2004 FORD F-150 4X4 5.4L, 175,000 miles. Does not burn or leak oil, no other serious defects, problems or issues. Work truck.

Found this on Craigslist. It's within my budget. I need a work-truck and I like Fords.

Talked to the Owner today. He owns two auto repair shops, but is not a mechanic, and says the only serious problem with the truck is that the "Phasers" are bad. Did a little bit of research and it appears the repair options are a wide range between moderate to very expensive. I can do some repairs, but I'm not a mechanic and have some tools, but not a full compliment of mechanics tools. I'd have to buy any special tools needed, do not own a torque wrench or one of those hand-held diagnostic computers, but I did successfully replace a warped head on a Mitsubishi Mighty Max, with only a Haynes Manual (no Youtube videos) back in the day.

http sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/5866213424.html

That's his ad.

Says the truck's engine has 175K miles on it, and he's asking $3,600. Doesn't burn oil, doesn't leak oil, and no other major problems, defects or issues.


I can't decide if this Phaser problem is something easy that I can fix and get a good deal, or if it's an expensive deal-breaker.

 

I guess the answer is maybe? First of all, if it is indeed phasers, the noise should go away at 1200 RPM. If it continues after that, then it is a bad roller follower, which means the cam is also likely trashed.


I picked up an 06 with supposedly this issue for 5960.00 and so provided the body is good, and it really is phasers, it's a good deal in my book.


That being said, this is not an easy to fix issue, so you better have your head in the game or are willing to pay someone to do it. at 170,000 miles, you are also best to do the chains too, which is pretty invasive.


I just finished the job, and what I found was the tensioners were blown out, causing the top to loose oil and a rocker to seize up and trash the cam. It was a ton of work, and even with every nut and bolt torqued to spec I am still not finished with it because I pulled the dang brake booster hose off the back of the intake when I pulled the valve cover off on the driver's side, and there is a connection issue to the oil temp sending unit that is showing open after doing this job too, so it is a big big job with all kinds of potential issues, even if you know what you are doing, which I mostly do being a Ford mechanic in the early 90's, but I learned a lot too on this one. It also took me weeks, mostly because I was short on time during the week, like to sleep in with the wife on weekends, the days are now short and always was waiting on parts to arrive in the mail from incremental purchases that I made as I could afford it..


If you do it yourself, be prepared for at least 20-25 hours of work with hand tools or 15-20 with air tools, not including research time.


Reassembly will be slow if you do it right, torqueing each fastener by hand as I did. It took me about 20 working hours being my first time working on one of these, and also running into issues that caused me to consider replacing all of the followers, adjusters, passenger cam, timing chain, oil pump, water pump and hoses as well as timing guides and tensioners. But I also got screwed and had to search for parts when freedomracing shorted me 2 adjusters and I had to go aftermarket instead of Ford, so that added another 3 hours. As an aside to anyone who reads this, Federal Mogul is the supplier for these parts, or I am at least 90 percent sure they are. The markings were exact to my Ford ones.


I guess short answer is, if you are really good with cars or you have a buddy that will help you who is, why not. If you have never replaced a timing chain before in any vehicle though, be it OHV or OHC I'd shy away from this one unless you are okay paying 2000 plus parts to get it done.


If you do get it, I would also start by popping in new VCT sensors first and see if that takes out the tick. They are fairly easy to get to, you will have to buy new seals and drive out the old ones, but you don't need to pull anything except the seals, the sensors and probably the PS bracket on the driver's side.


Surprisingly, this sometimes fixes the issue, though I was not so lucky.


Good luck.

 

I guess I also forgot to mention that you better have a full high quality Metric and SAE set of tools (wrenches and full suite of 1/4 and 3/8 sockets), the OTC cam tool, and an inch-pound torque wrench that will do 30-220 in lb, a torque wrench that will do 5-75 ft lbs and probably at least a corded impact wrench for dealing with the crank sprocket. You will probably need a pipe wrench and a soft-blow hammer or rent a fan clutch tool also.


Then, when you are done with all of that, change the plugs and see if you need the OTC spark plug tool when the plugs break, even after following the TSB like I did.

 

To me this sounds off. If the current owner owns 2 auto repair shops and he is not willing to repair it before selling. Runs great burns no oil but oh ya the phasers are bad. That's a big problem and my concern for you is that you need a work truck. This truck just sounds like work for you. I would continue looking and something decent will come along.

 

I agree with this. Definitely need to keep looking.

 

why buy someone elses problem? keep looking.