Need opinions on engine / trans replacement

[Dan East]

I have a 2001 5.4l Expedition. It was garaged in the south and the body, suspension, frame, etc are in excellent condition. I use it as my daily driver and just hit 200k recently. The engine seems to run fine, although I've blown a couple plugs and it tends to smell like burnt oil from under the hood after it warms up. However, the transmission is shuddering bad while cruising. It has always shuddered just after it shifted gears, which I think is the torque converter, but now it has gotten worse.

I don't have a lot of trust in the vehicle for long trips, because of the mileage and transmission. Sometimes I tow a camper, and I need this thing to be reliable for long trips.

So, I'm considering investing in a re-manufactured engine and transmission, and I'll do the labor myself (I've replaced transmissions in a few jeeps, replaced clutches, that sorta thing). I figure for $5000 or so I can have a better-than-new engine and transmission and be good to go for another 100k-200k more miles (I realize the axles and transfer case also may need work / replaced soon too). This is based on the excellent condition of the paint, body, frame, suspension, interior, etc.

I'd like some opinions on this. It's my impression that a properly rebuilt engine can be better than stock (adding steel spark plug sleeves, etc, to beef up the weak parts of this engine). Am I wrong about that? I read some posts and it seems a lot of people say that a remanufactured engine is a big gamble.

Next question. If I'm going to the trouble to replace both the engine and transmission, is there any common sense upgrade to do? This has the stock 2001 5.4l Triton, and I've read good things about this transmission (apparently it's quite beefy for this size engine). Should I look at some larger / newer / better engine / transmission combos? I don't think I'd be interested in switching to diesel, because I'd imagine there's a ton of other stuff to go along with it (everything from the ECU to the fuel tank), although I could be wrong.

Next question. It seems to me if I'm going to the trouble to replace the transmission, I can save some effort by replacing the engine at the same time. Plus, again, I'm looking to get the reliability factor up. Am I wrong in thinking that replacing both at the same time saves me effort than doing each separately over time?

I'd appreciate any and all thoughts on this, especially from anyone who has done this before.

 

[stamp11127]

You can easily invest 5k in just the engine alone going with top quality parts.

Price a crate engine and trans from Ford. If I remember correctly the engine has a 3 yr warranty.

 

[Dan East]

I've seen nothing but good posts in this forum for Promar engines. Their price is $2,299 for the same engine I have currently, and that includes shipping.

https://www.promarengine.com/engine...=2001&make=Ford&model=Expedition&submodel=XLT

 

[ExplorerTom]

There's a guy on this forum swapping in a V10. And I think a Vortec (GM LS) swap has been done.

But how much of a project do you want?

 

[Dan East]

There's a guy on this forum swapping in a V10. And I think a Vortec (GM LS) swap has been done.

But how much of a project do you want?

Not that much! Not much more beyond bolt-on. I'm not into fabrication, etc.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Best to stick with the 5.4l 2v then.

 

[1955moose]

I'll second with Stamp, go the Ford reman engine and transmission. Their are a few other reputable companies out there, but find your best price and stay with Ford. Your shuddering problem may be due to a poor running engine. And yes the 4r100 is a very strong stock transmission that has been used in higher torque models with great success. You can change just the torque converter while you pluck the motor, if you want to try that. If you've kept fluid clean, every 30k or so, that would save at least $2,500 there.

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[stamp11127]

Mostly positive reviews, but read the reviews of people that have had issues and how they were handled.

https://www.promarengine.com/contact-us.php

 

[Trainmaster]

Make certain you check the rear of that truck before you invest. Mine had lots of hidden suspension and above-fuel tank rust which just about broke the deal of engine replacement.

 

[Dan East]

For those that have pulled the engine (5.4l) and / or transmission, about how much effort and time would be saved replacing the engine and transmission at the same time versus as totally separate jobs?

 

[1997SCEBFEX]

IMHO, ying or yang. My trans was completely serviceable/useable, thus only pulled the motor for passenger head replacement & rebuild after spitting a plug so driveline not manipulated.

it could go exactly opposite if your trans is the culprit.

 

[Dan East]

Thanks, but what I'm talking about is the time saved doing the work. You'd only have to unbolt the transmission from the engine once, and only have to bolt them back together once, if you did them at the same time. If you did the engine by itself, then a month later the transmission, you'd have to do that part twice.

I think it's easier to remove the transmission when removing the engine, because it's easier to get to the top bolts with the intake manifold off the engine. That sorta thing. Are we talking about saving an hour, or half a day, or what? That's what I'd like to know from those that have done this kinda work before.

