GrimaceTimus

I know this subject has been beaten to death and yes, I have read all 90+ pages of "The Final Repair Guide" (good info) ... but I guess I am living in denial and want to see what some of you might think about issues. I have been told that I have "phaser slap" ... "broken phaser vanes" ...etc., but to not really do anything unless I have low oil pressure (installing a mech gauge this weekend).

Background...

A little more than a month ago I purchased a 'new-to-me' 2005 F150 XLT SCrew, 4x4. The truck only had 51K and some change. When I interviewed the seller about the low miles, he told me he was the second owner and for the last 5 years (1st owner was a 3-year lease) he barely used the truck more than 3 or 4 times a year to take his family ATVing/camping. The seller and his family lived in what appeared to be a million-dollar home and had brand new SUVs and luxury cars that they all drove ... the truck only came out of the garage for those family outdoor outings. The seller provided me the name and number of his mechanic and the mechanic confirmed religious maintenance on the truck.

Given all this, I am thinking that the truck was easily sitting for anywhere between 3 to 6 months at a time, without any use. So my developing theory is that this is contributing to my current 'dieseling' at full-optemp idle. My thought is that the oil could be breaking down (or sludging?) and that perhaps things like the tensioner seals have dried-out.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think extensive periods of sitting / non-use could contribute to timing noise?

The truck runs awesome. I have absolutely no driveability or performance complaints at all. As I have mentioned in other threads, I recently got almost 20mpg on a neutral grade, 180 mile trip. Nevertheless, I am too OCD to just live with this noise. I found a full OEM-timing kit on eBay for $549 (if I do this I am choosing to stay away from Cloyes and Dorman based on other things I have read here).

Advice? Should I just bite the bullet and get this stuff replaced? Lockout kit to prevent future issues (I am leaning towards a Livernois lockout, but I really want a Gryphon ... the two aren't exactly compatible)?

Or should I just start Seafoam-ing this thing and see if the issues clear-up?

NOTE: I have already replaced both VCT solenoids with the new "B" versions.

I will be installing a real oil gauge this weekend...so I will report on my findings there ... but any input or thoughts anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

rswright11

iTrader: (1)

I am in the exact same boat you are in. I just bought a 2004 XLT SCREW with 46K miles on it. It was owned by an old lady in the country that bought it in 04 jusy to take her grand kids on trips. She said she changed the oil every 3-5K miles but that could have been once a year. I didn't hear the knocking on the test drive because the oil didn't get to working temp. Later that week I heard it and started researching. I changed the oil the day after I bought it and it was BLACK... I'm going to run the oil I have in it a couple more thousand miles and run a cleaner through it. I bought the solenoids so when I do the oil change, I'm going to replace those and see if it helps. Like you, I have no performance issues but it is always in the back of my mind and I know it shouldn't sound like that. Let me know if you figure out anything. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for yours? I got mine for $15,000.

FordSilly

dont run a cleaner, put in 5w30 and new solenoids.

rswright11

iTrader: (1)

FordSilly, why should I do that instead of the cleaner? I was just going to do what my friend's dad, that is a mechanic, told me to do.

FordSilly

Well 5w30 will make more pressure, and hopefully quiet down your issue.
And I am not a fan of cleaner, sometimes it can clean to make creating oil leaks.

GrimaceTimus

rswright11 ... I paid $18K for mine. Sure wishin' I paid closer to $15K now! ;-)

I am not saying it won't make any difference ... but the first thing I did was change the oil (MC filter and MC SynBlend 5w-30) and put in the latest generation VCT solenoids. It made no difference for my truck at all.

Here is my plan...

Mechanical oil pressure gauge - verify good 25+ PSI at optemp idle (hopefully more like 30PSI.
If I have good oil pressure, I am going to do an oil change to a full-syn 5w-20 with some Seafoam.
If I don't have good oil pressure, I am going to buy the timing kit and tear into it, hoping that the low oil pressure is due to tensioner seal failure. If I get in there and everything looks clean / tight, I guess the next place is lash adjusters or the thrust bearings on the crank.

rswright11

iTrader: (1)

You lost me after the oil change Grimace. I will do certain things but I'm not comfortable getting into the engine. I used Castrol Edge 5W20 synthetic oil with a MC filter when I changed mine. I then changed the filter after 500 miles just to try and get most of the old oil out and added some Lucas oil additive. I think it is a little quieter after putting the Lucas in and changing the filter but it's still there....

primalurges

I'm going to poke a hole through low usage theory. I bought my 04 in Jan of 05 and have 114k miles on it now. My diesel sound started at you guessed it, around 49k miles. As far as maintenance goes I've changed oil every 5k with pure synthetic and MC filter. My engine is clean, no sludge at all. When I replaced my solenoids about 20k miles ago they were clean and the screens were in tact. At 100k I moved up to 5w30 and had a slight improvement on sound but still not gone. Changing VCTs only made a difference in my wallet. The opening at the end of the replacements was smaller than that of the ones replaced (only noticeable difference). I know for a fact that I have occasional chain rattle at start up however there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. I assume the tensioners apply enough pressure after quiets down bevause i have no performance issues. I know the synthetic is not a problem because my wife's edge which also has VCT is an 07 with 10k less than my truck I've maintained them the same and all you can hear on that engine is normal injector ticking. My diesel sound as well as many others' appears to be more pronounced in the passenger side wheel well and even more under the truck which doesn't seems to make sense given that phasers are up top and the sound is not really audible up top. Please update if you figure something out.

rswright11

iTrader: (1)

My diesel sound is louder under the driver's wheel well and under the truck on the driver's side. I swear I don't think it is a rhyme or reason to any of this....

GrimaceTimus

I posted this in another thread ... here is what mine sounds like...