RH broken arm and failed RH tensioner.

 

LH phaser

 

Got the Indy shop to break loose crossmember bolts with air impact wrench. Took them some elbow grease to get them off. Duct taped them on till I got home. Glad I pulled the oil pan as two silver dollar size and one quarter size timing chain arm pieces were at the bottom. I took out the oil pickup tube and another broken arm piece was lodged in between tube shroud and mesh screen. I reinstalled all and now the idle is a smooth as can be in gear.

 

I was going to ask if any bits got in the pan, then I saw the last picture. I'll tell you what, I'm as loyal as it gets with Fords. I've always bought em and will continue to, but this is not a great motor

 

I drive and maintain the car very carefully since it was new. At least now, I know I will expect the same repair in about 100k in the future. I am now weary of the new 3.5 Ecoboost that replaces our engines when it comes time to replace this car.

My car still idles low at about 500 rpm but it does not shudder and shake like before. I may need to do a PCM reset to relearn the idle.

 

Have you sprayed the MAF sensor wit CRC QD electronic cleaner? On the right hand side of the air cleaner, (Looking at the motor from the front, so it is actually the left hand side) you will see a sensor with two wires coming out of it. Take out the two torx drive screws and take out the sensor. Spray it real good with CRC QD Electronic Cleaner (Available in Walmart here) do not use the more aggressive electric motor spray. You will be amazed at the difference this makes once the computer adjusts. Do not use oil impregnated air filters, it screws up the maf sensor by coating the two hair fine electrodes in the sensor. My truck ran like crap from brand new until I did this, and the Ford Dealership could not figure it out. Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the tip jagans. I have tried that a few thousand miles ago. When I did do it back then the thin wires looked pretty clean. I will pull it out again and clean with CRC mass air flow sensor cleaner.

 

I have 117k on my 2004. It rattles almost every time at start up and has a very loud diesel sound when warm. I think I might do this job soon. I noticed some people recommending OEM parts and not the ones from Rock Auto do to inferior quality. The OEM parts are failing, which is why we need to replace them in the first place. Are the Rock Auto parts failing sooner than the OEM parts would. Has anyone proven one manufacturer's parts to be of better quality than another? I don't want to waste money, but at the same time I don't want to do the job twice. What are the best replacement parts that people have had the fewest problems with?

 

It seems like there is too much blaming of Rockauto going on. They just sell parts. Sticking with Motorcraft is your best bet. It's the Dorman phasers that tend to fail almost immediately in a lot of cases. Doesn't matter where you get them, just get Motorcraft. The best deal I've seen is on ebay. There's a whole kit with Motorcraft parts.

 

Rockauto is a great retailer. Dorman which makes the phaser that apparently according to members has a high failure rate makes some decent parts but this is apparently not one of them. Unfortunately OEM phasers which clearly suck or we wouldn't be reading this thread appears to be the best part currently available.