This applies to Both 5.4L 3V and 6.8L 3V engines. If your engine is "ticking" or "tapping" from up top,do not be quick to dismiss it as a "normal" sound that modulars make. I know that the modulars tend to be a bit noisy on the top end compared to other engines in the past,but trust me,you need to pay attention to it. If the sound gets any worse,or changes tone from a light "tick " to a "tap" of any kind-pull the cam cover off and at least inspect the followers. I've never seen a follower fail before last weekend,but I've spoken with several folks over the last week,it is an isolated issue that does pop up from time to time.



What you're looking at is one of the #5 intake followers from my truck(2005 6.8L V10) The engine has 60K miles on it,and has never hiccuped in any way,and was running great up to the point that this follower catastrophically failed. The bearing in the roller in the follower appears to have been faulty,or the roller needles themselves were not properly heat treated from the factory. The bearing failed,and allowed the roller to have slop in the follower assembly. Over time, this damaged the camshaft by allowing the edges of the camshaft to come in contact with the follower body,and the metal debris from this contact damaged the heat treated roller and camshaft lobe surfaces. This damage led to an accelerated wear on the cam lobe and roller on the follower to the point that it allowed the follower body to be displaced from the normal operating position,and wedge itself between the valvespring retainer and the lash adjuster. You can see evidence of this from the wear on the top of the "dome" where the follower rides on the lash adjuster. A few revolutions of the engine were enough to pop the retainer locks out of place,and the retainer and valvepsring came off of of the valve,and the follower then bent the valve before dislodging itself and lying adjacent to the now bent valve. The biggest thing about this failure-the 3V engine had been operating for some time now with no noticeable loss of performance even with one of the 2 intake valves on cylinder #5 operating at a reduced lift and duration due to the damaged follower. The other valve was making up the difference in airflow enough to mask the problem. No misfire codes,no stumbling or loss of power (that was noticeable anyway),and no drastic changes to efficiency,although I had noticed fuel mileage slipping a bit,but attributed that to the summer driving with the A/C on alot of the time.
I'll have more pictures later on as I tear it down and inspect the failed components. So far I'm going to need 1 new intake valve, 1 valvespring, 1 retainer, 2 locks, 1 follower, 1 lash adjuster,and a new camshaft. Approx $300 in parts including the new headgasket and a set of headbolts for that cylinder head. Machine shop labor will be necessary for replacing and grinding in the new valve,and cleanup of the cylinder head afterward-it will possibly need a new valveguide where the valve was bent-can't see if it cracked the top of the guide until I get the head off of the engine. I will say that these engines are very easy to work on-I pulled the intake, clutch fan, fan shroud, and front accessories off and /or loose in less than 2 hours Saturday morning. I've only got to pull the nuts from the exhaust manifold loose and remove both cam covers and the timing cover to pull the damaged cylinder head. Probably around 2 more hours of labor.
JL

 

Do you think that may have been a manufacturing defect with the roller or possibly an oiling problem?

 

If it was an oiling problem-there would be others failing-the #5 cylinder is the first inline with the oil supply on that head. It's a manufacturing defect. Either the roller bearing in the roller was assembled with too few roller needles,or they weren't heat treated properly. One other instance I discussed with someone else-he stated that he cut the roller apart after the failure,and it was missing 2 needle rollers from inside the bearing compared to a new follower.
JL

 

Interesting, very interesting, Johnny...

There is also a TSB out there for lash adjusters for 2006, but does not apply to your motor...

06-9-11***LOUD TICKING NOISE - 3-VALVE ENGINES - STUCK LASH ADJUSTER

 

It's definitely odd,but I've seen worse,and have been known to break "virtually indestructible" parts before.
JL

 

So are you saying you've removed the rev-limiter?

Just kidding... Are you thinking of pursuing it with Ford at all?

 

I called it to discuss with the main CS line,and they want me to call back with some pics for email and the VIN # of the truck. It's very apparent that it's a defective component that caused the failure,but considering Ford's financial situation right now,I think it'd be difficult to talk them into reimbursing me anything for the repair. But,you never know-I'm gonna call them back later just incase. The rev limiter and such is all still stock as stone-it's never been above approx 5200rpms.
JL

 

I'd follow it up even if you're not getting reimbursed - perhaps they will at least release a TSB about it.

 

Tore it apart today,and the guide is cracked,so it'll have to be changed. The valve wasn't bent very bad,just a slight amount at the top-just enough to crack the guide. Took about 3 hours to get the head off,and to disassemble it to inspect the damage. Parts list for the repair:

1-Intake valve
1-Valve guide
1-Valvespring
1-Valvespring retainer
2-Valvespring locks
1-Roller follower
1-Lash adjuster
1-Set of valvestem seals
1-Set of headbolts
1-RH/Passenger side headgasket
1-RH/Passenger side camshaft

I'm gonna have the machine shop change the stem seals while they have it apart since there was some metallic debris in that cylinder head. It'll likely have all of the valves lapped after they grind in the one new valve,just to be sure it's all fresh and like new again.
The exhaust manifolds on the 3V are very good.So good,I'd be surprised to see any gains with any kind of short tubular header-esp considering the risks of cracking/leaks in the future with those tubular headers.The intake manifold is also very well designed.The large runners and smooth radius of the runners are a huge improvement over the 2V's restrictive intake manifold-the variable runner control on this intake alters the runner length for good low RPM torque and power,and it makes it a shorter air path for high RPM breathing-a very nice piece indeed.
I should have it back together sometime after next weekend-it's probably gonna take a few days to get the parts from Ford,and the machine shop will probably need a couple of days to get it fixed.
JL

 

That follow was tore up pretty good.

I think Jesel makes aluminum roller followers for the modulars, maybe they are only for 2vs?

 

I think they're only for 2V's,and I have absolutely no interest in a follower setup that's worth almost as much as my stock truck is.Esp considering they gain little to no power unless you're spinning the engine to the moon.
The stock parts are really good,this one follower just failed because of poor heat treatment of an ancient-tech roller bearing needle. The rest of the parts in the head are all in perfect condition. If it didn't have oil staining in the cylinder head-you'd have a hard time determining it has any miles on it at all-much less 61K miles.
JL

 

Thanks for the detailed write up, Johnny! I've heard light ticking on and off from my 05 V10 since new and have, after reading posts on here, attributed it to the injectors. Given your experience I'll keep an ear out if the ticking ever becomes a tapping.

Ord

 

Put it all back together yesterday,took around 4 hours total and that included reassembly of the head(camshaft,followers,lash adjusters,etc). Fired right up,but now has a problem with the ETC throttle body actuator. Apparently the throttle blade was stuck closed after sitting for a few weeks,and needed a bit of spray lube to loosen up the throttle blade shaft. I've gotta take all of my electrical tools back by there and see if the actuator is smoked,it got so hot you could barely touch it after startup. I pulled the throttle body off and tore it all apart to see if anything was binding,and it's all good,the actuator motor just smells really bad like the windings are fried. I'll know more late Monday or Tuesday. I will say the cost of the entire ordeal so far has been relatively low at $400 total for parts and the labor on the head to regrind the one valve and press in a new guide.
JL

 

Fixed...the throttle actuator motor was indeed damaged. Pulled one off of a 2005 Explorer ETC throttle body that I had lying around. The part numbers are the same,and that fixed the issue.
JL

 

I'm seeing this mentioned more often,so bump to the top.
JL