I tend to agree with you on the LS statement although GM put a silver bullet through their heart with the Active Fuel Management system. From my experience and research, it’s not an if but when that system does fail, you’re out thousands for repairs. Mopar has the same issues with their MDS. Unfortunately, unless you bought a Corvette, 6 spd. Camaro, or a 4.8L, nearly every engine has the AFM system. With the Gen V LT small blocks, you can’t get away from it period. Which is to say nothing of the carbon build up issues because of DI.
If we were having this discussion back in 2010, I probably would’ve agreed with you. Outside of a select few motors, I was never terribly impressed with the Modulars, especially in a truck. I was never impressed with the issues they had either. The advantages of a pushrod were clear to me. But then the 5.0 happened.
Ford learned their lessons from the Modulars. In 3 generations of the Coyotes, they by and large haven’t had any major patterns of failure till they started the plasma wire arc cylinder coating on the 18+. Even still, Ford is claiming its more of an NVH issue than an actual mechanical issue. While I still don’t believe an OHC motor is the best power plant for a truck simply because of how it makes torque, there is no denying the 5.0L is a tremendous achievement, and in terms of efficiency, it’s worlds ahead of the LT and Hemis.
I’ve bashed this out soooo many times. A Ford modular V8 - particularly the one in a mustang for instance, didn’t surpass the output of GMs Camaro/LS1 until 2011....meaning a ‘98 WS6 was still putting out more power than a Ford V8 until then.
The first couple decades of the 2000s & just leading up to that, we have seen GM stick a version of their LS/LTx series in all kinds of vehicles- luxury sedans/SUVs, supercars, corvette, camaro, SS, G8 etc. likewise....maybe even more so, dodge has quadrupled down on “drop a hemi in it”
playing devils advocate here....if the general consensus In the auto industry is “keep up w/ the Jones’s” - well, Ford made valiant attempts staying on par in specific output- but they’ve all but given up on their V8 engines being “top tier” power plants for their vehicles- sooo, it’s really not MY opinion, it’s very obvious that it’s also FORD’s opinion that their V8 platform is not up to *****.
GM, Toyota, Mopar- what have ALL their top tier/most expensive vehicles used as a power plant? Luxury cars/SUVs, muscle cars, performance cars, sport SUVs (TBSS/TRD sequoia/trackhawk/SRT8), what about halo exotic cars? Chevy ZR1/Z06/ZL1? Red eye/challenger etc - sure you got a V10 in the old LfA & the Viper....but not a boosted 4 or 6 (not that there’s anything wrong w/ that- I drive a Raptor)
what do the “best” most expensive trucks from Toyota, Ram, GM/Chevy have as a power plant?
what does ford have?
what does fords BEST vehicle PERIOD have under the hood? What did it USED to have?
I think you get the idea. If ford thought the V8 market was their best shot they would have been putting V8s in way more vehicles & instead they’re quadrupling down on boosted 4s/6s & hybrid versions of those platforms. Nothing wrong with it.....but if they were uberconfident in their V8 quality/reliability they’d put it in a Navigator or the Ford GT.
also- the market has spoken as well, what sells better 5.0 F150s or EB F150s?
I think the mustang is a good platform, I think the 5.2 voodoo sounds like pure automotive ****- but it’s an oil guzzling rev happy engine just asking to go kaboom (from my own research- I was thinking of buying one pretty hard) you know what would make me buy a mustang though? If they put the Same HO 3.5 EB from our Raptors into it....THEN they’ll get my $$$ for a toy car lol
the AFM/DOD sucks (especially earlier iterations going back to mid 2000s)- I have had issues w/ 2 vehicles 1 a 2008 G8 GT that started having sticky lifters @ 107k miles- so I did what any GM V8 owner w/ a AFM motor should/would do outta warranty- I called up Livernois & ordered a DOD delete cam package lol- & guess what? On an LSx you only need ONE cam?!?!? Can ya believe it!!! Holy shit 1 cam in & out & voila +50whp! 2-4 cams? No bueno for easy bolt on N/A power (again- why the EB platform crushes the modular V8) had a 2015 GMC Sierra 6.2 started making some ticking on cold start just had the dealer swap out for stock replacement never left me stranded & you’d have to be a moron to keep driving it hard when you do start to hear the DOD stuff fail- all
In all between me & my dad 9 vehicles w/ DOD 2 had issues, 1 of which well over 100k & earlier design, 2nd was within 50k miles but gave me plenty of warning- a catastrophic failure is very unlikely. And again - all else being equal if every GM V8 vehicle I owned as a DD had the DoD Hardware but otherwise performed flawlessly over 100k miles- I’d WELCOME a few dropped lifters & warped cam lobes post warranty for an excuse to do a cam swap.....who wouldn’t!!!
case closed move on & enjoy the huge power gains we get from a tune alone
