I purchased my used 2007 F150 SC with the 5.4 liter 3 valve engine in 2012 and from the start I've been dealing with or should I say, living with, horrible cam phaser and timing chain issues. Over the last year I've learned how to deal with the slapping of the timing chain against the cover. When I'm at low rpm's and stop and go situations and parking, the engine will begin to cavitate and violently shake accompanied by a very nasty metal on metal banging. It sounds horrible and I basically feel like the engine is getting ready to explode. My only solution is to put in neutral and give it a quick rev over 2k rpm which makes it go away, I assume by raising the oil pressure which controls the hydraulically powered lifters. Other than this MAJOR issue the truck has been good to me. Everything on the truck has always worked and I've never done anything more than brakes, rotors and tires.... and oil change of course. I've had the cam phaser repair quoted at $3-$4K but there's no way in hell I'm putting out that $$ on truck with 170k miles on it

I'm in the market for another used truck and I'm looking at 2011-2015 F150 models but I will ABSOLUTELY NOT buy anything that has the 5.4 liter 3valve engine.

My question: Does Ford use cam phasers or hydraulically powered lifters on any of their engines offered in the model years 2011-2015, including the 3.5 Ecoboost which I'm leaning towards purchasing? Any and all feedback is welcome before I decided to drop 35k on a failed engine design. I've driven the latest Chevy models but they just can't touch what Ford has to offer. I'm open to all suggestions and info. Hoping to get some feedback soon to help me decide as I really think my truck is on its last leg. Hit me up guys!
Thanks

 

All the new F150 engines have variable cam timing but it's done in a much more reliable way.

ALL engines these days except some high performance racing engines have hydraulic lifters (cam followers) and have had for quite a long time.

 

The 5.4 3v was discontinued in 2011, replaced by the 5.0.

 

@dhepting

I sympathize with your situation, having been through it on my '04 5.4L 3v. Fortunately my experience has turned out very successfully. This perhaps explains some degree of bias in my opinions. But a couple of things stand out; - $3-$4k seems a tad bit high for a timing chain job, especially if you did it yourself. (I got into that $$ range but replaced LOTS of non-timing related stuff due to higher milage); - Actually 170k miles is not TOTALLY unreasonable service life for timing chains/guides, and assuming the truck is otherwise in good shape, you should be able to get someone to do it for $2.5k parts/labor. That could reasonably get you another 170k miles out of the vehicle (working out to less than 1.5 cents/mile use cost).

A 20ll to 2015 is going to have some miles on it already (plus as @glc says are pretty much all going to have variable cam timming - even Four Phasers instead of Two!). If you dropped $35k on even a new one - and managed to get 350k miles on it before reaching the same spot (a 9yr old used truck worth about $5,000), that works out to over 7 cents/mile use cost alone. It does not take many of those $400-$500 monthly payments to chew up $2,500.
Don't shoot me. You ask for suggestions and feedback. Lol

If you decide to tear into it (before it jumps time and/or drops a valve or something worse), you can get lots of good quality help here. I KNOW - FIRST HAND!