I went to the service department today to get a glimpse of my "new" engine before they shoehorn it into my truck Monday. It has the heads, water pump, pulleys and even new plugs. Unfortunatley it doesn't have the new fuel injectors or coil packs but... I hope this one doesn't develop the piston slap problem at 13,000 miles. It is only warranted for 12,000.

It concerns me that there are still people today that are getting engines that exhibit the slap problem. Why do they think they have them fixed in the FQR replacement. I guess I will see.

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'97 F150 Lariat, Flareside, white/sliver, SC, ORP, 5.4, Mods: 305/70/16 GY ATS, AR Baja wheels, dual exhaust, Smittybilt Nerf Bars, Edelbrock IAS Shocks, K&N Filter and Carbon Fiber Bug Gaurd. Rigged the fog lights too.

 

KKIRT1, So will they be using the coil packs
and fuel injectors off of your current engine
? I am glad you are getting the engine. i have been battling this same issue off an on since my truck had 3,000 miles on it and am glad to finally be at this point of getting something done. have been talking with my service manager daily for the past 2 weeks and the best he is able to get me from his zone manager is the FQR motor with me having
to pay 10 % of the total cost, i don't see
why FORD is not handling this consistently across the board, I have not accepted this yet as an acceptable offer but not sure what
choice i have i know the serv. manager has fought very hard so i don't think he is at fault, just makes me continue to wonder about the inconsistency of this whole thing. i know
they won't spell out a specific program for this there are too many engines involved, the
more people that give up and go away the less money ford has to shell out... anyway
congrats on the install, can't wait to hear
what you hopefully won't be hearing anymore... PISTON-SLAP....

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97 F-150,XLT,4X4,Supercab,bright Red,5.4,3.55 LS,LT265/75/16 Bridgestone Dueller A/T tires,Downey SST soft tonneau cover

 

Does any one know the build dates of the trucks that had piston slap?

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1997 4x4 5.4 ORP XLT extended cab Dark Toreador red Westin nerf bars tint HARDER THAN A ROCK AND FASTER THAN A HEART BEAT

 

Fight a little harder, ford paid for all the engine replacement on my windstar after the gaskets blew. They also covered the hire car.
When the waterpump spacer started to leak, they covered that to, less $100. That was a 13.5 hour job @ $68 per.
I feel you should get full cover. or demand 24000-2 year cover.

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97, 4.6, 3.55LS, Dk red 265/75/16, Leer cap, Rhino bed, rose wood dash, CD player,

 

Hey, great news there kkirt1,

But what do you mean -- "Unfortunatley it doesn't have the new fuel injectors or coil packs but... It is only warranted for 12,000." I guess I can see the fuel injectors being salvaged, but 'coil packs'. What are you refering to, not the "coil" thats on the plug - you said it came with new plugs. ??? And more importantly, a 12k warranty ??? What are you saying here? The replacement engines are only covered for 12,000 miles? I've bought a 75,000 mile Ford "Premium" extended warranty (and I'm only at 20k). You mean they are limiting this engine to only 12,000 mile coverage? What kind of crap is this?

Its mid Sept, and as yet no word. Soon to hear. Can't wait to ask them about this.
FrankP
----------------------------------------
F-250 LD 4x4 SC 5.4 E4OD w/FourWheel Popup Camper

 

kcdan: I can't beleive they are asking you to pay 10%. That is odd that they are not administering the engine replacement program the same. The dealership is giving me something to drive while it is in the shop too.

Fordtough1: I think some of these motors are still being built with this design flaw. I would say though, after 20K miles or so if you haven't heard it your probably ok. So if you have more than 20K, you can rest a little easier but if it is less than, keep your fingers crossed.


FrankP: Yea, I'm not very comfortable with them reusing these parts either. I guess at 53K miles though, they should still be fine. The 5.4 has a coil for each plug and although the engine has new plugs the coils are not sitting on top of them. As far as the 12K mile warranty - the Ford warranty has long since expired and I did not purchase an extended. I guess I will know if things are going okay after 12K.



[This message has been edited by kkirt1 (edited 09-16-1999).]

 

Well the zone manager has given me another option, a weird one i must say. Ford will sell me a 6 yr 75,000 power train warranty
for a reduced price $495.00... and upon doing
so will replace my motor for no cost. if i was sitting at 40,000 miles or so this would
sound more attractive to me, since i am at 55,000 miles that gives me 20,000 miles coverage for the powertrain which is ok but the engine will be covered for 12,000 anyway so i am basically paying for additional 8,000
miles on the motor and the 20,000 additional
coverage on trans/rearend/4x4 system, it is
not a terrible deal but what are the odds of
something breaking in the 20,000 miles. certainly some risk but i would think the greater risk lies between 75,000 and 100,000.
if it was the full warranty i would not have
a problem taking the deal because i am sure
i could come up with enough nitpicky to make sure i got my $495.00 dollars back out of it.
oh well the battle continues to take a variety of twists and turns. Why they can't just do for me what others are getting i don't know.

