I'm here to hopefully write up a guide on what I'm doing to upgrade my 5.4l

I have a 2005 Expedition with a 5.4l that recently had some rattling noises coming from the timing cover. Those noises turned out to be a broken timing chain guide. The guide itself looks incredibly cheap and brittle so it's little wonder why it broke.

I have been doing lots of research into the subject and found that it appears most of the problems are related to lack of oil pressure. I did some digging and found this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QPa...ature=youtu.be which shows that the stock oil pump rear plate flexes allowing oil to dump back into the engine. The product pictured is for the Ford Mustang M360, but I am getting the M340 from Melling which is a stock volume pump with the cast back plate.

Another potential issue is the poorly designed plastic chain tensioners, this probably is why my chain guide broke to begin with. I have chosen to go back to the cast iron ratcheting style units. According to the amazon page (not very accurate) and other forums I read these will fit the newer 5.4l engines. The only thing I worry about is that with the better pump could the tensioners ratchet too tight and wear out the new guides?

An then there is obviously the chain guides themselves, which I'm getting from the kit, hopefully they'll do great.

I've also removed the oil pan to inspect the insides for the rest of the guides, I found several pieces on the screen and several in the pan, I also found a couple aluminum shavings that are most likely from the timing cover. Removing the pan was simple, you remove the cross member under the pan and then remove all the oil pan bolts, the whole pan drops easily out of the way.

--------------Tips for removing everything----------------------
power steering reservoir, the bolt on the front is a 14 the one on the side is an 18mm. Move the hose out of the way first so you get more access. ZIP tie the reservoir in the up position or it'll leak out.

The fan wasn't challenging for me, but I have a chain wrench, I highly recommend anyone get this tool, it's so handy for almost anything especially for keeping things from moving while you tighten and loosen them. I just put this on the fan pulley (not in the area where the belt travels (don't want to make marks there).

The hoses for the heater are a pain, they have a white clip that holds them in, simply press the tabs at the end of the fitting while pressing in to get them to go in all the way, then pull out. The hardest ones are next to the fire wall, there is virtually no room to get in there.

When I got the cover off and removed the timing chain instead of removing the rollers I just loosened all the camshaft bearing caps so that the cam wouldn't push down any valves, I know everyone has been messing around with those rollers it just seems much easier to lift the camshaft off.



Firstly I took off the VCT solenoid seal, once off I could inspect the timing chain for tension. I found lots of play on the passenger bank which diagnosed the problem to be a tensioner or a guide.




Finally got the valve cover removed, the chain on this side is loose, the other side is still tight.




After removal of the timing cover I found these parts all over the place




The inside of the timing cover on the passenger side. Note the chain has rubbed away at the aluminum... Not too bad and can be reused.




This is what's left of my timing chain guide.




After digging into the oil pan we found most of the pieces to the guide. I wanted to reassemble the item to make sure nothing was left inside the engine to cause problems down the line.




This photo shows how we prevented the camshaft from acting on the valves. We took the bolts off then re tightened them 3-4 full turns.

 

I just decided on getting a Cloyes timing kit from Amazon. I had originally purchased a "diamond power" set based on reviews I found on other timing related products. I however started to have doubts and looked closely at their reviews, particularly at the ford 4.0 set. It seems that all the most recent reviews are fake, a couple people talk about how their guides broke!

I since switched to this . This company has a good reputation for timing components.

 

Timing Chain & Phaser removal & install guide...
http://pastebin.com/fDsG9K8W

 

Not to sound picky , but...this link doesn't seem to work

 

...tested and it works for me. Try copy and pasting the link(s)

 

yeah, the link works.

it goes to pastebin.com and there, you get a list of url's to image files on doing the job. you then need to copy/paste each url into another tab to view each picture.

 

"beggars cant be choosers"

 

I just went through the same deal minus the new pump. In fact one of my guides looked just like yours (about 14 pieces). I will be going back into mine in a few days to replace the pump, lifters and rockers. Couldn't hear them raising hell over the chain noise! PITA!!! Nobody wants to do this twice. My point; replace your lifters and rockers.

Good luck!

 

Here's a comparison of two different timing chain guides.



Cloyes Chain Guide (USA)




Cloyes Chain Guide (USA)




"Diamond Power" Chain Guide (CHINA)




"Diamond Power" Chain Guide (CHINA)

If you cannot tell the difference please note the extra lateral ribbing on the USA made version verses the Chinese version without said ribbing.

I don't have a scale so I can only do this by feel but the Cloyes version feels heavier. I did a blind test with a friend and he said the same thing.

