Hello everyone. I have fixed my truck a few times by reading on this forum so id like to start by saying THANK YOU. But im having problems again and im about to lose my cool with this thing. Heres the story: 2006 f150 5.4 3v. I purchased with 152,000 miles. Started ticking loud almost immediately after purchase and after lots of research i decided i would do the cam phaser/timing components change before i had major issues. At that time i replaced cam phasers, timing chains, guides, tensioners, crank sprocket, vct solenoids, cam position sensors, spark plugs all with oem replacements. It ran great for about 25, 000 miles. At around 180,000 miles it lost oil pressure on the highway and i shut it off immediately and had her towed home. I dropped the oil pan and found timing guide chunks clogging my pickup screen badly. So i did ANOTHER timing job. I found that my guides were missing (because they were shattered and in the oil pan). So this time i did new guides, chains, crank sprocket and tensioners. This time i used the metal ratcheting tensioners thinking maybe that would put an end to this. I pulled my cams to check lash adjusters and roller rockers. Noticed some scoring of the cam caps on drivers side. Cleaned the oil pan and pickup screen and re-installed everything. Decided to switch from motorcraft 5w20 to motorcraft 5w30 at that time. It started right up and ran great again. Now, 10,000 miles later im at 190,000 miles and it started running crazy rough with no power. Sounds like a diesel at times and simply wont drive. This time i have more trouble codes than ever. Its throwing p0018, p0022, p0340, p0345 and p2198. At this point im wondering if i should just give up and put a reman motor in it. Anyone have any advice for me?

 

Should have gone remanned after the first occurrence.

Too much wear (clogged oil pickup) in too many places got you to this point.

There was a fella not too long back who had a similar 5.4 adventure and plowed ahead with a timing job even though the thrust bearing was sitting in the oil pan. Learned the same exact lesson.

 

Sounds like a lack of oil pressure

 

I actually put in the melling high volume pump from the 5.4 mustang on the 2nd timing job. Forgot to mention that

 

Pulled drivers side valve cover to have a look and found that the middle sensor trigger on the cam phaser is not lined up with the "L" timing mark. Is my OEM phaser bad after only 40,000 miles?

 

Yes

 

Bite the bullet and throw in a reman with a warranty. Most reman engines will have addressed the common week points of the 5.4.

 

After turning the engine over by hand, the cam phaser returned to its resting position. I pulled the vct solenoid out and applied voltage to the pins to see if it was stuck, it was not. But i did notice a small tear in the screen that i didnt see when i initially removed the valve cover. So since i thought it was best to replace the solenoid because of that, i put in the $60 autozone special and put it back together expecting to replace the cam phaser next. But, now it has been running fine. Ive put a few hundred miles on it since and it seems like that may have fixed it. For now! Lol