------------------
97 F-150,XLT,4X4,Supercab,bright Red,5.4,3.55 LS,LT265/75/16 Bridgestone Dueller A/T tires,Downey SST soft tonneau cover

 

When did you first have Ford verify the piston slap? Was it before or after the standard warranty ran out. If it was after what is your deductible on the "Ford Premium" warrany? My problem was verified at approx. 25K miles. I have 53K miles now. I still don't know why they would be treating their customers differently on this deal!

On the face of it, the $495 "warranty" seems like a slap in the face. It's like they are saying "yes, we know we have a problem but why don't out of the goodness of your heart offset some of the expense." Am I missing something here?

p.s. Have you shown them these posts? I have no problem with you sharing my posts with any body at Ford. I would prefer to remain anonyomous but...

 

My piston slap was first documented at under
20,000 miles when Ford was still denying they had ever heard of this noise they tried fixing it with a new ford oil filter with a check valve that replacement filters don't have, yeah like that was going to fix it.
The next thing they did was some chemical they shot through the engine, some type of internal engine cleaner that cleans out carbon build-up and such, yeah with 20,000
miles and my roundtrip drive each day of 80 miles i am sure i had built up a lot of carbon. and the last year and half waiting for ford to decide what the fix was going to
be. now that they have the fix i have to come
up with some money is a joke. I am pretty sure the zone manager is not not addressing
the piston slap problem she is implementing some plan that is a catch-all for various problems with any Ford vehicle, i told my servive manager i was going to go forward with the powertrain warranty option under protest that if i was ever able to find the exact program that covers this and that if it
states clearly enough that it should have been no cost i will demand a refund. I should
probably keep fighting this thing but i have
been waiting to get this resolved for so long
now i am kind of worried that ford might be
somewhat surprised by the number of people that come to ford with the piston-slap problem that they might somehow dry up the program if they see it is costing too much.
so i want to at least get the motor on it's
way to the dealership and maybe by the time
it takes to get it in i can be presented with
the only really acceptable answer..... FREE.
until then the fun continues, I have not heard when to expect the motor i will check
back with the dealer later this week...


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97 F-150,XLT,4X4,Supercab,bright Red,5.4,3.55 LS,LT265/75/16 Bridgestone Dueller A/T tires,Downey SST soft tonneau cover

 

Go around your zone manager. Show dealer/zone manager these posts. Get copy of July'99 Truck Trends magazine - I read here that it contains a blurb that FORD is about to issue a TSB for piston slap. Get copy of TRUCKIN' magazine special called 'FORD TRUCKING Winter 1997' (in your library) it has a article of the F-250 LD, but it goes into great detail of how the Triton V8's are so great - will last 150,000 miles - quoted by Ford's cheif engine design engineer. Write a letter demanding that a replacement engine is the only acceptable solution - send it registered mail or FedEx'd w/tracking #. Speak nicely, ...nothing personal, but speak as if you are just following your legal advice. Get the arbitration boards information - let them know your are asking for this info. Email Ford with copies. Prove to them this is a well known problem, with a vast array of documentation (these posts of complaints, the magazine articles of a perfected design, etc.), and the solution for many is at hand - none of which requires MONEY from you to solve. (even if you are a little beyond warranty - ford has often fixed E4OD trannies outside of warranty.)

Good Luck
Frank

 

KKIRT1, How many days did the dealer say it would take them to replace your engine. I got mine scheduled for OCT 1st for the replacement and the service tech said it would take them 3 days. I am going to ask them to remove my Bosch +4 plugs and install them in my new engine. I only had them in there for about 3 months. Let us know how things are going!

------------------
97 F150 XLT, 5.4, EXTANG,SUPERCHIP, EDELBROCK SHOCKS,
GIBSON SPLIT REAR,
HELLWIG SWAY BAR,
AIRAID, BOSCH +4,
SONY ES-CDX880 HEAD,
SONY ES-XM5046 AMP
BOSTON PRO'S 6.5 FRONT
PISTON SLAP- WAITING 4 NEW ENGINE

 

They said it would only take two days. I noticed the rental car voucher said three days though. Today is day two. We'll see if they have it done tonight. The Mercury Tracer is fun but I really want my truck back!

 

Kkirt,

will your new 5.4 be a 97 230hp or a 00 260hp, just wondering?

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The Truck: 1997 Black F-150 Flareside. Regular Cab ORP and Towing Package
The Mods: K&N Filter, Eurolid Hard Tonneau and Ford Bug Deflector.
The Site:
Triton's 4.6 Liter Web Page
www.mindspring.com/~acbradley/index.html

 

Triton46: I bet it is the 230hp version. If I remember correctly Ford got the extra 30hp from tuning the intake and bigger intake valves. Since they are using the old intake at least some, if not all of the tuning would not be present on the replacement. Too bad, eh!

I just talked to my service manager. I asked him how it was going, he said "arrrrg, what a pain." He went on to say that they are in the process of "putting it back together" and he hopes it will be done tomorrow. Well see.

 

Supposedly The 2000 model 5.4L V8's have 265 h.p....according to several local dealers??