The Final Repair Guide to 5.4 Cam Phaser Tick/Knock Sound
07-18-2018, 10:47 PM
#3481
LightningRod
Glad to see your decision to replace all lifters and roller-followers. It definitely quieted mine down 100%.
You don't REALLY need the special tools. Crank positioning (Dot @ 6:00 o'clock) doesn't have to be ALL THAT PRECIOUS. What "IS" is alignment of colored chain links. The phaser locking tool is not a must have. (You can use an old timing chain - wrap it around the phaser gear and 'pinch' it together under the head of a timing cover bolt to loosen / tighten / torque phaser bolt.) A length of 1/2 or 5/8 chain can be used under one Fan Blade bolt and over to any bolt on a sturdy bracket or frame bolt to hold fan while breaking the Fan Shaft bolt loose.
A hefty 'impact' helps break the front pulley bolt loose. But a helper can wedge a pry bar in the Flex Plate through a hole in the bell housing while you break the front pulley bolt. Alternatively search some of @redfishtd posts for a clever tool he made out of an old lawn mower blade for this purpose and pulling the pulley. I rented a pulley puller.
Use a large piece of card board and draw outline of front of the block and stick all the bolts you remove in the cardboard in their relative position to keep them straight.
An 18mm socket, wiggle tail, and long extension will help get the Power Searing resivoir bracket bolt from underneath drivers side.
The bottom Power Steering Pump bolt was the worst of the whole job for this old man. Probably 2 hours lying on my back flipping an open end over and over 1/16 turn at a time. (10 mm I think). I believe if a guy had a 1/4 drive 10mm 'wiggle socket', or possibly a ratchet style box end, it would be a breeze getting PS pump off without removing the pulley - which I didn't have the tool for or want to do.
Passenger valve cover is difficult to get off/on w/o discharging the A/C. Yours, (like mine) probably needs a recharge and replace the expansion valve/filter anyway.
Be SURE to set engine position properly "BEFORE" removing chains / guides.
Study the manual and start you a thread of your own right when you start and you'll find lots of great help here.
Good Luck
The following users liked this post:
nathan3306 (07-19-2018)
07-19-2018, 12:17 PM
#3482
Oil pump
I would also look into replacing the oil pump. I bought jasper 5.4 and they included the melling 360 oil pump. Read the reviews and how the oil pump is the best choice for the 5.4 engine
07-19-2018, 12:30 PM
#3483
nathan3306
I purchased the Melling M340HV. I thought about the higher pressure pump but decided against it due to the chain tensioners. I was worried about blowing out the seal with the higher PSI so I opted for the high volume stock PSI pump instead. Hopefully with the updated parts, I won't have a low pressure issue anymore.
07-19-2018, 12:39 PM
#3484
nathan3306
150,000 miles is a pretty respectable life out of 'long' steel chains on any vehicle. I hope you go the full route, and set your truck up for another good 100 - 125K miles with this effort. For SURE, if you have a rattle, you have broken guides. Plan on removing the OIL PAN and clean out debris from pan and oil pickup screen. Check crank for excessive end play. Remove VCT Valve Bodies and clean all passageways / screens. You don't have to remove water pump - but it is sure an opportune time to replace it.
Glad to see your decision to replace all lifters and roller-followers. It definitely quieted mine down 100%.
You don't REALLY need the special tools. Crank positioning (Dot @ 6:00 o'clock) doesn't have to be ALL THAT PRECIOUS. What "IS" is alignment of colored chain links. The phaser locking tool is not a must have. (You can use an old timing chain - wrap it around the phaser gear and 'pinch' it together under the head of a timing cover bolt to loosen / tighten / torque phaser bolt.) A length of 1/2 or 5/8 chain can be used under one Fan Blade bolt and over to any bolt on a sturdy bracket or frame bolt to hold fan while breaking the Fan Shaft bolt loose.
A hefty 'impact' helps break the front pulley bolt loose. But a helper can wedge a pry bar in the Flex Plate through a hole in the bell housing while you break the front pulley bolt. Alternatively search some of @redfishtd posts for a clever tool he made out of an old lawn mower blade for this purpose and pulling the pulley. I rented a pulley puller.
Use a large piece of card board and draw outline of front of the block and stick all the bolts you remove in the cardboard in their relative position to keep them straight.
An 18mm socket, wiggle tail, and long extension will help get the Power Searing resivoir bracket bolt from underneath drivers side.
The bottom Power Steering Pump bolt was the worst of the whole job for this old man. Probably 2 hours lying on my back flipping an open end over and over 1/16 turn at a time. (10 mm I think). I believe if a guy had a 1/4 drive 10mm 'wiggle socket', or possibly a ratchet style box end, it would be a breeze getting PS pump off without removing the pulley - which I didn't have the tool for or want to do.
