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I have a 1999 F150 5.4, 4x4, Super Cab with 165K. I am stumped as to what I am dealing with. I have had the truck for about a year, and it has been flawless until now. (Other than Maintenance items) Last week I was driving home and noticed a strange engine knock/slap sound, it is a pretty loud clanking sound.
The next morning I went out and check the oil and to my surprise it was about 5Q low. (I just did the oil change the end of Aug. and about 1600 miles ago.) It has consistently burned about a quart per change so I am not sire why the drastic change.
I filled it up and the noise got better, but not completely gone. I hear it on a cold start for about 5 sec. and at a steady engine speed above 2800-3100 RPMs and higher. It runs just like it always has and doesn't skip a beat, it just makes a skin crawling noise. It doesn't seem to change louder or quieter whether it is cold or warm so I think i ruled out spun bearing (because it is not constant and it does it cold) and or piston slap (because it doesn't go away when it warms up... based off of the 17 pages of threads I read on engine knock)
My guess is if you lost that much oil in 1600 miles, the oil filter may be leaking.
Second, the cam chain tensioners use engine oil pressure to maintain chain tension.
One or both guides may be worn and allowing the chains to slap against the cover.
Hint here is to use only 5w20 or 5w30 weight oil.
This helps to limit cold high oil pressures from putting excess tension on the cam chains.
If to heavey an oil weight was used over a long term, it's to late.
Only fix is to pull the front cover off and replace the guides.
Good luck.
Thanks for the reply, I am not sure what timing chain tensioner noise would sound like so just to try and confirm I have a couple videos that I uploaded to youtube, maybe you huys can have a better idea if you hear it. I dont see any place to upload the videos, but I have the links for you to copy and paste. Also, the engine was running for about 5 Min before I shot the video, but the noise is the same whether hot or cold, and all I use for oil is 5w20, and a Motorcraft filter, but I have only had it for about 17,000 miles so I have no idea what the first owner used...
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