You'll need a tuner to turn off the check engine light. You can unplug the solenoids and drive the truck. The cams will be at base timing and will drive like the phasers are locked. I don't know if the tuners get back some of the power that's lost without the VVT. Some might not notice any difference in drivability. I felt that my truck lost a noticeable amount of power pulling my car trailer, and I felt that the fuel mileage fell off some.

The OE tensioners tend to leak under the seal, lowering oil pressure to the head, and the guides are often broken up. I'd still pull the timing cover and do tensioners and guides even with a lockout.

 

Does anyone have a part number for the crankshaft "TTY" bolt? I found one by Dorman on Rock Auto's site, but given Dorman's reputation for cam phasers, I'm reluctant to install anything made by them on my truck. Would it be a standard part that NAPA or Autozone would carry?

Thanks for all the replies so far, seriously. You guys have really helped with what feels (to me, anyway) like a daunting task and I'm a lot more comfortable in that I've got the right parts for the job. Forums like this and members like you all are what makes living in the Information Age so great.

 

From my parts list when I did my timing job:


Crankshaft Pulley (Harmonic) Bolt ---Freedom Racing(F5RZ-6A340-B)-$10.99 ---1-----$10.99 NPL */O 16.71


Washer ??? Freedom Racing(F1AZ-6378-A)---$6.99 ---1-----$6.99*>


I don't remember what my note "NPL" was for (Old age you know), but I think the $16.71 was for both the bolt and washer.

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to locate the part in time to have it delivered before the weekend, at least, not unless I was willing to pay $27 for expedited shipping. I called around to NAPA, Autozone and CarQuest, and none of them had an exact part in stock or even in their online inventory.

BUT, the part number that Torqued gave is the OEM Ford part number, so if anyone is looking for this particular bolt and washer, call the parts department at your Ford dealer, give them those exact numbers, and they should either have it in stock or at the very least be able to order it for you. I called down to my local dealer, gave him the part numbers, and he had them already on hand. Pricing was just a tiny bit more expensive than the Freedom Racing prices Torqued posted: the bolt was $12.13 and the washer was $7.18 for a grand total of $19.31. Basically it only cost me roughly $1 more to get them from the dealership that same day than it would have to order them online with free shipping and wait on delivery.

 

That's great. Hang onto your old bolt for the moment. If you use a block of wood & hammer you can knock the harmonic balancer pulley back on far enough to get the old bolt started (w/o that fat washer), then pull the crank pulley back on till it seats. Then remove the old bolt and install the new one. Otherwise (like stupid me), you might have to look long and hard to find a longer bolt that size with the special threads per inch. Think I paid 10 bucks for one about 4 inches long (only one they had) and bought a fist full of washers I kept removing a few at a time till I got it pulled down. I've learned so much from all my mistakes - I think I'll go make so more so I'll be even smarter.


Good luck. Keep us posted

 

Started on my timing job today. My buddy's mechanic friend took a look over the engine and confirmed what Torqued said almost verbatim. He said that there was no sign of failure on either of the cam phasers, and he's done a lot of Triton engines over the years. He apparently gets a lot of business for these engines simply because some of the other shops in town either won't touch them, or charge extra for working on them. After today, I can see why.

In the course of about 5-6 hours, all that we've managed to accomplish is to remove the valve covers and get all the way down to the timing cover. Part of the delay of this came from a few things: having to run to NAPA to rent a tool to disconnect the front fan and get it and the shroud out of the way; dealing with cables/hoses/pumps/dipsticks that were in the way of either accessing other parts or removing them; and dealing with having to disconnect a coolant line which was (unbeknownst to us) still pressurized, which spurted a good bit of coolant all over... including into my partially exposed valves , as we had to disconnect it because we couldn't get the cover past it. Not a lot got in there, but my buddy swears that some WD-40 will displace the water to the point that it won't be an issue. Still a little uneasy after that one, though.

I will say this much: this is definitely not a simple project, simply because of how complicated Ford made it to access any of the internals on this engine, at least in an F150's engine bay. Tomorrow should hopefully go a bit faster, namely because we're not having to figure out how to work around everything for the first time. Not the most fun I've had over Memorial Day, but if it all goes smoothly, it'll be time well spent.

 

Update #2:

All timing components are installed and in place. One thing of note: the cast iron tensioners do not come with seals, so a tube of Permatex Ultra Black is a good thing to have on hand. The installation of the new hardware was probably one of the easiest parts of this job, to be perfectly honest. The Ford Service Manual that Torqued sent me was fantastic, it gave a detailed breakdown of what parts to remove when, bolt torquing sequences, etc.

I'd be remiss to point out that if you're not also using the YouTube video series on this engine by Fordtechmakuloco, you're doing yourself a HUGE disservice. He takes you through the Ford Service Manual step-by-step on this job, but he also gives out a few pointers for workarounds that save on time and make the job easier. If you're a visual learner like I am, you can't go wrong watching his 4-part series on doing a timing replacement.

Nothing to report yet as to how the truck is running. We noticed my serpentine belt is looking a little worn, so we called it quits for the day so I can grab a new one tomorrow. Tomorrow should be the big day, though. I can't wait to hear my engine running without hearing it impersonating a diesel engine.

