I have to agree with Tylus and what everyone else has said here, BUT, with all the problems that this 5.4 has (broken plugs, sticking fuel injectors which can lead to hydrolocked engines, the "ticking" noise and so on and so on) I don't have much confidence in the ford engineers (or chrysler or chevy) and I don't care much for their recommendations. 5w20 is crap! Just another way for them to keep making money off of you when something breaks down or needs adjustments! My truck has over 132,000 miles on it (I do about 35 to 40,000 miles a year) and I've been running 15w40 for well over a year now and have had NO problems (knock on wood) and no ticking. No offense to gator, but nobody is perfect, including ford engineers. They can certainly make mistakes, and probably have over the some odd 80 years or so. Can anyone say Edsel or Fiesta?

 

Sounds like there is no straight answer on this. Has anyone just ran their truck with the recommended oil and the tick noise and been ok? I have an 05 F150 screw with the 5.4 and it's been ticking since I got the truck at 30k. It now has 60k and I don't notice a difference in performance or the tick becoming louder/softer etc. Sounds like there are a million different explanations people give for the tick and ways to fix it but there is no definitive cause/solution to this.

 

my '06 has not made any noise yet & I listen
I use MC 5w20 & MC FL820s filter

 

My 04 has had the ticking cam phasers since I bought it with 66K on it. Now has 107K, no problems, just noisy. I use the motorcraft oil and filter too, but doesn't make a difference on the noise. Quiet when cold, noisy when hot.

 

I don't post here very often but here's my $.02 worth..
I have a 07 5.4 with 36k ..never had a noise in the motor..quite as a church mouse...
I run 5 qts of MC 5-20 and mix in 2 qts of Pennzoil Platinum 5-20 with the 820S filter..
every 3rd oil change, I use the Valvoline Max Life 5-20 (7 qts)..it's a heavy 20 wt..almost a 30 wt...it has great cleaners and sealers...I change oil between 4-5 k miles.

I also readjust my idle as per instruction in the Owners Manuel @ every 2k miles..
Hot motor..idle for 1 minute..turn on AC for 1 minute..turn off AC and idle for 1 minute.. Good luck Lov my Ford

 

hahaha that ford tech must of had OJT (on the job training). Its no wonder they never did fix the noise as they said LOL. If a lifter is making noise, your not getting any oil in the head...in that case its all the lifters. If it were the valves, its because they werent seated correctly in correspondent with the lifters. If the lifters were not adjusted right, this noise would have started day 1. Ive seen heard and read alot about the cam phaser ticking. That seems to be the cheapest and best bet in my mind.

As far as 15w40, LOL, good suggestion but its not going to help him and its not the right fix. That trick with drag car oil only work best with motors with warn bearings, or Pre-rod knock. As your bearings get warn you loose oil pressure and eventually, as it heats up to 210 degress or w/e your thermostat is, it looses it all. After it runs so long without oil pressure, the knock comes shortly after, that is unless you put an actual oil pressure gauge on the truck and always rev it up as she shoots down to a big fat 0. Lets hope you dont have that problem, Moneypit but i just dont think so. Record a video of the truck running lets hear it!

 

F-rod, Welcome to FTE!

I respect what your saying here, but most of it does not apply to our 5.4L mod motors. These mod motors have no lifters or pushrods. They are SOHC motors. The 5.4L has a history of bad cam phasers, and occasionally bad rocker followers (arms) on maybe a cylinder or two. 04-06 were the worst examples of the cam phasers, but seems to have cleaned up on the some 06 and all 07 and up. The cam phasers advance and retard the cam timing while the engine is running. They are driven by oil pressure, and have a sensor (one on each side) to tell the PCM what the cam position is. Most people that know these motors intimately report very small oil passages in the heads.

Search the boards and read up, lots of useful information contained here.

Again, Welcome to FTE!!

 

My 04 5.4 ticked from the start. Got tired of it as it got louder toward 55k. Under warranty, Ford replaced the cylinder heads. No more ticking. In fact, it runs better now than ever.

 

I got my cam phasers replaced at 77k and no more ticking. I have an 04 F150 5.4L.

 

I have a 2004 F150 with a 5.4 and it has had a tick since around 80,000 miles. Now the truck has almost 150k on it and the tick is getting worse. I've been running 15/40 oil through it for a couple thousand miles and it hasn't made a difference yet. The truck is sluggish and slow (even before the diesel oil). Anyone have any other ideas as of to what I can put into this thing without tearing into the motor?

 

I have 10k on my 04 5.4 since getting new heads. I recently had a fuel injector servicing, MAS cleaning and plug change. My truck runs like its brand new. I am due for an oil change and can't wait to see if there is any difference after injector servicing. I run Royal Purple 5-20.

 

78moneypit,

I heard the same story from a service manager when my 2004 started ticking at about 60k miles and they told me that if I wanted them to tear it down and check it on my dime they would, but no way Ford Extended Warranty would cover this type of "normal engine sound"... well that was back in 2007 and last week another dealer just replaced the engine at 88k miles with 2 weeks to go in my 5 year 100k warranty. Ford admits that oil pressure to #4 cylinder valve train is not good and trys to claim it might be due to bad filters, poor oil quality, lack of oil changes or wrong viscosity oil (AKA all this 15w-40 talk). I recommend you take it back in if you have the extended warranty and have them remove the valve covers and inspect the valve train. BE SURE TO HAVE 5W-20 MOTORCRAFT OIL AND A MOTORCRAFT FILTER ON THE ENGINE AT THE TIME... if it goes to warranty they will check, so don't give them an easy reason to deny your claim. And having your maintanance records up to date and at recommended interval is key also. In my motor the roller of cylinder #4's rocker was basically a decagon and the exhast lobe had warn down about 1/8" !!! Not Good. All that and the truck still ran fine and did not sound THAT bad. Moral of the story is don't let the dealer talk you into not exercising your warranty for ticking noises in 5.4's. There are a half dozen TSB's from Ford on the topic, all of which discourage the dealer from diagnosing noises THEY hear as opposed to the specific one(s) the CUSTOMER can identify as unusual or troublesome. And the prospect of having to pay for the diagnostic time if no warrantable work is discovered also serves as a deterant to getting the service you paid good money for in the warranty. Have the valve covers removed and then let them tell you all is normal.... it saved my $8000 worth of buying a new engine.

Scott

 

Well done Alpine! I got new cylinder heads at 60k and she's running great now- thanks to Ford ESP.

 

Diesel specific oils most often have more detergents in them and should make the motor cleaner not dirtier.
I have used 15w40 diesel specific oil 9 months of each year in my older truck ( 2004 F150 with a 5.4 Liter motor) for 4 years and 260,000 kilometers.
My findings are that its a good oil for the motor.
I in the 3 coldest months each year use 10w40 oil as the climate here is harsh in mid winter.

 

I've always been an oil change freak, prob changing it more often than it needs to be. So my baby never makes 3K before it gets dumped. Moto 820 filter, and 7 qts of synthetic. I've used most all of the major brands of oil in my driving days, (42 yrs), and have never had a serious engine prob on anything. (Except for a pushrod bent into an S shape on my 'Cuda). Its all about quality lubrication in the metal to metal game.