The history of the 5.4l triton v8

 The history of the 5.4l triton v8 engine.

Introductions and overview: 

     Now, you may think of the 5.4 liter triton v8 is a piece of junk engine and I can agree to disagree with you. BUT! it's only cause ford tried to do not so gasoline v8 friendly things with it. And in this is how it all started... 

The history of the 5.4l v8:

     The 5.4-liter v8 engine Engine was made since 1997-2017 from Lincoln's, varies types of F-150, expeditions, excursions and much more. I could go into detail on the different types of vehicles the 2-valve engine was found in including the Shelby GT500 in the 2000's and the Ford F-150 lighting that was super charged and had close to 360-380 Horsepower. So, if you're thinking you're going to fix up and tune your 5.4l v8 engine, do it cause even if you turbo charged it there is a lot of videos and history to back up its capable of handling the extra power. 

but you want to know the history of it don't you? you came here to understand it so that's what we will do. Now that we are at my favorite part, we can finally break down the 5.4-liter triton v8's history. 

The 2 valve is bullet proof. I've personally owned and still own one of these engines and they have been nothing but horrible sounding, rod knocking, gas guzzling, goodness. It may be my luck with them. But even then, the frame of my Ford F-250 is rotted at 200,000 miles and the dipstick no longer exist and the rest of the engine is rotting to its core. The 2 valve still runs!!! 

Then they came out with the 3 valves... this is the epitome of garbage. They had all kinds of issues they tried to resolve with the 2 valves. 

The 2 valves had a chain that went to the cams that stretched and when it did stretch, it cause more stress of the oil pump causing it to starve the cams and top end of oil basically, getting it ready to be a bomb and blow up. In short memory terms. No oil to top of engine. Engine go kaboom then engine bad. 

So, how do you combat this? Replace the chain... simple right? the research proves through regular maintenance the engine could easily last 300,000 miles. Then all your problems go away. Most of them but still they go away. Now the 3 valves had the same problem they never fixed then Added more...

 

This looks good a as a cylinder head. But, from where I pulled this photo the timing chain was shot (stretched out too much) had to be rebuilt and new parts had to be installed with more stuff done as if that wasn't enough.  

it's like putting fuel into a fire. They added another breaking point (another valve to watch out for) didn't fix the torque spec for spark plugs. And added cheap hardware and a oil pan solution that was cheap and not at all affective so the 3 valve in comparison was a mess all around. and they had that engine out for several years and is still out today.  

    Past 2017 people had the problem child 5.4l v8 3 valve and Ford called it good. The upside was that the engine came out with 50 more horsepower compared to the 2 valves did from 235hp to 260. And the transmission could handle the beating if the engine could serve. And the 5.4l v8 came out of the inspiration of the 4.6-liter v8 engine ford had. They just up stroked it and made it bigger.  

Then came the 4 valves. It's the newest engine that came out in the 2019 model and is still be put through its paces to this day by everyday people. So not much is known about it. The oil pan went from bad to worse and then the oil picks up got clogged quick because of all the miracle magic glitter (metal shavings from the engine) that your engine needs to have fitment with the rest of the parts. 

Summery: 

The 5.4-liter v8 engine is a good every day reliable engine. But only the older models of it. and if you take proper care of the engine. Remember regular maintenance and that goes for all engines. Not just the v8's. Back to the 3 valve, the newer 3 valve had issues, but anyone with mechanical no-how could it fix easily with 200 bucks and some wrenching.  And the 4 valve is new so this engine is best to stay away from and to watch from a distance as other people test it day in and out. 

Thank you for your time and patience! We've made it to my second best part of it were you get your badge! 

This is your reward! You earned it! I hope this helped a lot and I'll even take a little. If it did help you slightly get to know the engine, I love but hate sometimes to cause of parenting issues (bad Ford designs) 

Please leave a comment of what you think of the 5.4-liter triton v8. If you have worked on one of even have fun stories to tell about it. I'd you could kindly share this it would help the blog and motivate me to do more research on other topics. 

I wish you all the best and have a great day and or night if it's dark. 

the 2-Valve engine in different vehicles.