Bear with me folks as I know you've heard this before. I recently bought an 07 5.4L 3 valve from a family member as the truck is immaculate with 92K on it. During the two hour drive home, I noticed a slight raw gas odor when I stopped as well as a minor rough idle I decided not to pay any attention to it, and have it looked at by my mechanic.

Fast forward and I bring it to the guys I've been dealing with for 20 years and they tell me it needs the infamous cam phaser job. Looking for confirmation before I plunk down $3K, I called our local Ford dealer and explain symptoms only, ticking noise minor rough idle and gas smell. After roughly four hours they confirm cam phasers, but when I asked about the fuel smell the service writer did some dance about " well its probably running rich and that is what you're smelling" decided not to argue about sealed engines etc.

So here I am and want to get the groups opinion, where no one has anything to gain. If I have the dealer do the cam phasers (mainly due to two year warranty) How long does this correction last? I am a guy who tends to maintain and keep my vehicles for a long time.I ahve a Yuoon sitting in my drive with 250K on it I tow an Airstream behind me and don't want this thing coming apart on the road. Will it correct all my problems? Fuel smell, tick and minor rough idle, or will this be one of those that nickel and dime you till you give the vehicle away just to get it off your hands? I've been a GM man all my life, this is my first Ford, and right now I am questioning my decision to buy this.

Thanks much for all your input and knowledge.
DMac

 

Check for loose plugs ,that's a major cause of fuel smell in cab . But that blowby gas also burns up plug and boot ,it acts like a cutting torch . remove loose plug inspect - change boot maybe plug . torque in new 25 to 28 foot pounds .

 

Dealer says they checked them.

 

I believe in owners doing their plugs . Plugs are hard to get to and mechanics really can't spend the time to do them correctly . Plugs only need to be done every 60k but it takes time to do them right . Plugs are now supposed to be torqued 25 - 28 foot pounds . How many miles on these plugs. Are you getting misfire counts on mode six that will tell which cyl are building counts toward setting a code, we recommend 5$ torque pro app/old android phone / cheap bluetooth reader -one of the best systems .
If plugs are not loose then I would suspect orings on injectors or the gasket on fuel rail pressure sensor,it has a vacuum line on it ,sometimes the diaphragm goes bad and it sucks fuel into intake ,plus it has a gasket that can go bad .. I suppose your intake could be cracked ,best found with a you tube homemade smoke machine .
The clue here is the fuel smell ,find the cause and it may fix the rest . A really good diagnostic guy doesn't stay working for a dealer . The only good thing about a dealer is they have the expensive machines if you have the right guy using them . But you have to pay for every test .
Your purge valve on the firewall may not be sealing off or hoses are bad ,you should not be able to blow thru it . Its only open when pcm energizes it .
You could test the injectors with you tube test set up and go ahead and change all the orings , coat them with new engine oil to seat them .

 

Cam phasors without doing a new melling hv oil pump is not good . As well as replacing chain tensioners with old style steel ratcheting with no seal to blow out. Your guides may be broken and in oil pan with fibers blocking oil pickup . So you should drop oil pan first to see and clean . A full timing job is $1400 in parts not a simple cam phaser jam job done from the top .
And its best to do an engine flush prior to opening it up . No the broken guides and fibers stuck in oil pu is not going to come out the drain plug .

 

Whether you use yours, a friends, shop or parts store; First check for engine codes, write them down before clearing them and post them here. If the only code is P1000, the codes have been recently cleared and won't show new ones until the p1000 clears from driving vehicle.

 

No 'Check Engine' light? Maybe its not your problem but I had rodents gnaw the EVAP system and fuel rubber hoses on top of the gas tank one hard winter a few years ago. That gave me a CEL and gas smell. 'Ticking' could be anything from an exhaust manifold leak to a loose spark plug and plenty of other things. Maybe you should just cough up the 'Diagnostic Fee' and let the dealer actually look at the truck and see what's wrong with it.

 

I had problems getting the plugs to seal even when fully torqued. Remove the plugs and inspect the sealing surface for carbon.

 

We are big fans of cleaning that carbon out around plug snout using carb cleaner . That carbon breaks plugs going in and out .No additive can get to that hard carbon in that recess .

 

OP didn't elaborate on the tick noise. May be a worn roller cam follower.

 

A lot of things can causing ticking and poor idle but I know of only two issues that can cause a fuel smell - poor plug sealing or a fuel system leak.

 

You just won that Nickle ceegar! It was two loose plugs. I had the dealer ( I do motorcycles and Airstreams, I don't do Cars or trucks, just personal preference). replace them all, and that's exactly what it was. Doing the "Snoopy Dance" now. Questions is, will these Cam phasers eventually become a problem?

 

Yeah, probably. If you let it. What really starts the domino effect is the crummy plastic timing chain tensioner seals blowing out.

Many replace them with the 2V 5.4 steel ratcheting tensioners. No seal to let loose. Should keep oil flowing to the phasers quite nicely. That being said, the chain may stretch over time to be something worth replacing as it is...which leads to phasers while you’re in there.

 

I know eventually I'll need to do this job, just not yet. Meantime, I'll be religious about oil changes and the like.