Passenger valve cover is difficult to get off/on w/o discharging the A/C. Yours, (like mine) probably needs a recharge and replace the expansion valve/filter anyway.
Be SURE to set engine position properly "BEFORE" removing chains / guides.
Study the manual and start you a thread of your own right when you start and you'll find lots of great help here.
Good Luck
Glad to see your decision to replace all lifters and roller-followers. It definitely quieted mine down 100%.
You don't REALLY need the special tools. Crank positioning (Dot @ 6:00 o'clock) doesn't have to be ALL THAT PRECIOUS. What "IS" is alignment of colored chain links. The phaser locking tool is not a must have. (You can use an old timing chain - wrap it around the phaser gear and 'pinch' it together under the head of a timing cover bolt to loosen / tighten / torque phaser bolt.) A length of 1/2 or 5/8 chain can be used under one Fan Blade bolt and over to any bolt on a sturdy bracket or frame bolt to hold fan while breaking the Fan Shaft bolt loose.
A hefty 'impact' helps break the front pulley bolt loose. But a helper can wedge a pry bar in the Flex Plate through a hole in the bell housing while you break the front pulley bolt. Alternatively search some of @redfishtd posts for a clever tool he made out of an old lawn mower blade for this purpose and pulling the pulley. I rented a pulley puller.
Use a large piece of card board and draw outline of front of the block and stick all the bolts you remove in the cardboard in their relative position to keep them straight.
An 18mm socket, wiggle tail, and long extension will help get the Power Searing resivoir bracket bolt from underneath drivers side.
The bottom Power Steering Pump bolt was the worst of the whole job for this old man. Probably 2 hours lying on my back flipping an open end over and over 1/16 turn at a time. (10 mm I think). I believe if a guy had a 1/4 drive 10mm 'wiggle socket', or possibly a ratchet style box end, it would be a breeze getting PS pump off without removing the pulley - which I didn't have the tool for or want to do.
Passenger valve cover is difficult to get off/on w/o discharging the A/C. Yours, (like mine) probably needs a recharge and replace the expansion valve/filter anyway.
Be SURE to set engine position properly "BEFORE" removing chains / guides.
Study the manual and start you a thread of your own right when you start and you'll find lots of great help here.
Good Luck
I have the spark Lisle spark plug tool, cam phaser holder, crank positioning tool, but I still need to find that roller rocker removing tool. Other than that, I should be good to go.
08-04-2018, 08:59 PM
#3485
nathan3306
So the job is complete now. Questions I have for you guys are as follows. 1. Watching fordtechmakeuloco “Brian” he says to remove all of the rollers before timing the engine. I had just replaced all of the lifters and rollers, installed the cams, and left the intial rollers out. That was a royal pain in the butt to place 24 freaking rollers via that spring compressor tool!
2. After everything was on, we cranked the engine. Passenger side sounded great, drivers side sounded like it had a mild knock coming from the middle of the head. Took the cover off, checked the rollers, verified torque on spark plugs, everything looked fine. We decided to crank the engine with the cover off to pin point the problem but after it ran; no noise at all like we had heard. Put everything back together and all was good! Really strange but I’ll take that kind of luck.
08-04-2018, 11:03 PM
#3486
LightningRod
Congratulations on a job well done. Thanks for the update. Run a couple of short term oil/filter changes with cheap oil and MMO to make sure any loosened junk gets flushed to the filter.
The following users liked this post:
Eric Kleven (08-10-2018)
08-05-2018, 06:37 AM
#3487
nathan3306
Even after a butt load of chain rattle start ups, no guides were broken! So happy I didn’t have to drop the pan. I’m was so freaking tired of wrenching... No plugs broke 🙌🏻 and I didn’t remove my AC lines.
Having good neighbors, tools, spouse, babysitter, and cold beer is the best way to get this job done. Oh, put a tv/ laptop out in the garage and follow the videos pretty much step by step.
08-10-2018, 05:47 PM
#3488
Renaissance Honky
Whatever you've been doing for oil change maintenance on that engine, keep it up.
08-13-2018, 01:36 PM
#3489
Senior Member
Welp. After some calculations from last years repairs, plus the upcoming timing job and new tires needed this year, my maintenance calculations had me at enough $ for a truck payment. Sooooo, I solved my timing issue by selling. Actually, trading plus $$$. Got a '14 eco. Good luck to you all, I was actually looking forward to the timing job as I had done a TON of research on it. Maybe I'll run into a buddy with a 3V that needs it done at some point. OR I'll probably have to do this '14 at some point since they get a rattle as well, lol.
