Ford Coyote (5.0 V8)

Ford's modern 5.0-litre V8 — the Mustang GT's engine and the F-150's top petrol option, and the successor to the long-running Modular 4.6.

It is a dual-overhead-cam, four-valve design with variable timing on all four camshafts, and it is well regarded. The complaints that recur are specific rather than systemic: cam-phaser rattle on cold start, most often on higher-mileage examples or those on extended oil intervals, since the phasers are oil-pressure driven and the noise is the first indication that oil condition or pressure is marginal.

Generation 3 engines added direct injection alongside port injection, which keeps intake valves clean and is why the carbon problem common elsewhere does not appear here. These engines are also among the most heavily modified in the world, so on any knock, misfire or oil-pressure complaint the first question is what has been changed — supercharger kits in particular change the oiling and cooling demands substantially.