The Chinese CAN produce really good products however the reason that they're not known to do that is their mentality. In China once you purchase an item that's normally it, your done, no warranty, no refunds etc. Because of this mentality most Chinese factories cheap out on their products because they're not held accountable and don't care if it breaks.

This mentality has been changing slowly over the last 5 years especially in the tech and consumer goods industry but I highly doubt it's the same for the auto parts industry.

Of interesting note, the Diamond Power box looked really nice, every item was in it's own box, all items were in plastic bags inside those boxes and all those parts boxes were again wrapped in plastic before being inserted into the main parts box. WOW, the Cloyes kit was a box with a loose chain and bags for most parts except the tensioners. Those bags felt cheaper than the chinese bags. I'm still going to use the Cloyes kit due to the reputation, the extra ribbing and the extra weight of the product.

 

I'm also thinking of reinforcing the plastic with some liquid ABS (acetone mixed with plastic which is normally used to glue abs pipes. Obviously this plastic part has to be soluble to Acetone for me to add more plastic to it but there are variables that I don't know about.

IF the added plastic can tolerate the engine temps
IF adding the plastic would make it too ridged causing it to break
IF the plastic wasn't glued properly it could come loose inside the engine area.

 

Assuming you mean oil pump, I recommend getting one with a cast iron or steel alloy back and not an aluminum back. The back of the oil pump of the stock unit flexes at 2500 rpm, dumping out oil and loosing pressure/flow.

I'm actually more familiar with Toyotas and don't know too much about lifters. I checked Amazon and found them for $11 each, that's $264 to do all of them, that's expensive insurance for me. I think i'd be ok with removing the valve cover again to access them (I have the expedition not the super duties with the AC crap in the way). I'm hesitant to get aftermarket lifters especially cheap ones that may not outlast the ford versions I already have.

How long do lifters last?
Is there anyway to test lifters?
Can they be soaked in oil to clean them before installation?

PS: I have an F250 and this Expedition and can say that this Ford product isn't as well designed as the Toyota Tundra I had. The engine in the Toyota was far easier to access, things were in logical places (it took me 3 hours to remove a valve cover, the Tundra was 30 minutes). I think that this is a huge issue with these Fords and other vehicles like this where the maintenance is going to get far more costly than the vehicle is worth. Now with all the knowledge I've gathered I'm extremely worried about my cars... that they're ticking time bombs for very expensive, complicated maintenance in the future, or selling off for very cheap. I love the comfort and the look of my Expedition and the tow rating of my F250 but it just seems like they're making these cars to be worked on at the dealer and/or thrown away.

 

Yes, was referring to the oil pump. I got a Melling high pressure pump from Summit Racing and new lash adjusters and followers from American Muscle Ford Racing Mustang Rocker Arm and Lash Adjuster Kit M-6529-3V (05-10 4.6L 3V) - Free Shipping
The lash adjusters and followers are listed as being for a 4.6, but they are supposed to be the same as the 5.4. According to Ford Racing, Ford used the same heads on the 4.6 mustang applications as they did on the 5.4 truck engines. Was the best price I could find for all 24 X 24 pieces!

 

Got part of the job done yesterday. I have the new oil pump in, chains, chain guides, tensioners and cams locked in, even pulled the grenade pins!

I was freaking out yesterday about holding the cams in place so they don't push a valve down, but today I read on another post that if the crank is in the 11 or 12 position all the cylinders are down and not at TDC so holding it with a vice grip wasn't necessary. I tightened the cams down as follows. From center out, tightening half a revolution per bolt. If a bolt was loose, id hand tighten then do half a rev. this allowed the cam to gently be pulled down so that it doesn't warp.



L side timing chain installed




L timing chain marks on phaser. Also has metal chain tensioner installed. Torqued down to 18ft lbs. Remember that the heads are aluminum so they're soft (like the new body of the f150!)





Crank sprocket marks. Note that this chain is very tight on the tensioner, it was fully compressed after it was installed, wonder if I did something wrong???????????????????????





This cam doesn't look too nice.

 

Mission accomplished, runs well, much quieter, still a slight ticking nouse from the valve cover... probably those lifters... I'm very **** about these things... it's a very quiet noise. Didn't come out with extra bolts, parts etc.

Has lots of power now, Wow!

Is throwing 1 code, c1145, which is abs (abs light on)... I may have to take a close loo at the connections for the abs.

 

They actually aren't lifters but rather lash adjusters.

Make sure your ticking noise isn't the injectors firing.