I have a F150 5.4 2004 model with about 155,000 miles on it and got a new transmission about 10,000 miles ago. My engine light came on and am getting a rough igle when at a redlight or just stopped in general. I brought it to the shop and to totally rebuild the timing chain and cams the quote was around 3,000 USD. 1,500 for the part and another 1,500 for labor. Is this a good price? Although I can't really afford the 3 grand to slap into the truck, it needs to get done and I wanted to know if there was any other small fixes or anything that I could do myself. I usually do these things myself, but there is no way I can pull my engine out and slap a timing chain on it. Any suggestions?

 

Watch these videos. Apparently there are many ways to go wrong and waste money. Don't let the shop use cheap parts. Good luck.

 

post actual codes and give some background on general maintenance history, how long/miles you’ve had it, when did issues pop up etc.

without more info it’s a guessing game

Personally I would not put $3+k into timing work (especially on an 04). I’ve just read too many nightmare stories about issues continuing after timing jobs… and 04 seems to be more problematic than later years.

if there is any question on condition/history of oil changes and/or using crappy filters, I would first try doing a couple oil flushed and short OCI changes, and replace with 5w30 and hood filter. See if symptoms change. Can also try running with vcts unplugged, see if symptoms change.

Report back with more info. Good luck.

 

If you have this work performed, or if you do it, make sure the oil pickup screen is cleaned thoroughly. There have been multiple postings on this site where the pickup screen (and a few where the pan) was not cleaned during the repair resulting in early failures.