Bare with me as this is my first post but I am flustered and need answers. My vehicle is a 2004 f150 with the 5.4 and 135,000 miles. Starting about a year ago I would have the vehicle up to operating temperature on occasion and I would come to a stop sign and the vehicle would start to shake and have a rough idle. At first I thought it could be the fuel filter so I replaced it and conditions remained normal for a while. The rough idle then began again but it was just on rare occasions again when at operating temperatures. Recently, I drove about 50 miles and upon arriving at my house, my vehicle started making a very loud knocking noise and it finally threw a code! I turned it off and took it right into the shop to see what was wrong. Upon cold start up it ran fine. Shop told me that it was a cam sensor code and he said to just keep driving it and if it comes back on then to take it to a ford dealer.. I was not to happy about this response.

Now for my question.. is it a waste of money for me to just go and put a hi volume melling oil pump in the vehicle along with a whole new timing kit (phasers, chains, etc..)? Should I replace the vct solenoids as well? And if your wondering I’m not going back to the same shop..

Any help is much appreciated!

 

Didn't you say you're having a Cam Sensor issue?

 

yes that is what I was told, as far as I have heard, often times the cam sensors are not bad and they are not the actual issue, and the rough idling and loud knocking in my opinion would not be just from a bad sensor.

 

In your case dropping oil pan and looking for plastic from broken guides is key . That will mean a full timing job . But first pull valve covers and evaluate valve train and heads . If they look okay then pull timing cover Set up on timing points pull chains ,pull cams in correct way ,its not hard . Keep all parts marked they must go back exactly how they came out . Thats a start.

 

Replace your VCT sensors first. That will most likely clear it up for you, short to medium term. But eventually, as stated, you'll be looking at a full timing job. How long have you owned the truck? What has the maintenance been like? Regular oil changes? Proper oil? Spark plugs changed @ 60,000 mile intervals? is it 2wd or 4wd? Dropping the oil pan on a 2wd truck is a snap, but not so easy ion a 4wd truck.

 

My dad bought it brand new and I bought it from him a few years back at around 90,000 miles. As far as I know with him he did oil every 5-6000 miles (mobil one synthetic 5w-20). Since I have acquired it, spark
plugs were done at 100k, I have changed oil every 5,000 miles with the Mobil one synthetic. I have replaced fuel filter with oem filter. It is a 4wd and has been babied all of its lifetime. Do you think the sensors need to be changed or is it just throwing a code because of something else? Or are the sensors the same as the solenoids? Sorry I’m a little new to these topics.

I am a college student so money is tight but I will do what I have to do to keep her running. Thinking right now I am going to put new oem solenoids In as that’s a relatively easy job from what I have seen.

 

Yes,the VCT "solenoids", not sensors.

But... If the code is telling you the issue is with your cam position "sensor", I'd replace that as well. Those are easy too.

 

thanks for the help, just ordered 2 oem solenoids to replace, I’ll look for the sensors as well. I’ll keep you updated and let you know how it runs after. Let me know if you have any more suggestions or comments! Thanks!

 

Do your self a favor list your miles and location on your profile > better yet put all mods and info on your signature so we don't have to look . We tailor our stuff by exposure to salt- extreme cold/heat etc . Mods ,4wd ,maint and miles info very important . Sometimes a local guy may offer to swing by or have some extra parts .No we don't want your address ,you can pm that to who ever you trust . You picked a good point to start at VCTS ,you will need seals with that . They are tough and not reusable
You are wise not to just shoot the messenger and replace sensors . Timing degradation is a matter of luck and maint no perfect answer .But warning do not use aftermarket phasers they will not work long .
Look at ford tech malukoco youtube he has great videos and he's sharp .

 

thanks for the advice! I ordered two oem solenoids and seals today! Gonna see if that changes anything! I have been obsessed with watching ford tech malukoco lately! He has so much useful information!

 

You can try the updated VCT solenoids in my signature. But most likely you will need a full timing job (chains, guides, tensioners, phasers) Its not cheap either for good parts. This is somewhere you don't want to skimp on parts. Melling oil pump is a good idea as well. The stock pump is known for the backplate flexing bleeding off pressure. Drop the pan and clean the strainer too. You have to lower the front diff and steering gear to get the pan out. I'm guessing you have p0345 or p0349 codes. That is a flaw in the PCMs programming it sees the cam sensors arent reading like they should so it sets cam sensor codes. I have also seen the tone rings move on the phasers cause those codes. There are 5 fingers on the tone ring, 4 equally spaced with one in the middle of 2 of them. The middle one has to line up with the timing mark on the phaser for proper alignment. With yours being a 04 you have the original design phasers which tend to make a knocking noise at hot idle. The new phasers will fix the knock noise.

 

Update:

Was finally able to go and pick my truck up from the shop today. Mechanic said that the code was a “cam sensor”(didn’t write down which code it was which frustrated me). Told me the same ole 5.4 talk about the timing be bad but that they don’t do those jobs anymore as they don’t have the tools required. Only place in town that does them is the dealership which is not happening��. Two new solenoids and seals arrived today along with a single piece t27 screwdriver. Time to finish up some school work and get to the first part of a long and costly run of maintenance to get the truck back to good.

 

Out with the old

 

Well, did the code go away? Hope u reset ur pcm too. Would be nice if this solved it. If not, definitely not a waste to do the timing job, hi volume pump, phasers... But I'd also do rollers/followers etc etc and anything else u need under the valve covers.

 

The mechanic I took it too had originally cleared the codes so there is none currently. As far as I can tell the engine seems to be running a lot quieter then before. Hard to tell for sure if it’s completely solved it because of the randomness before of the rough idle when the engine was at operating temperature. I am still planning on getting a timing job done on it over the summer... I was not aware you had to reset the pcm (kind of new to all of this still). Why is this important and how do you do it? Thanks!