Greetings. 2001 F150 with 5.4 V8.

As seems to be the case with many people it's developed a pretty pronounced "ticking" noise on the passenger's side of the engine. A bit of internet sleuthing along with some work with a stethoscope leads me to conclude I might have a bad phaser.

It sounds like a pretty difficult fix and I don't have the valve spring compressor tool or the wedge tool to prevent the timing chain from slipping.

So my question is - what happens if I don't fix it. It's annoying but will it get worse? Can it damage the valve train?

Thanks for any advice!

Dave

 

As far as I know the 2001 is the two valve engine and doesn't have phasers. 2004 was the first year for the 3 valve with phasers.