Ford F150 04 5.4 ????
03-21-2017, 04:20 PM
#11
Senior Member
Thread Starter
You have a 2004, which is the most susceptible to phaser issues. Honestly, I'm very shocked it lasted to 210k before you had issues with them. Obviously, you are doing something right. IMO, do the full timing job and have a truck that will last you another 200k. The new Motorcraft phasers are a better design and LESS prone to fail. Oil changes every 5k seem to help them last longer. If nothing else is wrong with the truck, why dump it and get into debt for $50k??
03-21-2017, 04:44 PM
#12
Texas A&M Aggie
Ah, nope. Rest easy. Generally it's a combination of things. The phasers have a clock spring on them with a roller pin (maybe two). When the roller pin shears off they can rotate however they want (within reason). The other issue is the tensioner seal for the timing chains dissipates and allows the tension to bleed off, this causes timing chain slap which breaks the plastic timing chain guides. I've only heard of a few catastrophic failures of where the engine jumps time, which would be after a good while of ticking/"diesel" noise. The timing job really isn't too bad, I knocked it out in a week in my parents driveway with hand tools. There's a pretty good walk through on here, and if a camshaft slips, there's a really good Youtube video from a Ford tech showing how to retime that engine. Yes, that's speaking from experience... Lol. I bout had a heart attack when the cam moved.