Gentlemen, my 2002 GT is getting up there with 207K miles and more and more bills. I am thinking of replacing it with a 5.0 with about 400 HP. I believe 2011 was the first year for this. The guys that do the heavy lifting for the 2002 have told me the 2011 had some mapping problems with the #8 cylinder and ford had to replace a number of those engines. They also said they didn't get the engine remapped until 2013. Just wondering if I should stay away from the 2011 and 2012's or is that overblown. Thanks in advance, Lonestar 1
Depends on what you want. The only time I ever saw it being a real problem was in boosted applications. I will say, my 14 is awesome!
I have heard of the #8 failure as well, it lies on the way the cylinder heads were designed. There are cooling mods out there that help solve the problem for 2011-14 5.0s just as there are the mods for 96-04 cobra engines. Boost is usually the factor. Let me know if you have any questions on that engine, it is a beast!
Its more the factory tune then the engine its-self. They came with a 13.xx AFR from the factory and ford never cared to fix it. I'm going to be doing the same thing soon myself. Going to use an f150 engine and save 5 grand there and so on. There's also a guy that can flash factory PCMs not to use the $1400 Ford racing control pack too BBK Headers are around 500$ and you can reuse your drivetrain. Presto! Hit me up if you also have any questions
