Hello all,

I am in the middle of rebuilding the front half of my 5.4 expedition. I have installed a new oil pump and have tensioners, Chains, Guides, and of course phasers. I am on the final leg of putting it back together and have a few question.

1. I read just last night about bending valves on these motors from turning the sprockets independently. Now, this is my dads truck and bending valves would probably cost me my life.... BUT how do I know if I have done this...

I never did TDC on this motor (the keyway is 6 o'clock), instead I just marked the cams and the holders then took the spockets and chains off. ALSO, I didn't spin the whole motor, just the drivers cam because it rolled past the marking and wouldn't go back so I turned it over.

2. Since I didn't TDC this motor I wondering if timing it will be a hassle. My plan is to line the markings up and tension the chains as the motor would tension them when it's running.


I don't wanna screw this up so help would be greatly appreciated

 

Please don't ignore this...

 

I am closing the motor today! Please help!!

 

The 5.4L is an interference engine, so yes you have to use caution when rotating anything with the timing chains off. That being said, if you turned the sprockets by hand then there is no chance the valves are bent. You just don't have enough strength in your hands to do damage. Now if you put a large ratchet on the bolt and force it over hard then there is a small chance you bent a valve or two. One way to test the valves is to connect compressed air to each cylinder, one at a time, making sure all the valves for the cylinder being tested are closed. If the valves are good then you will get virtually no air escaping.