my brother has a 2005 with 5.4 in it and it developed this very bad rocker tap last week. took it to the dealer and they said that there is mud residue dried into the intake about 6 to 8 inches from the fender. mechanic said that my brother swamped the truck hunting this year sucked water up and the motor finally let go? the truck has 52,000 miles and the extended warranty wont cover the "water damage" So my dad asked about rebuild the dealer said you cannot rebuild the new 3 valve 5.4 motors, you have to replace the whole motor! Is this true or are they trying to get my dad to spend 6k for a new motor?

 

if you paid them to rebuild it it would cost the same so they ALWAYS recommend new motor because it's alot faster turn around. this allows more shop time to fix other cars and trucks. also they can warranty a new motor. what failed in the motor?

 

nothing at all yet, just a tick sound from a passenger side rocker THEY say. all they did was take of the intake tube they seen mud splashes in the first six inches of the tube where it comes through the front fender. The dealer called my dad and said that my brother sucked mud into the motor and caused the rocker to go bad even though there is no mud at the throttle body, no mud or water on the air filter, and they did not take the valve cover off. All they said was that he swamped the truck sucked water in and must have bent the rocker assemble. So with no real evidence done CAN I REBUILD the 5.4 if i need too? the dealer says no but i was told yes.

 

do you mean rebuild it yourself or have a dealer do it?

 

sounds more like a cam phaser issue...

plenty of info on that in the stickies here in the board.

 

my dad preety much threw the towel in about the motor even though they did not take it apart to see whats bad or not. he's so mad at my brother thinking he swamped the truck even though there is no evidence of it? And the cam phaser would be covered by warrenty, i just dont understand why they wont take the valve cover off and check it?

 

100%!! ask them why they wont find the failure and call ford headquarters (ask THAT dealer for the phone number) but ask them how a tech can pull the air box open and tell me the motor is trash. that sounds like your dad/brother are on a fast road to getting screwed

 

well my dad doesn't believe my brother about swamping the truck! even though we all drive down the same farm roads to get to our honey hole for duck hunting, where none of the holes are over the hubs deep. but the truck insurance will cover the motor for $400 deductible so my dad told them to get the paperwork done and install the newer less mileage motor? So i don't know i tried to help but they wont listen.

 

You just learned a lesson I've been a part of for years. One place I worked, I made some recommendations but was shot down by management. They bring in a consultant and he recommended the same thing and they implemented it. Same thing when the shoe was on the other foot, I was the consultant and they implemented something I recommended, one of their people recommended the same thing but until I recommended it, it wasn't implemented.

Sometimes people won't listen to someone unless they're paying for the advice. Little you can do in those situations to change that fact, you'll just have to live with it. In your dad's case, he may be looking at $400 for essentially a new engine and is passing the blame off onto you or your brother (not good but little you can do about that) or as a way to justify it.

 

they found a motor out of a 2006 f-150 crew cab 4x4 with 62k on it. My dad went yesterday with the info about the cam phaser and VCT thing and about the exhaust studs rotting off and the service manager blew him off saying because of the mud splashed under the hood and the trickle of mud in the intake tube that my brother did suck in water and they wont take the valve cover off to check. So now I'm trying to talk my dad into picking the truck up today and I'm going to have my buddies dad take the valve cover off and look. he's a retired ford tech

 

great idea, F that dealer

 

well after going today with my dad to the dealer and telling them that yesyou can rebuild the heads the "head mechanic" came out and told my dad that there is no reason to take a look at themotor. Becausethemud slashes under the hood and the trickle in the intake tube that they will not do it? So my dad basically blew me away from what i was trying to say so a bad cam phaser is going to cost my brother his good motor for a used junk yardmotor.

 

wow, has anyone called ford to ask them why this dealer wont try to fix or diagnose the issue? this sounds like your dad leaning on the dealer to much and they can read this and not fold. go on your own JUST to ask for ford corp's phone number. (ask the guy you talked to so he knows why you want it)

 

little update my dad went last week to the dealer and the insurance adjuster. My dad basically freaked about why they wont take the valve covers off and look at the problem. So Friday afternoon they removed the valve covers and found that the timing chain is shot which caused the cam phasers to go bad apparently and it has a bad rocker right behind the passenger cam phaser. So they were gonna rebuild the whole top end of the motor but its cheaper to put in a new rebuilt for motor that has a three year warranty. Bottom line don't get pushed around like my dad did, its been three and a half weeks and the truck still isn't fixed because of this bum ford dealer.

 

so he needs a cam chain, phasers, and a rocker. that does not sound like it would be cheaper than a whole motor. all the stuff they have to swap to a new motor is the same stuff they would have to remove to do the cam chain and phasers, at that point the rocker should be no big deal.
do you know how much labor they put on the cam chain and phasers vs the motor swap. do you know if the new motor has all the accessories on it, alt,water pump,ect?