Aren't the 4.6 and the 5.4 the exact same motor?...except for cubic inches of course.

Ohhhhhh...I see it now...the 4.6 is a 2V and the 5.4 is a 3V ... NO Phasers on the 4.6.

I think I'll be turning my 5.4 into a "no phasers" engine....with the Livernois lockout and tune.

 

No offense Grimace, but I don't want to go through what you have gone through. I would have to pay for all the labor and it just seems like it is one thing after another with the 04-05 F150's... My wife will freak out though if she knew it was even a thought in my mind.... I change vehicles like underwear...

 

My 05 has been great! 165,000 miles and zero problems!

 

Yeah...I am pretty sure I had a bad passenger-side phaser, but all my timing components looked pretty damn-near new before I swapped them out. Despite my recent moaning and groaning, I think that my phasers / tensioners might be OK. The dang thing just makes so many noises, it's really hard to tell what is what. Even though I do think there is a little phaser noise happening even with my new parts, I don't think it is like it was before ... and is the "normal" phaser noise ... if such a thing exists.

Right now I am weighing my options ... but I honestly think I might have a bad bearing on one of the idler pulleys. It'd cost me $100 to replace all three (2 smooth, 1 ribbed)...and I'm not really in a spending mood. But I think I just might replace them. They were incredibly dirty and I cleaned the heck out of 'em before I put them back on the timing cover. Wanna hear something funny? I used baby butt-wipes to clean them. So, I don't think I ruined the seals on that sealed bearing or anything...but I did notice a couple of them were a little noisy and not very "free" when I put them back on and spun them by hand.

My truck runs like a "raped ape". Runs awesome. For a bone-stock power-train, I couldn't be happier with the performance of the engine ... I just wish it didn't sound like it was coming apart. Because I recently put some Seafoam in the crankcase, I went on a long drive today and several times I went WOT and found the WOT shift points (around 5200rpm, I believe). I swear it sounded like one (or both) of the chains was gonna fly off, rip thru the cover and the hood .....but I can't really isolate the noise at 75mph+ driving down the highway. Guess I'll get the wife in the cab and hav'er run the throttle up around 3-4000rpm and see if I can isolate the noise to timing components, valve train, pulleys or exhaust.

I told the wife I was just gonna go trade this thing in on a new (or certified) F150 with 5.0L in it ... problem is, I think I'd end-up eating $3-$5000 because I am so upside down. I know you got your truck significantly cheaper than I did....but if I remember correctly, you're probably still looking at eating $1500-$3000 to trade to something else. I guess maybe that beats putting $1500-$3000 into the truck you have and still have a wanna-be-Powerstroke.

Ahh well...I keep an eye on my oil PSI and make sure the full-blown phaser clunk doesn't come back...and I do love the truck. Probably after I get thru hunting season and Christmas, I will be installing the lockouts next early Spring sometime. Hope the phasers hold-out that long.

 

I paid $15K for mine. It currently has 48K miles on it and it looks like it's in PERFECT condition. It just has that knock at operating temperature. Unfortuneately I just put 4 new tires on it... I've got a spreadsheet with all of my purchases for this truck. I sold the cover this morning for $250 so I can credit that towards it... I can sell a couple things that haven't been installed a a couple things that I can take off and sell. If I trade it in, I would definately take a $1,500-3,000 hit but if I can sell it, I may be close to breaking even. Then I would be in panic mode again and need to buy something ASAP. I'm like you, I think the next truck I get will have a warranty with it. Who knows what the future will bring.........

 

Excellent
$17,182
Very Good
$16,782
Good
$16,507
Fair
$15,357

These are my KBB values. I can break even if I could sell it for $16,000-16,500. Not sure what I'm going to do. I'd like to get through hunting season myself before I do anything but I found one tonight I like. Too bad it's 5.5 hours away.....