 

Timing installation was a success! The "wannabe diesel" ticking is gone, still some ticking around the injectors, but from what I understand, the injectors are fairly noisy on this engine. It sounds so much better, and all the chain slap I used to hear when I was driving at low speed with the windows down has vanished.

The not-so-good... I've now got a shudder occurring when my truck shifts into overdrive between 45-55 mph. From reading around, it sounds like it could be a bad coil pack, which would make sense because they all got removed in order to take the valve covers off, so maybe one was going bad and the removal just finished the job. I don't know how to easily find/replace whichever one(s) are faulty, so I'm probably looking at a complete replacement just to be sure.

I also replaced my serpentine belt because it was exposed and the old one was starting to show some wear. But now I've got some major squealing from one or more pulleys, so I'm probably going to have to get back in there and replace the whole lot, also just to be sure.

If anyone has any insight onto either of these issues, I'd love to get some input. I had new exhaust done on it just prior to the timing repair, so I'm dying to get out and just enjoy driving it for a while. I just need to get to where it won't damage itself more by driving.

I swear, I fix one thing, and two more problems just jump up to take its place. Eventually I'll have fixed or replaced everything that was going/could go bad on it, and be able to drive it for years until it finally just falls apart. (a guy can dream, anyway)

 

No need to do that. I'm not a fan of changing COPs. They're the most unnecessarily replaced part on these trucks.


The low (1150-1500) RPM misfire has driven many 5.4L owners to drink. I developed a THEORY about the issue that solved the problem for me and has kept it from EVER returning - for over 225K miles now. The unique design of these engines that leads to spark plug breakage on removal - and I believe is also related to the difficulty in isolating / removing random misfiring. I explain my reasoning in detail in this thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post15819897

And after lots of research into how this design feature relates to "heat range" of spark plugs is detailed in this discussion on another forum:
https://www.f150online.com/forums/v8...ml#post5159499


IMO, throwing parts at it won't help. Thousands of COPs, injectors and other stuff has been needlessly replaced (OH, on my truck TOO!) because of other sneaky things that we inadvertently cure while goofing with other things replacing perfectly good parts. Since I started taking care to keep the cylinder head carbon OUT of contact with the extended plug snouts, WITHOUT using antiseize, and using (a moderate application) of dielectric on really CLEANED or NEW boots, and clean secure electrical connections, I have never had the problem again.


I would simply do a maticulously clean (no greasy fingerprints) replacing ALL plugs and Boots/springs with new ones - and clean the carbon out of the cylinder head below the plug threads, and make double sure ALL electrical connections are good - for the reasons in the above linked posts.

 

Well, I successfully extracted all the old spark plugs without a single break, and replaced with new Motorcraft Sp-515 spark plugs. I followed your advice, Torqued, and used a brass bristle brush to scrub the inside of the spark plug holes plus some carb cleaner and a rag to make sure all the built-up crud was clear.

Unfortunately, now my truck is misfiring even worse, it now shudders while just idling and my RPM's are now fluttering around the 500 mark instead of the normal 700-ish mark. I'm guessing I now have more than one misfiring cylinder based on how much worse it has gotten, and I'm either looking at faulty coil packs, faulty wiring pigtails, or a combination of the two.

*sigh* My head hurts...

 

So sorry to hear that. Based on the info at this point - I would suggest starting with checking / cleaning every wire connection to COPs and injectors. If the little plastic clips are broken I would replace them (damn expensive little things). But the rubber insulator inside can push them back if not snapped on. I would disconnect battery (which will accomplish a pcm reset also) and clean the connectors at the PCM. Then preform the 'relearn procedure'. That's all good practice, and cost free. Then try to focus on which cyls are misfiring.


Good luck

 

So to come about and bring this thread back on course now that the above issues have been resolved.

BUT... I still have some residual ticking after warm-up. (and definitely not the injectors, but MAN, those little suckers are loud for how small they are!) So I'm left with 2 possible options:

1) Even though nothing looked wrong with them, one or both cam phasers still needs to be replaced.

or 2) According to the mechanic I took it to last night, it can also be an effect of engine sludge gumming up ports and causing valves to be stuck in open or partially open positions.

So, as much fun as I've had tearing this engine open (although I am getting pretty good at it, lol) I'd rather not have to do so if I can avoid it, at least for right now... I need a break from working on this truck, it's been a solid 3 weeks of headaches. Plus, I'm about to head into my busiest time of the year, and any large amounts of free time will be gone until fall. Because these engines are so bloody picky, instead of forging ahead on my own and potentially causing more problems, I figured I'd ask here. What can I to to clean out any engine sludge that may be causing this? I'm already using Castrol GTX High Mileage synthetic blend oil on every oil change without fail. I've heard Marvel Mystery Oil is pretty good stuff, and unlike SeaFoam, I haven't really seen anybody advising against using that. Any other non-invasive tips/tricks I can try? This truck needs to last me at least another 2-3 years minimum and still be in running condition whenever the day I decide to replace it comes along.

 

** DELETED ** Wrong thread

 

This is a great point. After changing the cam phasers on my truck, it continued to make some noise. If I didn't know what to listen for, I would think it still had a problem. But even a quiet, well running engine will have a bit of lifter noise.

 

Hello, Do you still have your 04-06 F150 service manual in PDF you could send me?