Previous owner.... not 100% sure. The story he gave me was he couldn't pull a 16' aluminum boat up a hill, put his foot to the floor and the truck lurched and died. The mechanic he took it too was happy to drop a reman engine in for him. When I bought the truck the new engine had a year left on the warranty. It also had no cats, no mufflers wondering if he had no torque cause he lost all the back pressure by cutting those off? I put cats and mufflers back on and it has a lot more low end that before.

 

My truck has almost 98,000 miles on my 2006 F-150. Haven't replaced the phasers yet, one or both do tick, but I plan on doing that eventually (as well as the timing and oil pump)

 

Yes. Phasers knocked from 100k to 150k, and chains rattled from 140k to 150k when I did the full job. One guide was found in the oil pump pick up, chain wearing into the front cover. Other than the noises and obvious lack of oil, truck ran great, only marginally worse than it now does with all issues corrected. A lot of driveability improvements may be due to my numerous transmission fluid/filter services over the last 15k.

 

He probably either needed spark plugs or VCTs, or needed a TB/TPS.

 

Clarify terminology. Phasers "knock." If you're hearing a "ticking," you've got an exhaust leak, loud injectors, or roller-follower issues.

 

I don't have an exhaust leak, I've always called it a tick instead of knock. And exhaust leak is an obvious "hiss" sound. It only happens after the engine warms up and the oil is thinner. Thus cam phaser "knock". To me, knock is a loud, lengthy sound, like knocking on a door.

 

My exhaust leaks make zero hiss, but full of tick. Phaser knock sounds exactly like knocking on a door... hence phaser "knock." Sounds like a 7.3, sometimes you can feel it with a hand on the VC. Followers will tick for the same oil viscosity reasons, especially if they're not being fed.

 

I suppose I have to record a video on how my engine sounds to set you straight... I know what the cam phaser sounds like due to the issues Ford made this engine have. I do have all the parts on hand to do the timing set and the oil pump.

You'll hear:
Some start up chain rattle and clacks, then the cam phasers (note: the AC is on, so that might be the whirring you hear).

 

Yes. 160000 miles. New engine, swallowed a valve because keeper came off.

 

I hear a lot of noise, with the occasional deep gutteral sound underneath all the clatter that indicates a bad phaser, but it isn't as pronounced as a common phaser failure. Sounds more like you're about to spit a follower, and sounds like there's an exhaust leak. Good luck with the Melling phasers... be prepared to be back in there again soon thereafter. I see no benefit to the ratcheting tensioners.