05 5.4v8 3v, 276,000 miles
died and gave "engine failsafe mode" warning. Truck restarted, would not rev over 500 rpm. Couldn't read code, was stuck on a mountain road in the snow, did a hard reset, cleared all codes, drove 350 miles with rough idle, poor acceleration, but no codes.
Day two, no codes, truck drove normally
Day three, truck had a lot of issues, barely runs and drives. Threw codes 0305, 0307, 0345, 0011, 0022. Thoughts? I understand these all relate to my cams.

 

Well at this mileage you have some misfires and the dreaded cam sensor failures. Question is do you spend $1,400 on a new timing job. Or 3400 on a DIY engine change out. Only you can make this decision. After doing my timing job at 130 k, I am shooting for 300K, then I will reevaluate and any serious trouble I will get the reman engine.
But I have a Florida truck no rust no frame damage no wrecks. In rust country the frame would be gone on an 05 by now. I don't know what you have done to the truck and how much you have in it. I fully expect to have to do a transmission rebuild by 300 k. I have kept my truck up and at this point I intend to keep it to around 500K.
You are doing good to get to 270k , check your end Play on your crankshaft if it's excessive or thrust washers in oil pan then it's time for a reman.There are some guys on here that have got 500K on the original engine. I'm not one of them to get that far without a lot of work being done by me. New trucks are outrageously expensive so I'm not anxious to buy a new one that may have its own problems and high repair bills.
If you go reman try to get hv oil pump ,new throttle body ,water pump, maybe alt . 08 heads would be nice as they go back to one piece plugs .All new pulleys/tensioner evaluate intake and intake runner .Stainless exhaust studs .

 

From everything that I've read, it sounds like my first step should be to check the oil pan for thrust washers (wtf is a thrust washer), plastic bits of timing chain guide (or complete timing chain guides), and from what you're telling me maybe give the crankshaft a wiggle to see if there's any play. And from there, if none of those things happen, go ahead and replace my valve solenoids and camshaft position sensors, clean the MAF and throttle body, put some 5-30 in it and see if the problem continues. And if the problem continues, then I probably need a timing job done. Correct?

 

Also, my drive home resulted in codes 0300, 0302, 0303, 0305, 0306, 0307, 0022, 0011, 0174, & 0345

 

Side note. Could the Field Service Action Number 07M08 be causing these issues? I've been informed its an open recall on my truck.

 

Thrust washers keep crank in center , to keep torque from throwing it into block in either direction . Once it starts that it chews up crank . ,putting new ones in at that point usually is too late and it will spit them again .Decision time to do what you are doing and not replace phasers ,chain ,oil pump would not be a good thing not to mention rollers and lashs which must be wore out . Could be a waste of labor and parts that would come with reman .Chain has got to be stretched at this point .The melling hv oil pump would be a must .
Check out ford tech makuloco on you tube ,he is the expert .

 

Update. Pulled the oil pan (such a pain in the ***) and checked it. No plastic pieces, no thrust washer bits, nothing but old *** dirty oil. Grabbed the crank and shook it as hard as I could, no movement. So on that note, reassembling the oil pan (and sway bar, and steering rack, and front axle....) And moving to the top side to replace the valve solenoids and cam position sensors.

 

Truck runs amazing now. Anyone who ever comes across this and needs it, the Ford OEM parts number for the VTC gasket is 6C535.
New problem. Truck runs really good, but now it stalls in low speed parking lot manuvers. Thoughts?

 

you replace solenoids and sensors only ? ........ no internal part, right ? ..... no comment, just asking for info.

 

Correct. Only the solenoids and the bank two (driver side) cam sensor. Made a huge difference, ticking is all but gone, engine is much quieter. Also went ahead and pulled my throttle body, glad I did because I had almost 1/8" of carbon build up. Got that cleaned up, did the PCM reset procedure and I swear it runs and drives like new. Throttle response is back to 100%, acceleration is better, and I haven't gotten to test it too much but I'm already seeing improved fuel economy. Worth the money.

 

Glad you didn't have any plastic or end play .keep that oil clean ,good maint cleaning TB .I tried VCTs change out first and it was good for a couple of weeks .

 

Okay, kicking a dead horse now. Summary: New valve solenoids, new bank 2 (driver side) cam pos sensor, cleaned throttle body.
Truck threw a code P0420, inefficient bank 1 catalyst. What are the chances of a bad O2 sensor or my cat just **** on me? If I do the bank 1 cat do I need to do the bank 2 cat?

**edit** throttle body was taken off of the truck to be cleaned, pcm was properly reset and allowed to relearn. Did 40 miles of relearn driving, parked the truck, drove it next day and I threw the code as I pulled off of the highway. total of 60 miles, 20 since relearn and 60 since cleaning and new parts.

 

They do wear out and age .Some guys replace them after 100k . But you may want to have the cat evaluated , Missfires etc do cause cat failure due to unburned fuel /oil burning it out . Sensors do fail but people tend to replace them instead of the problem that they are indicating .
You can do some pressure checks on cats ,you tube may give you those .
You can get a lot of info on your engine from torque pro $5 app /android phone /cheap amazon bluetooth reader . As manymiles as you have you will need it .
You can do aftermarket repalce but make sure it will pass your sates testing , I would say if you have to replace some it may be best to do them all . It may be cheaper in the long run . Make sure your plugs and boots in really good condition ,as you don't want anymore misfires .
Get the sludge and dirty oil put of that engine .

 

YEP.......... check things out good as mentioned... but before you start throwing parts at it, clear the code and test again.

 

Okay, since the first time the code lit, I cleared it, it came back inside 100 miles (don't have an exact number). I went ahead and replaced my bank 1 camshaft position sensor (it was on my to-do list) and reset the code. Also did a bottle of Lucas Injector Cleaner (don't want to hear about what works and what doesn't, these are the facts of what was done). Drove the truck from Richmond to Winchester, and then around town for about 3 days before the code came back, roughly 250 miles since clearing it. At this point, I'm resigning myself to a new catalytic converter. Any opinions before I pull the trigger?