Really I think you can do the job without any of those tools, you just have to be smart or creative about it and the order you do things in. Like if you break torque loose on the phasers before you remove the chains you don't need the cam holder tool. If you just remove the cams you don't need the valve follower tool, and you can just position the cams during reinstall of chains using vice grips between cam journals.

 

LOL..there you go. I'm not smart nor creative. I do well at following logical instructions though. Thank you for your comment.

Funny you mention removing the cams then easily removing roller followers. I was thinking exactly what you said. Since I've never done this procedure, I was going to play it safe and follow FordTechMakuloco's playlist.

I would classify myself as an upper medium mechanic, especially after having a 2011 Chevy Equinox from new till 250,000 miles. I think almost everything was replaced everywhere including engine and transmission. I'm not afraid to take things apart. In fact, on one hand, kind of excited to pull the engine apart to do the timing job. On the other hand, I don't want to set up myself for failure.

Interestingly, I came across some posts today talking about the VCTs and their noise. I'm pretty sure that's the exact noise I'm hearing and not chain slap. I had planned on changing the VCTs anyway. I went ahead and ordered them today in order to replace those early next week to see if the noise gets corrected. If it does, then I can put off the timing job. If it doesn't, then I'll continue to plan to do the timing job in February.

I'm the only owner of this 2004 Ford F150 Screw Lariat 5.4L and it has always run frequently changed synthetic oil and, for the last 40,000 miles, Ford oil filters. Truck has 150,000 miles. It's had the "knock" almost since new. The noise I'm referring to lasts about the first quarter second after starting, I thought was chain slap sound, quick marbles in a can. Maybe it's the VCT solenoids.

 

Probably it's chain noise due to leaky chain tensioner.
In theory the vct system is disabled at startup so the vcts should also be nactive at that condition. I supposed anything is possible though. It would be interesting to see if the latest and greatest solenoids give you any noticable improvement anywhere though. Some folks report the drain port in the bottom has a smaller orifice on the newest ones and it can help with system oil pressure and vct operation. It's probably a very small amount though if any...

 

Dangit! LOL... I thought I had a sliver of hope to not worry about the engine and chain slap. A little of me just died. I'm kidding, kidding.

Seriously though, I thought it would be an easy thing to do before committing to the full timing job and a chance at fixing what I was hearing. That's okay. I'll continue to plan. Thank you.

I've been watching, of course, all of Brian's FordTechMakuloco videos. Also binging on Eric O's South Main Audio videos. Was kicking around doing my video during the timing chain job. I'm good at talking to myself when no one is around. It's the smartest person I know LOL...

 

s_vares,
Is there anyway you might send this to my email to print out? I was told that my camshaft phasers are going bad and that it would cost me areound $2600 to fix. I wasnt even aware of this part, but I am still learning all this stuff because who wants to spend $80+ per labor hour? So any in depth information such as this, especially with pictures would be awesome to have, or maybe direct me to where I can find this, but you have put it in simpler terms to understand and thet, I appreciate, as I am not super familiar with the innermost components of engines.

Many thanks for your information!!
Julie

 

somewhere back in this thread a fellow came up with a set of gauges and indicators for the Torque app. That is what I used for my final diagnostics. The indicators make it clear when the phasors are not working properly. When I did mine some 60k ago I found ford's plastic chain tensioner had failed. Result: very little oil pressure, chain/phaser rattle, little power.

 

That would be @F150Torqued .

 

Yes! thank you Blue, I could not think of his uid. He has contributed much to the Ford community.

 

Has anyone run into a problem with code P0170? Truck is running great and quiet. All new timing, oil pump, phasers, tensioners,guides and has been locked out. I've put close to 6000 miles on it since it was done and now I'm getting this code. Says bank 1 fuel trim malfunction but it's running good. Any ideas???

 

Fortunately I haven't had any codes tossed that I wasn't able to quickly fix with the help of this site and a good 'ol fashioned search engine. I'm sure you did some homework already, but doing a quick search I found a few sites that have some decent info. that might help? Seems this problem has been around for a while. I also have AllData for my 2004, so I can look in there and hopefully see something about the code. Chances are one of the techs who frequent this site will chine in.

https://www.carobdcodes.com/ford-p01...m-bank-1.shtml

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-bank-1-a.html

PS: the search term I used on DuckDuckGo was simply: "P0170 Ford" . Some say you need a PCM re-flash and others say it was a loose gap cap. Way out of my league! Cross your fingers it's a simple fix.