Originally Posted by F150Torqued

^^^^^^^^^

The 5.4L has a chorus of noises it can produce. Hard to seperate out especially when all mixed together. @BadFish523 described it pretty well here. I might add that loose roller bearings in a rolller follower can 'tick' really good on startup because the thin (5W20) oil drains off during soak. And they are oiled basically by a drip system. When cold thicker oil reaches them, they may quiet down slightly - then get louder as oil heats and thins out. In my opinion - the 'tick' is more likely from manifold OR roller/followers OR lash adjusters not staying pumped up against valve spring pressure.

Phaser's knock, will be louder at hot idle and has more of a diesel engine sound.

Another tricky one - the 'thrust' bearing surface built into the front cam journal can make a faint 'KNOCK' at hot idle that sounds exactly like a soft rod bearing knock if chain guides are bad and do not keep phaser gear running true - allowing cam to walk forward / backward against the thrust surface.

Originally Posted by redfishtd

Lock outs don't fix any broken parts and degrade engine . Put that $700 towards a proper timing job . Phasers do go bad but that's only part of the problem . Poor oil pressure and blown plastic tensioner seals are a major problem . Use steel ratcheting tensioners with no seal to blow out . Use oem parts . VCTS ,lash's ,rollers phasers were all upgraded . Melling has a new high volume oil pump the 340hv . All this can be done diy if you have the will and the help on here . But its not cheap a full timing job runs around $1400 in oem parts . Don't use aftermarket phasers .
Not much in the way of special tools ,the phaser holding tool being a good one . Pulling cams avoids the expensive valve tool . Read svares final fix sticky .

Originally Posted by ShirBlackspots

Another thing about the 5.4L was that from very late 2006MY to early 2008MY, the thrust washers/bearings would go bad making a horrible knocking sound and allowing excessive crank play. (FordTechMakuloco has a video on this)

@GBTexan Yes, you should be leary of rebuilt motors with phaser lockout kits. (also, the correct word is "sell" not "sale")