lewissa81

If you're thinking about fixing the phaser issue, I would go over the rest of the motor first. With 293k miles, it may not be worth throwing hundreds of dollars into the motor and have it crap out on you shortly afterwards. I would check the compression (looking for signs of worn rings), rod/main bearings, and the cam journals specifically. That being said, I'm a big fan of seeing just how far I can reasonably take a motor. If there are no signs of scouring on the cam journals, crank, and cylinder walls, then you could get away with just replacing bearings, rings, and head gaskets along with the timing system and oil pump for around a grand (I'm guessing on that price). Someone else can chime in if I missed something.
Just a thought.