RMarshall674

Hello,

I have always loved F-150's and am considering purchasing my first: a 2005 F150 4x4 XLT. The truck looks great and runs solid. Has 138k miles and I am pretty sure I want to purchase. However, I am a little concerned after hearing a little ticking/knocking noise coming from the right side of the engine. It was very slight and barely noticed it until a technician pointed it out to me. I looked up possible problems, and it sound like it could be the Camshaft phasers or possibly a loose belt or chain.

I was curious if this is an issue I should be worried about? Or will the truck run fine, and just make a little noise while in idle? If I do need to get this fixed, about how much would a repair like that cost?

Has anybody else had a similar issue? Is it something that should make me not purchase the vehicle?

any help would be appreciated.

Sammy77

It's most likely the cam phaser, rocker arms, lifters... It's roughly a $1k repair. Is it a 5.4 or a 4.6? Either way, it will continue to run fine, noise will just get louder.

RMarshall674

It is a 5.4L. Glad to hear it is not an engine ending issue. If it is just a noise issue, I can deal with that. and $1k is tolerable. How difficult of a repair would it be if I wanted to fix the cam phasers myself?

Sammy77

If you've never done it before, it can be intimidating. Basically tear off the passenger side valve cover, remove cam, rocker arms, lifters, shove the wedge tool down the front cover, remove cam phaser, and replace.

Watch a few videos online, and see if it's something you think you can handle. It's not the easiest job to do, and you can damage the engine by screwing up.