BadFish523

The possible ways that bad timing components will fall you are broken guides and tensioners allow you to jump time which could put a valve into a piston. Or the vanes break off in the phasers causing almost the same thing.

BadFish523

I ran mine for nearly 7 months with no problems other than the mileage and noise. When opened up she wasn't very bad off inside. It varies. Like I said some people run them like this for thousands of miles!

Idiggplants

that does not sound like what i want to happen. the confusion around this seems to be that ford was telling people to just ignore it a while back, and im seeing some people say that its just a noise you have to get used to when you have a 5.4L. which seems odd, to say the least...

F150Torqued

@StephenG, no disrespect what-so-ever intended. We are ALL here with best intentions of helping our fellow F150 owners and it is with this spirit in mind that I post. It's 25 "FT/Lbs" according to the Torque Specs in my Factory Service Manual (relevant pages attached). Would you Please edit your post so future readers searching won't stumble upon it and perpetuate the common mistake that may explain many of the loose plug problems we read about here.


Wishing all the best.

BadFish523

Good catch! Hope that the OP sees this!

Idiggplants

got it. thanks for the fix!

F150Torqued

FWIW - and to perhaps assist your decision process - Your truck is not a BAD vehicle just because of the noise you are hearing. I was perhaps lucky, but decided all the whoopla about the noise was much to do about (very little), not nothing. Mine sounded like a diesel and had the infamous 'tick' from basically the time I bought it new. I chose to listen to it, and went to 212K which is NOT bad service out of steel chains on any vehicle. When it begin to rattle on startup and sound like marbles in a coffee can around 1800 RPMS, (the result of broken guides), I knew THAT wouldn't fly and decided to do the timing job. Results: perfect running/performing and quiet truck again and going strong @224K.

Not to recommend the same. But a couple of things I did that I recommend. Got a GOOD RELIABLE reading on the oil pressure to judge lower end health (was 13-15 lbs at full operating temp). Did a wet & dry Compression check to judge upper end/valves. Was surprisingly high for mileage. So I was comfortable spending the money on it.


Since then - I have learned a lot that I wish I had known then. It would have made diagnosis Sooooo much easier and the cost is sooooo little. I posted it all here:https://www.f150forum.com/f4/final-r...4/#post5133357


You can "SEE" exactly what your PCM is requesting in cam retard, what signals it is sending to BOTH solenoids, and whether the PCM is registering any CAM POSITIONING ERROR based on those actions. Your cams may be working perfectly - just have a little slap in the Phaser vanes at idle. If you don't have chain noise at startup or no-load high idle, you may have no broken guides at all. If your oil pressure is a little low, it could just be blown gasket on a tensioner. But you would have more info to make a decision on.


Best of Luck - whatever you decide.

Idiggplants

BadFish523

Drivers side and front sounds almost exactly like a timing job! Passenger side sounds like a combo of timing and exhaust leak. The exhaust leak might just be in my imagination though.

Idiggplants

thats what i figured you would say! also found a cracked rim. so im on the hunt for a new rim too.

so around 3k is do-able for me with this truck. my main concern is that it has been hard shifting, which i have another thread about.

https://www.f150forum.com/f4/hard-sh...-coils-374070/

im nervous that i drop 3k on the motor and then find out that i have to drop another god knows what at it to fix that situation.