I have an 04 5.4 with less than 70k on it. I only drive it on the weekends since I drive a company truck during the week. When I start it it makes an awfull noise at start up that only lasts a few seconds. I know the oil drains down over the week but my boss has an 05 and he said his does it every start up now. his has 200k. Is this a common issue? Any comments would be appreciated!

 

Maybe a lifter. Get some BG44 MOA and add it to the oil and put some miles on it. If the noise goes away then you may have a pretty good idea what it is. If not, you might need to tear into the heads.

Some use the MOA in every oil fill. Others believe it is something to add as needed.

Also, make sure you have the correct oil filter on FL-820S.

 

Maybe just a bad starter?

 

I recently purchased a 2004 F-150 5.4 V8 with 80,000 miles. It make some grinding noise for only a second or two when the truck is cold. I've noticed that If I park my truck with the engine down hill, the noise does not exist. This leads me to believe that it's something with the oil delivery system to the top of the heads.

 

The timing chain tensioners are bad. Very common problem. Not an easy fix

 

Just curious if you've made any progress on this. I'd be interested in knowing your outcome.

 

Yep like the guy above me said, it's the tensioners. Mine does the same thing, I can't stand it. It's going to be a pain in the rear to change them....grrr.

 

I didn't know an ohc engine had lifters. First thing I would try is changing the oil/filter and putting a Motorcraft filter on it. The reason I say Motorcraft filter is that it has some kind of valve (anti siphon') to keep oil in the system and not having to run the engine to get oil back into the system. Maybe starting it up more than just the weekend. Next the starter - possibly the starter drive
Don't go engine internal first.