I don't post here very often because my old truck has been pretty much trouble free. That said, it has 222K miles and a pronounce tick (or clack) upon starting and when under hard acceleration. My mechanic states it needs cam phasers replaced. I'm thinking rather than spending what it might cost to replace the cam phasers again, I'd be better off replacing the motor with a re-man unit. The truck is in great condition and it appears that a reman motor is the least expensive option to me.
In my research for a reman motor, one company that I called stated that they "pin" the cam, phasers and reprogram the computer to accommodate the altered from stock design.

Has anyone heard of this and is this a benefit to the longevity of a reman motor or is it a gimmick? Has anyone had this done, or done it?

TIA and Good Luck, L.M.

BTW, it's a long bed, extra cab, XLT, 4X4, 7700 series and I doubt that I'll find a similar replacement.

 

Most places refer to this as a phaser "lock out" or locking the phasers.
It ensures that the cam timing isn't variable any more, so it makes the phaser just a sprocket at this point. It doesn't make the rest of the engine more inherently reliable, it just removes the vct operation from the equation.

Many people go this direction and seem to be perfectly happy with it, so I don't think it's a gimmick. On the other hand many of us that use quality parts and do the procedure correctly get the timing system back up to snuff and working properly for a long time. My truck made it to 190k miles before having issues, but if I was having repeated vct problems after having already done the timing I would probably try the lockout method.

 

Save the money on the lockouts and necessary tune.

Like mentioned, good parts in the reman should have you golden for some time.

Phaser knocks/failures are generally a long way down the list of failures that stem from the tensioner seals letting go and you have to running below recommended oil pressure to have that happen. By the point, you at least have timing cover metal floating through the engine, which I bet most folks doing a phaser job never look for, because they don’t know what to look for…hence the repeat issues.

 

Just how difficult is it to do a complete cam phaser job and what qualifies as "quality parts". I'm retired from the auto body business. The first half of my career as a body tech and the last half as a body shop owner. As a body tech I also did mechanical work that was usually related to collision or my own vehicle maintenance. I have a heated shop and a fairly complete tool kit. I have no problem buying tools to do a job.

From what I read in a different thread here, replacing the VCT solenoids may help the clacking noise. To replace the solenoids requires R&I of both valve covers. I bought a pair of solenoids, but when I went to remove the drivers side valve cover, I was unable to access the bottom bolt of the power steering reservoir bracket. At the time I was in the middle of overhauling the transfer case of my old Wrangler and didn't want to have two large projects opened up. I'll be reinstalling the Jeep TC soon and once I get it back on the road, I may feel froggy enough to tackle a cam phaser job rather than spending the dough for a reman engine.

I'm on a Wrangler forum and a couple members there have access to Factory Service Manuals that they provide to other members. Is there anything like that here? I've watched a few UTUBE videos about replacing the VCT solenoids but the ones I watched didn't leave me with a lot of confidence. I'll watch a few UTUBES about cam phaser replacement, but I feel following a FSM is a safer course of action.

I appreciate the above responses and will also appreciate any further comments or advice.

Good Luck, L.M.

EDIT>>>BTW, the truck is a 2004, if that matters.

 

To just replace the solenoids on a 2004 you are in luck, it doesn't require removing the valve covers. All you need to do is pry out the seal and reach in there with a long driver (can't recall but I want to say it's a t27 torx?) undo the bolt and lift out the solenoid and replace it, then install a new seal.

As for the phaser job, that is a can of worms. You CAN replace those by just removing the valve covers (passenger side is no small feat) and using the cheese wedge tool to hold the timing chain. BUT at this age/miles it might be better to all the way in and replace the chain guides and maybe even upgrade the oil pump.
One of the problems is the chain guides break down with age and especially if the tensioners leak, then pieces break off get ground up in the chain and then Fall into the oil pan and clog up the pickup tube screen. If this is left unchecked eventually the engine suffers the consequences.

So in summary, solenoids are easy first step.

2nd step By removing valve covers you could either install new phasers or just lock out the old ones. (And inspect condition of guides and can journals)

3rd would be dropping the oil pan and making sure it's not clogged with debris if you find that the guides have missing pieces.

4th would be removing the front cover and doing the timing job and oil pump.
.
There are numerous posts on this forums stickied at the top and videos describing the procedures. Some of them have links to sections of the FSM, which are helpful but personally the steps in there where you remove some of the cam followers are just unnecessarily painful so I skipped those, there are multiple ways to get it done.

 

Upon advice from a local mechanic shop my daughter had her 2008 5.4 V8 Lockout kit put in. The shop installed a Livernois Tune kit. Low end power sucked, high end power sucked, she needed a new module put in to correct a problem causing a check engine light on. That module did not have the tune, getting a copy of the non factory tune put back in was quite a hassle.

It went 200k miles just put in a motor built the way Ford designed it.