5.4, several 4.6, you did good on avoiding the 3 valve 5.4. all mine have been 300k mile trucks and running when i sold them. Have a 95 with the 302 now. Little gutless but i should beable to get another 140k outa her.

I've owned several Fords with the 300 L6, both 3spped manual and automatics used around the farm, never felt the need for the larger V8.

I had a 4.6 Interceptor engine in a Lincoln ... torque was never a problem, although the torque came on at higher rpm than the 300 L6.

Dad had a Ford half tone with a 300 L6....truck ran great but the auto trans was a problem.
Father-in-law was a mechanic and had 4.6 in a half ton and hated it but his previous truck was had a 390 in it...lol

Them cam phasers were a problem for a looong time as Ford tried a few different things to fix the problem. I believe 1/2 way through 2020 production it was “corrected”. Can’t go wrong with a Coyote.

Only reason I’m getting a 20 Lariat with the little turbo motor is because super low miles and a good price off a buddy. Another thing I’m curious about is the little 2.8 turbo, that’s a lot of power out of a little package. I’d much rather have the Coyote, but I’m not really doing any pulling.

I think it’s a 2.7 in the ford. From what I’ve heard it gets about 3mpg better mileage than the 3.5 turbo. Supposedly the 3.5 is a better all around motor than the 2.7. The 3.5 has more torque than the other choices. I’ve done a bit of pulling with the 3.5 (6 speed trans) to Canada with building material and was surprised how well it pulled. The 10 speed transmissions don’t have a great reputation. If you haven’t done the deal I’d recommend holding out for one just a ticky older so you can get the 6 speed with a 3.5 or 5.0. JMO

Trapset is right about the ten speed tranny....friend of a friend works in an Auto Shop he reports that there are a lot of trucks on the racks with ten speed tranny issues.

I've heard of this coyote 302.
Pretty good for a dink?

I'm also a 300 fan.
Carried a 1/2" wrench in the ash tray.
Tighten the vibes once a week.
Couldn't kill that engine.

Not sure what tranny this one comes with, but it's about $20000 under market value, so I'm rolling the dice.
At work we got the new fords (2025 & newer) with the 10 speeds and so far they're holding up, they do funny things sometimes though.....lol. F150-350s.