11-14 Ford F150 5.0L Coyote Teardown: Shop Says 'Its bad', They Weren't Kidding!

With as common as Ford's 5.0L Coyote V8 is, the fact that its been nearly 2 years since I've torn one down was a travesty! This particular coyote is from a 2012 F150 with 220K miles. A shop condemned the engine and the owners called a salvage yard to sell the truck, where I then bought the engine from it as a core.
Lets just say, the shop that condemned the engine... they were RIGHT.

If this is the first video you've seen on the channel and you're wondering what other engines I've torn down, you can find all 120+ of them here:

Why am I doing this? I own and run a full service auto salvage business in the Saint Louis area, called Importapart. Part of our model includes buying core/blown/failed engines and dismantling them to salvage the good, usable parts for resale. We do not rebuild engines, merely supply parts to those that do!

I hope you enjoyed this teardown. As always, I love all of the comments, feedback, and even the criticism. Catch you on the next one!

-Eric

[roughing]

Every time I watch a video here, it makes me feel like I need to change my oil.

[chuckdem]

My company has 4 F-150 with 5.0s. They all are still running orginal motors and trans. All with over 400, 000mi one with 535, 000mi . THE BEST MOTOR EVER BUILT !!!!

[jtoddk]

It always amazes me that people will spend $50-70k on a vehicle, and then neglect changing the oil or any maintenance.

[larrycollar]

Have a 2012 Ford F150 with this same engine. Was interesting to see what it looks like inside. It has 260, 000 miles and still runs great. Changing oil every 5, 000 miles. Thinking about going out to check the dipstick right now.

[mbspoobah]

A testament to the engine quality. It went 220, 000 miles with relatively poor maintenance, and the failures were universal, meaning that eveything was failing simultaneously, rather than an outlier part that cratered the engine early by itself. That is about the best you can ask for - have everything wearing at the same pace.

[ggregory]

Just blows my mind to see these tear downs….when I was a kid ….40+ years ago….roller rockers, windage trays etc, where the stuff of exotic high performance racing cars, etc……now it’s an everyday thing…..lol😂

[briand]

My days of working on engines was decades ago. I'm amazed at the level of sophistication for an engine that is being used in an F150. Compared to an old Small Block 302 that thing is like a race engine. Cross bolted mains, piston oilers, and those sexy heads. Must be expensive to produce versus an LS or Hemi, and then somebody abused it. What's interesting is that it appears to have had oil changes as there was not a terrible amount of sludge, if at all, but then for some reason was run dry. My guess is this was a new owner that picked it up off the used car lot then just drove the heck out of it. Ouch.

[westexhunt]

As a diesel engine guy I am thoroughly impressed by the design of the bottom end of the engine. Now I’m not surprised by how much HP the coyote can make.

[cjging]

I have a 2014 F150 with the 5.0. It uses a little oil between changes, but overall I really like the truck and the engine. It has about 165K on it. I was very interested in watching this video, but now I have a strong urge to go check the oil level in my truck again. 😄

[ericheine]

Great video. First time I've ever seen a 5l coyote motor torn down. That's a cool little motor. No wonder people like them. Double overhead cam, four valves per cylinder, cross bolted lower girdle- hemispherical combustion chambers, cylinder oilers,
- that's some cool engineering.
Thank you

[iancrumb]

I have the same 5.0 Coyote in my 2013 F-150 STX. Almost 139k miles and it still runs great. Great torque, great HP, and great reliability. Gone on multiple road trips, using 4x4 high long distance. It won't let you down.

[patrickdiehl]

That poor engine screams neglect, what a shame. Great teardown, I shed a tear on almost every one of them because most could be avoided, but some of the complete devastations are just too intriguing in the aspect of commitment in going all the way to the bitter end.

[johnjunge]

As a retired master mechanic, your definition of cleaning up with a little sand paper is different than mine! The front rod journals look like where it may have started. A religious oil change interval would have helped. I've gotten nearly 300k on many of my engines. But I also do oil analysis periodically. And I've run all the Big 3 engines! Good stuff!

[frankbiz]

That engine takes the words, "it's toast, " to a whole new level. They turned that crank into a welding machine! Thanks for another great video!

[supercharged]

For me being a chevy guy and never seeing one of these apart before i am impressed with the parts and design, simple maintenance this would still be running

[Vinincenz]

Tonight's lesson: a little oil goes a long way. The dip stick battle was a bit of a disappointment, but a great teardown, Eric. Keep up the great work! 🎉

[robertbritton]

I've had two coyote F150's and loved both of them. They ran really strong and idled very smooth. Like any engine you have to change the oil frequently. I did every 4k. I never had any issues at all. This is probably the reason for most internal failures. I think 4k is the max for any engine oil change length.

[kennethross]

From the instant you pulled that first valve cover off, I was 99% sure the engine died from oil starvation. It looked bone-dry inside with lots of oil varnish. Just goes to show it doesn't matter how good a design is, no engine can take being run with low/no oil for very long.

[konacyclist]

I was stuck by how clean the intake ports and valves were on this high mileage, neglected? engine. The PCV system is really scavenging the oil well. It is amazing to see.

[POVwithRC]

Notable that Coyote is now double digit years old. Time is flying and I feel aged.