Sarahcw86

A little backstory: I bought the truck in 2013 with 90k miles. My husband started driving it in 2015 when I switched to an SUV. Growing up my dad was a mechanic and I was very hands on learning about vehicles etc and my husband admittedly doesn't know as much as I do regarding maintenance and since the truck was mine to start he has always asked me to handle any maintenance/service.
We took our 2006 F-150 (5.4L, 4WD, 180,xxx miles) to a dealer for an oil change and tire rotate and balance Friday but my husband checked it in instead of me. Other than being way overdue for an oil change, it wasn't having any other problems prior to having the work completed. We dropped it off at 10am and were pressed for time since I was going out of town that night and couldn't leave my husband and boys stranded and were told the truck would be ready by 3pm but absolute latest 5pm. When we arrived at 5:30 it still wasn't ready. They told my husband the oil change/rotate/balance was done but they hadn't been able to check for alignment yet (which I was unaware that my husband had asked them to do in the first place). We couldn't wait for them to finish and asked them to pull it and not look into the alignment. On the way home (9 miles) everything seemed to be fine other than the fact that they didn't close the hood all the way. The next day he drove 20 miles to get my stepson from football and on the way back it started with a loud ticking/knocking that turns into an extremely rough idle and run. It did it first when he was decelerating and stopped but if you shift into neutral and give it gas it evens out. It only did it twice that trip but yesterday I heard it start knocking when my stepson backed it up to load some pallets so I drove it to feed horses so I could see exactly what it was doing and it progressively got worse. It does it in reverse and drive but seems to start as soon as the transmission shifts into 2nd. Just accelerating does not make it stop but shifting to neutral and giving it gas evens it out until you start moving again. It starts as a metallic tick that almost sounds like it's coming from the transfer case but quickly progresses into a loud knock that's rocking the entire body. I've had coils and plugs go out in it before, as well as an injector get stuck open, and it was nothing like any of those. It's too coincidental that it was running perfectly normal prior to being serviced for me to not question the dealership and wonder if the wrong oil or filter was used, or if something was left off, bumped, crossed... you get the idea. The dealership came and picked it up this morning (I didn't want to risk driving it to them with how quickly the problem progressed) but I fully expect them to come back with an answer of xyz and it not possibly be their fault. Has anyone had anything like this happen or have any ideas of what it may be?

BareBonesXL

I notice that you didn't confirm the proper oil level. Too late now but if you had at least confirmed that the oil change was done right you'd know more. Beside that, do you have the receipt that shows what, exactly, they did do? If your husband agreed to an alignment maybe he also agreed to other things you aren't aware of. Might be a clue there.

Having a vehicle come out of the shop worse that it went in isn't uncommon. The dealer you used doesn't sound like a good one either.

Sarahcw86

I did confirm the oil level last night and it was good, that was the first thing I did once I popped the hood. And yes, I have the receipt and checked it this morning and everything was normal on the receipt. The oil and filter types are both correct on the receipt. It was wrong in the fact that it states we declined the alignment but the check was completed and I addressed that with the service manager. I've never had a problem with them before and they're one of the largest dealers in the state, but that's not to say they're good. They do have cameras throughout the shop and the manager said he'd be reviewing the videos though. Thanks for your input.

BareBonesXL

I've found that people who don't know a lot about how cars and their engines work will sometimes do things like drive around in first gear, not hearing the fact that the engine is over-revving. Blame your husband.

Good luck.

Sarahcw86

He knows enough to know things like that lol. And I drove it a few weeks ago and everything was good then. We're approaching 200k so I know anything can start happening at this point since I've escaped any major repairs this far so I'd rather blame the age and mileage than him unnecessarily.

Sarahcw86

Last night I called back up to the dealership for an uodate since I hadn't heard anything. They first told me it hadn't been looked at yet but after I asked to speak with the GM I was transferred to a service advisor who walked back to the tech and was told it's the cam phasers but they don't have an estimate for me yet and will call me today.
My truck has had a quiet knock/tick since I bought it that almost makes it sound like a diesel. I've asked about it a couple times but was always told it's normal for that year. After finding a video on cam phasers, that's the exact sound the truck has made the last almost 5 years so I'm guessing they should've been replaced long ago. So now my question is: will I need to have the entire system, chains, etc replaced, or just the phasers? With the loud knock and rough run progressing so quickly after the oil change with no previous sign of it progessing, what else do I need to be concerned about it damaging?

BareBonesXL

I'd start a new thread with "cam phasers" in the title. There are some guys on the forum that know all about them and their problems and how to fix them. If I recall right oil flow, or pressure, is a common cause of failure or poor operation. The root cause of the cam phaser problem might actually be something else.