F450 reliability

[CROCODILE]

Looking for some advice. I am currently looking at possibly buying a 2004 f450. It has a v10, and has 100,000 miles on it. I was was planning to use it as a sealcoating truck and putting a 550 gallon tank on it.
I have heard alot of problems with the Ford trucks having problems with spitting out spark plugs,etc. I was wondering if anyone has any personal experince with these trucks.

thanks in advance.

[unkownfl]

Not a big deal I've fixed two 5.4 trucks with a helicoil in about 30 mins that spark plugs came out. It was the earlier trucks that were more prone to it 2004 is a later run i believe with a different plug area upgrade.

[DQL10]

04-06 5.4's had bad problems with plugs. Not too bad to do on your own with the right tools. Dont know too much about the v10's though. Other than there horrible gas mileage.

[Landrus2]

just replace plugs every year and you don't have a problem.
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[AdamChrap]

We have owned three 5.4L trucks and one V10 from model years 2000 to 2008. Never had any issues with the spark plugs. I loved the V10 and wish they had not got rid of it. That thing was a power house for thousands less than the diesel option. Not only was the 6.0 diesel junk but you could pay for a lot of gas before you touched the diesel price tag.

[ProTouch Groundscapes]

actually the v10 gets decent mileage much better than the 5.4 when towing. add in a lower initial cost than the diesel and lower maintenance, and you have an excellent option if your not putting tons of mileage on it.

and besides, you could idle that thing all day, something you cant with the 6.0 unless you do an egr delete.

[unkownfl]

Originally Posted by unkownfl

Not a big deal I've fixed two 5.4 trucks with a helicoil in about 30 mins that spark plugs came out. It was the earlier trucks that were more prone to it 2004 is a later run i believe with a different plug area upgrade.

I bought both trucks with the issue to begin with. I hope that didn't scare you off.

[GreenI.A.]

Originally Posted by ProTouch Groundscapes

actually the v10 gets decent mileage much better than the 5.4 when towing. add in a lower initial cost than the diesel and lower maintenance, and you have an excellent option if your not putting tons of mileage on it.

and besides, you could idle that thing all day, something you cant with the 6.0 unless you do an egr delete.

thats just it, the v10 is efficient if you are working it like it is designed for, heavy towing, but not to the point the a diesel is more efficient. I was driving a f250 v10 for years, would put 2 tons in the back all of the time and you couldn't feel it back here at all. Did have a problem with the low oil sensor going and then an bad oil leak, leading to a blown engine at around 60,000 miles

[ParkWelding]

Had a 2000 F450 4x4 V10 dump for about 3 years. Bought it with 60K and sold it with about 90K miles on it. The truck was heavy for its GVW (10K empty/15K GVW) so it wasn't that great for hauling loads. It got 9 to 10 MPG empty taking it easy. It got about 5 MPG towing a large landscape trailer with mowing equipment on it (approx. 7500-8000# depending on the day). It did not have a lot of power towing that trailer. Towing a piece of compact equipment 9000#-10500# plus trailer= total dog.

That being said, it was run hard and was very reliable in my opinion. When I got it, it had no repairs ever, other than basic maintenance (tires, brakes, fluids and filters). The plugs came out fine, although I'm an advocate of very regular changes. The repair work done in the 30K I owned it were the plugs, 3 coils, 1 front bearing assembly, 2 ball joints. It did need work though, as the exhaust manifold studs were popping off regularly and only half were left. I was told that could be an ugly repair.

[CROCODILE]

Thanks for the replies. I know the gas mileage won't be great...I read so many stories about the ford gas engines being alot of trouble. I think sometimes the only things you read are negative comments which doesn't always accurately tell the whole picture.

thanks again