Reef Hunta

Ok, had the chains, phasers, tensioners and vct solenoids replaced and my chain slap and diesel noise is gone... But now a few months later, i get more of a grinding sound occasionally on cold starts. lasts a second or two like the chain slap but its a diff sound. My mechanic said the lifters/ lash adjusters were fine when he did the phaser job.

Any ideas? Im stumped and starting to get tired of fixing stuff on this truck..

On a side note, if i turn the ignition to the on position and leave it for a min before cranking the truck... i get a LOW OIL PRESSURE alert for a split second.

Thanks everyone on this thread! its been a life saver so far.

lbinh

Any broken pieces fall into the oil pan? Clogged oil pickup tube?

Reef Hunta

I have no idea, my buddy who is a mechanic did the work. How would i check that? does it require tearing everything down again? because that was the most expensive part!

lbinh

I assume F150 has similar design but I think it might be a little easier to access oil pan bolts than my Navigator. You may need to cross check all the specs below. No need to tear into engine again as far as the timing components job you just did. About 2-3 hour DIY job.

Lincoln dealer wanted to charge $800 to drop oil pan and cleanup. I decided to do it my self. About twenty something pan bolts (8 or 10 mm) that are not torqued that much. Easy to remove with short extensions.

-First, drain oil, you can reuse if still new. Leave oil filter on.
-Loosen oil sensor wire loom (unbolt loom fasteners to move out of way) and there are some steel tranny tubes that run along the side of pan in the way but you can put a small wrench in there for those 2 to 3 passenger side bolts.
-Carefully Remove oil pan sensor harness from oil pan, passenger side.
-Only semi hard part of the oil pan bolts are the the four pan bolts (tapered, low profile part of oil pan) near the front of the engine are hard to get to due to a rack and pinion cross beam in the way but you can use squeeze small ratchet in there to break loose and use your fingers to spin them off.

The only real hard part is removing the suspension frame cross beam that prevents you from dropping the oil pan down and out of the way.
-Remove four easy access M12 frame bolts (15mm heads) with 18mm nuts (use deep socket). Really difficult to break factory torque with all the road dirt and corrosion. Had to get a Goodyear Auto care place to break loose nuts with their high torque impact guns. Even they had some difficulty. Finger tighten and taped back on so I could take out at home.
-Pry cross beam down and out and now you can drop the pan all the way out.

Once oil pan is down (careful with oil pan gasket, you can reuse) look for broken plastic pieces at the very bottom. There will be large and very small pieces.
-Most importantly, look at the oil pickup tube opening and remove any lodged pieces on the screen. I have a pic in earlier posts. The pickup tube part is about $30 (o-ring included), but no need to replace. Only three small bolts hold that in. Two small bolts on front end and one a little larger bolt on the opening end.
-Cleanup all surfaces.
-Apply four dabs of silicone gasket sealant on the four corners with metal seams on engine oil pan gasket surface.
-Put oil pan/gasket back on engine with the correct torque and with the correct oil pan bolt torque sequence (first round is hand tight bolts, second round is I think 7 lb/ft, last round is 15 lb/ft). Tedious but needed for even oil pan mating surface. Start with middle pan bolts and then alternating tightening front to back bolts from the middle.
-Reinstall wire loom nut.
-Reinstall oil sensor harness.
-Fill with drained oil or fill with new oil.
-Reinstall cross beam and four bolts and nuts. Torque to 75 lb/ft.
-Complete!

Reef Hunta

Thank you for taking the time and doing the write up for me! i really appreciate it!

why whould this only happen on cold starts though? only on cold starts and sometimes on cold starts its fine.

lbinh

I would think the oil is thicker at cold start ups and needs more time to lubricate and travel. A partial block on the pickup tube during that time would contribute to lower start up pressure and when the oil warms up and becomes thinner it would flow better. Or, moving pieces in the pan would cause problems at different times. I would defer to the oil dynamics experts in this forum for more insight.

lewissa81

What brand oil filter are you using?

neshoc

I'm looking to order the parts to do this job soon. Have the OEM phasers or tensioners been redesigned at all to minimize the failures? The OEM phasers I found are part# 3R2Z 6A257-DA is this the latest version? Should I go with the OEM timing chain kit also or is there a better option with tensioners that will last longer? I want to try and minimize the chances of having to do this job more than once.

sdskpa

I had my cam Phasers, timing chains, tensioners, and rails replaced about a year ago. Less then 15,000 miles and one of the guides broke. Do I have to take the valve covers off or can I just do the bare minimum and just pull the chain cover off and put all new guides on?

lewissa81

You need to loosen all the valve cover bolts so the covers can be tilted up. They do not have to come off though.