 

[Joseph Tator]

Is your tranny working fine? If money was no object I would agree just do both but why spend the money Because of a hypothetical malfunction. Yes it would save time but is the expense worth it? Only you can make that judgement my friend. Either way best of luck to you and hope all goes well with your expo’s “heart” surgery lol

 

[HawkX66]

Rebuilding a 5.4L is very easy and cheap. The tricky part is having the time and space to do it. If you have the space to pull an engine, why not just throw some bearings, rings and gaskets at it? You might even get away with not having to do any machine work if everything is still in relatively good order/within spec. I have 213k on my 07 and I wouldn't hesitate to rebuild the engine. Once I finish building my garage hopefully I can help some guys with this kind of thing. It's pretty fun. Like doing puzzles, but for men lol

 

[1955moose]

Hawk with 200k, rebuilding his complete motor will require a lot of experience, and unfortunately machine work. He's looking at a 3 angle valve job, $400.00 average, surface heads/intake, possible rebore, $300.00, new freeze plugs, possible crankshaft/camshaft, valve lifters/cam followers. He would have to know how to measure crank for bearing replacement, not to mention how to properly torque rod bearings, main bearings. Then theirs the bare block itself being magnafluxed for any cracks. Theirs the price of new rings, bearings, oil pump, gasket set, etc. The laundry list gets way above $1500.00. I agree, if our friend is set up for the rebuild, great. But most of our members are not, which is why they do a R&R of the old one, and put in a reman.

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[HawkX66]

Hawk with 200k, rebuilding his complete motor will require a lot of experience, and unfortunately machine work. He's looking at a 3 angle valve job, $400.00 average, surface heads/intake, possible rebore, $300.00, new freeze plugs, possible crankshaft/camshaft, valve lifters/cam followers. He would have to know how to measure crank for bearing replacement, not to mention how to properly torque rod bearings, main bearings. Then theirs the bare block itself being magnafluxed for any cracks. Theirs the price of new rings, bearings, oil pump, gasket set, etc. The laundry list gets way above $1500.00. I agree, if our friend is set up for the rebuild, great. But most of our members are not, which is why they do a R&R of the old one, and put in a reman.

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You're right. It sure can spiral out of control if you let it. As far as things like the valve job for a daily driver, I'd just lap the valves manually and see how they look. Surfacing the heads and intake shouldn't be necessary unless there was a problem to begin with other than needing to be rebuilt. Boring? Probably not. Just hone and go. Again, daily driver. Crank and cams are more than likely fine as long as it didn't spin a bearing. You can do a basic rebuild with new timing kit for less than $500 without a problem. If you're "building" the engine, then other things do come into play. Experience? As long as he can read a book and watch youtube, he'd be good to go. Just another option.
Here's a 4.6L I did with my son for his Mustang. His first car. He has well over 5k on it now and she's running great. These modular motors take some serious abuse before real damage occurs. Check out some of the damage that was done to the motor because the previous owner didn't seem to believe in oil changes...

 

[1955moose]

I've never had any luck with just lapping valves. Tried that on a Harley motor for a customer, cylinder lost compression within 500 miles. Valve seat grinding seems to work best, depends on the wear, takes a trained eye. Different opinion, I'm just going by my own engine experience. Cylinder honing with just a ball type hone is hit and miss on rings seating proper. Some I've done that way we're smokers after. Whenever I had a pro honing with a Sunnen hone, never an issue. And the other cost for our friend is does he want to invest in all the tools. Most of the ones from the parts store rentals are junk, or worn out. Wish all are members could do work themselves, but sadly they can't or won't. It takes a day and a half easy, maybe longer to do a full rebuild. I'm too old and tired to do that kind of labor anymore.

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[HawkX66]

I've never had any luck with just lapping valves. Tried that on a Harley motor for a customer, cylinder lost compression within 500 miles. Valve seat grinding seems to work best, depends on the wear, takes a trained eye. Different opinion, I'm just going by my own engine experience. Cylinder honing with just a ball type hone is hit and miss on rings seating proper. Some I've done that way we're smokers after. Whenever I had a pro honing with a Sunnen hone, never an issue. And the other cost for our friend is does he want to invest in all the tools. Most of the ones from the parts store rentals are junk, or worn out. Wish all are members could do work themselves, but sadly they can't or won't. It takes a day and a half easy, maybe longer to do a full rebuild. I'm too old and tired to do that kind of labor anymore.

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Sorry to the OP if we've gotten off your original post. I just wanted you to see a different option.
We'll have to agree to disagree on the valve lapping. I've built three Harleys in addition to many other cars and bikes. If you lost compression due to a bad valve lapping job, there were serious other issues. Same thing with honing IMO. You can tell visually for the most part if the hone job is going to work or not. Of course having a professional machine shop would be key, but it just isn't always necessary. They've priced themselves out of a lot of backyard mechanics ranges also. I had a Machine shop guy in Michigan that I miss. He inherited his dad's shop and his grandfather's prices. Spot on work for reasonable costs.
In the end, I love to help get people into engine rebuilding. Too many are about replace instead of fix now. Different strokes for different folks though...

Last Harley I built:



And to keep it fair lol I built plenty of rockets too. This one I just happened to leave stock...

 

[1955moose]

I too was a Japanese bike mechanic. Harley's were a side for me. Those are 2 cool bikes. I can't tell from the pic, what is the second one? Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki? Haven't wrenched full time for over 13 years now. Like a retired football player, do coaching here now. Still kills me to pay for any service though.

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[HawkX66]

I'm no mechanic. It's just my curse/hobby. That black bike is a Suzuki Hayabusa. At the time I bought it it was the world's fastest straight line production bike. Still might be. I know it goes back and forth between the Suzukis and Kawi. I think it has a lot to do with who's riding it...