I did that too... kind of. Everything was on in the right spot but I timed it 180° off.

 

Pulled of the timing chain cover. Everything looks good. I installed the guides as shown at the beginning of this thread.







I am starting to think that I didn't have the vibration dampener all the way seated?

 

Yep, it was the vibration dampener. I installed it with an impact wrench this time and it pulled in another 1/4 inch or so.


The right phaser still knocks on start up. It quiets down much quicker than before the overhaul but there is still a noticeable knock at start up and a faint tick during idle. It appears that the right tensioner/phaser/head is not getting enough oil pressure. The truck has been well maintained, I bought it new and have changed the oil every 3,000 miles. There was no sign of dirt or sludge. I'm starting to think there is a defect somewhere in these motors. Seems like most folks have trouble with the right phaser or tensioner. I wonder if there is a defect in the casting or oil line or head on some of these 5.4 motors?


Since the tensioner is located on the head, I'll bet that some of these motors had a right head gasket that was defective or improperly installed and that causes low oil flow to the head. Matter of fact I'd put money on it. I'll bet some folks know about it too.


Oh well that's all I can do for now.

 

Thanks for your updates. I'm pretty sure it's my right side that's now acting up.

 

And to wrap it up, the overhaul didn’t fix the problem. I bought myself another 30,000 miles, maybe, and that’s it, I’ll get rid of the truck. The fix did make the problem, which was chain slap on startup and phaser chatter, much better, and the right side chain guide was broken and needed to be replaced, but there is an underlying defect in Ford’s 5.4 Triton motor that causes a low oil flow and pressure condition to the right head. It could be a casting error in the block. It could be a defective or improperly installed head gasket. It could be a casting error in the head or something in the cam or (lifters no) followers. Who the hell knows and I’m sure not going to chase it any further but this motor will never see 150,000 miles. I did change the infamous spark plugs when I had it all tore down. That wasn’t as bad as I had feared, but then I allowed two days for soaking them with penetrating oil! Now what kind of bonehead engineer came up with plugs that look like these? I’m sure they’ve never turned a wrench but you would think that somebody along the line at Ford would’ve said, “Gee, that looks a lot like those plugs will seize in the head where the exposed metal shafts contact the head. Ford had to design and produce a special tool just for removing broken spark plugs that the dealers were causing on plug changes, which often cost the customer upwards of $500! There is a class action lawsuit on that one. This is probably worse than GM’s design where you had to pull the motor to replace the plugs, a Corvette if I remember correctly. I’m losing faith in Ford, GM sucks, Chrysler is overpriced junk, maybe I’ll go foreign.

Pete

 

Started her up this morning and it was cool and very still, no breeze. Immediately went to check for the chain slap, sure enough was there and loud! Takes about 5 to 10 seconds and then almost completely goes away. Hey, but what’s that I smell? Exhaust! And not the clean exhaust that you get from a modern catalyzed car, but that dirty, nasty, 1960’s exhaust smell. What the hell? Oh man, the right exhaust manifold is cracked! That is probably the ticking noise that I hear as well. I mean I still needed to do the phasers because the right chain guide was broken, and that did actually fix one problem, but the other, louder problem is the exhaust manifold. On to the next repair. Plus the Fuel Pump Driver Module needs to be replaced but maybe, just maybe, the motor will get to 150,000 if the cam and phaser are okay and getting good oil pressure.

 

can somebody explane how you can do that. Did you aline the chain marks with the phaser R on the passenger side and the phaser L on the drivers side? I don't see no other way to get the thing 180 off if the dot is on the bottom of the crank sprokit

 

This might be of some use to you: It occurred to me yesterday that the reason I could smell the exhaust leak had nothing to do with the weather but was rather that the fan and fan shroud were still off of the truck. A cracked exhaust header can sound an awful lot like phaser or valve tick. Before you get too far into this remove the fan and fan shroud. Then start the motor cold. If the exhaust manifold is leaking you'll be able to smell it.


A friend of mine who is into Fords also recommends replacing the vibration dampener. He says that is the source of a lot of the vibration complaints on these trucks and indeed mine looked like the rubber was starting to crap out.

 

Didn't want to chime in to be all salesman-like with the lockouts, just wanted to say that you are correct, there are little oil passages and valleys that over time do clog up and prevent the phasers receiving sufficient pressure and lubrication. This happens regardless of adequate maintenance.

 

Installed the locks by my mechanic.

Then he dropped a "bit" behind the timing cover.

Retrieved it yesterday evening.

Anxious, want my truck back.