I have this same ticking in my 2006 F150 5.4. The ticking doesn't bother me, other than wondering what might break and cause engine failure. So what happens if you don't fix it?

 

According to the grand stats, if you keep up on proper maintenance and keep it clean (read: good, frequent oil changes), you'll MOST LIKELY be fine. But there's always the possibility the engine will fail, and then you'll have that cost.

 

Here's a thread with a poll about who has replaced theirs and who still have the original equipment.

 

Interesting poll.

I'm actually getting ready to buy the lockout kit with the cheese wedge off ebay for a spring/summer repair on the truck. The ticking was barely audible when I first bought the truck (probably heavy oil or something) but over the years it's progressively gotten louder and louder to the point now... That after a long trip across town - it sounds like a disel truck at a stopped idle.

I have a nice exhaust and CIA on the truck - but everything else is stock.

I replaced the VCT solenoids first to try and eliminate the tick since that's the easiest and cheapest route to try first.

It did NOT fix the tick and I swear - it reduced the trucks high end power curve with the new VCT solenoids... my old ones didn't look too bad, like they had been replaced at some point.

But anyway - I was curious as to the thought behind just doing the lockouts on the old phasers - or pulling the whole front timing cover off and replacing ALL the parts in teh timing system?

I've heard arguments from boths sides of the coin that chains should last forever - but the guides inside the 5.4 internals are plastic (gg ford) and those can wear our - as well as that ticking **** from the phasers.

Should I just try the lockouts first, before replacing all the timing stuff - or should I just got the extra couple of hours and change out everything?

2005 5.4L FX4 super crew. 150k mi

Thanks for any help.

 

You're in there and already bought the most expensive part anyway (phasers). Replace it all. I'd put money down that at least one of your tensioners is cracked, at a minimum. Mine was, with a piece sitting in the oil pain.

 

Also - is it possible that a crappy set of VCT solenoids would leech a noticeable amount of power from the swap?

I swear, after I changed my plugs - the truck gained 20-30hp - it would set you back in the seat all the way to 60-70mph.

After I swapped out the VCT's - she's quick, but doesn't have the same power band.

I owned older yamaha YZ180's and some other older dirt bikes that used an exhaust valve as a power band limiter - so that it had more compression at lower RPM - the VCT system on this engine seems to try to to the same thing (more for efficiency though) so I'm guessing that having a quality pair of VCT sensors would make a difference, like putting in some cheap ones from autoid.com or ebay... ?

 

I'm about to begin the repair of my timing components for the third time. I think I've finally figured out what's causing the tensioner, and ultimately the guides failing. I bought an upgraded Melling M360 oil pump and the cast iron tensioners with the ratchet mechanism. My question to you all is whether or not the metal-backed chain guides from the 4.6l engines will fit on the 5.4l 3v? I know the 5.4l 2v and 3v guides are the same, but I'm trying to make the internal workings more robust with metal parts. Or perhaps with the upgraded oil pump and metal tensioners I won't need metal guides too? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

To my knowledge (perhaps THAT'S a clue in itself - lol), there are NO Metal "guides" available for the 5.4L. I did in fact purchase and install billet aluminum backed "Tensioner Arms" from MMR. See photo here: https://www.f150forum.com/f4/final-r...9/#post5017135 But could never find metal "guides".


I searched and searched, and do not believe there are any that will fit from other motors. Wish there had have been because I would have had them. The guides are the ones that seem so susceptible to breaking.

 

I've seen the MMR tensioner arms, but in my experience, they're never the ones that break. It's always the guides, like you said. I might just get the Cloyes kit and hope the upgraded oil pump and cast iron/ratcheting tensioners do the trick. I still don't know why in the world they went away from the metal-backed guides in the first place. F150Torqued, when did you do yours and how many miles since? Any issues? What parts did you end up going with? Thanks.

 

A decent reason to replace timing chains in general is that as they wear and get longer the tensioners have to extend further and may not hold oil pressure as well.