Ben S

I went and test drove a used 2007 Ford f150 5.4L and the engine makes a slight ticking noise and the oil cap has a little bit of foam or a white liquid in the top of the cap. I was wondering if the engine is bad or it could be because it's been sitting for a while. It has 150+ thousand miles but other wise the truck is in decent shape. Any thoughts of what it could be and if I should still consider it?

techrep

iTrader: (1)

The sludge on the oil cap is normal.. as long as the dip stick looks good. It's from condensation, the ticking could be several things from a passenger side exhaust manifold leak.. very common to the motor or it needing a timing job..another common problem.

Mod (Ret.)

Do a search here on the 5.4 cam phaser issues and read up. The 5.4's are known for wear in this area when they reach high mileage, or were not maintained well in the oil changing schedule. It's costly to have them repaired if you do not do the work.

If you are still interested in buying it, I'd have it checked by a neutral mechanic (someone outside of this car lot). It may cost you to have this done, but it can save you a bunch of repair bill money later. You could ask if they will have it repaired prior to your purchase. You could ask them to lower the price to factor in the cost of the repair.

elricfate

A slight ticking noise could just be your VCT solenoids actually working when the engine is up to temp. When you start it from cold, does the sound happen, or is it only after it's been running a couple minutes?

Ben S

The ticking is when it's first started and fades out when it warm. But when u get on the gas it comes back. You can only hear it from the outside, or if the windows are down.

Ben S

So is $7500 a little to much for this truck? If so what should I get down to or just walk away?

elricfate

Could just the injectors making that noise, then. There's a lot of videos and threads on here that illustrate the normal ticking noise most of our trucks make.

You haven't given us much to go on to value it... do you have a link to the truck so we can see things like features, trim level, etc?

BadFish523

Could be a cracked exhaust manifold. Also another common problem, usually on the passenger side. The sound goes away when the truck warms up because the metal expands and the crack kind of seals itself up. The cam phaser problem is usually not audible when cold and gets more noticeable when warmed up. Share a link with us if you have one. In order to give you an idea of the value we need quite a bit more info. Trim level, bed size, cab size, even the color can make a difference in price.

Ben S

http://www.lockportautostore.com/2007-Ford-F150/Used-Truck/Buffalo-NY/9091521/Details.aspx

elricfate

That is actually a pretty clean truck given it's got 150k on the odometer. Assuming that the noise you're hearing is only Injector or Manifold noise, that's not a bad price to me.