Originally Posted by Ryan_James

I know somebody who got 400k out of his 4.2. He know has a 2011 with a 3.7. My only gripe with this engine is the numbers. I know it's only a V6 but come on. That 3.7 makes 300 hp. Only more 10 ft/lbs of torque however. I think you could get 50 more ponies and at least 300 ft/lbs out of our 4.2's. It may not be cheap but I'm pretty sure it is do-able. What do I know? I can't even vote yet!

Originally Posted by 97XL

The only bad thing with the 4.2 is if you were unlucky enough to have a 97 or early 98. They had some gasket issues which would let coolant leak into the motor leading to a hydrolock. Ford has since fixed the issue.

Originally Posted by f150florida

Okay part2

up to this point I spent approx;

$200.00 radiator
$10.00 IMR bushings
$9.00 upper plenum gasket
$450 + 70 mounting on tires
$12 vacuum line
$98 dollars plug wires and plugs
$56 on coilmodule
$25 gator water belt
$3 t-stat
$66 upper and lower hose
$28 camshaft sensor
$18 gas cap

And still I had a truck with zero power. So investigating even more, reading threads on this site and others. Read stories of person with the same problems. I really wish my truck would have caught on fire or somebody T-bone me.

In my Miami I95 traffic, I was praying for a accident where a driver would hit me and total me out

So on to more diagnostics. I found my vent line that runs from the top front of the tank to the metal rail was rotting out. I replace those lines but still more smells of fuel and gas mpg 14-15mpg

When looking at my cap, I found that the lip of the filler was actually cracked. So off to the JY and I snatched a fill tube from a 97 and then a 2001 F150. I found after getting the 97 that it was slightly different. So I replace that fill tube and smell of fumes went away and mpg went up to 17.2mpg

Moving on, still truck has no power and was slowly developing a miss on acceleration and cruise ( stay with me on that one, we will revisit this )

So I let some friends of my diagnose the issues. No DTC, so automatically assume fuel-filter. So off to AutoZone and a new Fram filter plus a KN filter element.

NO improvement

So we took more fuel-rails readings and the pressure was right at the minimal of the haynes book.

Still no improvements, and nothing indicating what could be wrong. I was out of options. So I made a choice to start throwing parts at it. My actron scanner would not pick up any new codes, showed fuel trims working high and bank #2 HEGO not switching that much.

So since the problem seem acceleration related I first mis-diagnose the issue as a bad TPS. So the TPS was easy to get at. It was changed, status unchanged no improvement.

Next, I figured the front 02s where bad. So I drop new HEGOs frt and back at 45 dollars a piece. Still no improvement.

Next, a guy told me clogged cats, but another shop said clog fuel or tank strainer. So I flipped coin and bought new down wind cats and had them weld in, even tho Mad Max muffler shop warn me that this was probably not the issue. I was trying my best to avoid dropping the tank.

After this action, truck run slightly better if that.

So next, I replaced IAC knowing that was not the issues. I just did it cause it was easy to get to and simple to change. Next I cleaned out the DPFE hose and then it darned on me that this could be a issue.

So in doing this option, I pulled the EGR valve and pulled out a globbed of caked deposit at where the tube fitted the manifold. Problems solved or I thought .


A slight improvement, but still no power, pissed poor power. To give you an ideal of how bad the acceleration was. At 60mphs, I could be in 4th or even worst 5th gear, and with the accelerator press to the floor that truck would accelerate like 1mph increase every 1.5 miles

At this point I really want this truck to burn up or for some other driver to t-bone me

Too Be Continue

Originally Posted by 05frankenstein

Mine was the exact same way up until about a month ago. Its your accelerator pedal position actuator or at least thats what was causing every bit of my issue and it never once threw any codes