No, it was at cold startup and piston slap was a problem for the 2valve 5.4's I believe.

 

Aren't the F150's all 3v? Or no

 

I don't think so.

 

How does one find out?

http://www.fordvehicles.com/trucks/f150/features/specs/

According to this, at least with the 2007 it appears that all 5.4L are 24-valve.. which would be 3v.

I have the ticking sound, but its not just when cold, but most of the time. So could this in fact be the cam phase then and not the slap?

 

This is both true and untrue. Lemme 'splain.

As a dealership, yes, they are obligated to honor Ford's warranty. Period. Not doing so is a good way to get the dealer's franchise pulled.

But. Ford has a system to monitor how many repairs in a certain area dealers are doing. This is called a 126 report. Depending on the size of the dealer, the amount of business they do and a few other factors, certain dealers have more leeway in the amount of specific repairs they're "allowed" to perform than others. So, let's day Joe Blow Ford is located in an area with a lot of broke '04+ F150s that need cam phasers, lifters, just base engine work stuff under warranty.

They keep on keepin' on, fixing all these trucks, but their 126 numbers for base engine repairs are slowly creeping up. Eventually, they reach a threshold and Ford bean counters ask, "Why are these guys doing all these repairs over (x) period of time? That's a lot of repairs..." Now the dealer is flagged and monitored closely, and should they continue on the course of action they're on, eventually they'll go into an audit process where Ford sends inspectors to the dealer to review their procedures and paperwork to see whether all these repairs were legitimately performed or not. And from personal experience, no matter how legitimate and accurate and necessary those repairs were, audits are a losing proposition for any dealer. They're the rough equivalent of a having a root canal and a prostate examination on the same visit. Not good.

Most Ford dealers' engine repair (diesel at least) 126 numbers are already pretty high, mostly because of the 6.0 liter diesel and the massive cost in warranty parts and labor to fix them. Typically, given the nature of the customer, Lincoln-Mercury dealers have high glass and trim, and sometimes high electrical 126 numbers (old farts are picky, and Lincolns typically have more electronic toys than Fords and Mercurys do). High 126 figures in any specific area can affect others, so it's in the dealers' best interest to try to keep 126 down as low as possible, while not pissing the customer off. This is a delicate balancing act, and no, it doesn't work as planned all the time.

There's a lot more politics and BS behind the scenes at your dealers than you'd think in order to get your truck fixed and running like you want it to. While the dealer isn't totally innocent, pulling strings on their customers, there's men in glass offices in Dearborn pulling the rope.

With that said, we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

That's frustrating to read..

 

Try living it...

I've had times before where I've been told to fix trim bits by any means necessary, rather than replace them because our 126 numbers were close to an audit stage. These weren't well hidden or not noticed trim pieces either, things like inside door handles, seat back release handles, stuff you see and use on a daily basis that Ray Charles could have been able to tell wasn't repaired or replaced right.

 

Hi.

To answer your other question - the 5.4L 3V began to appear in the 2004+ MY F150's. All prior years ('97-'03), if it's a 5.4, it's a 2V.

Quintin's a tough act to follow, eh?

Good informative post, Q

Cheers
Bubba

 

Lovely. Yes, that would be extremely frustrating.


Oh OK, that makes sense.

Thanks!

 

Quintin,
That's just crazy to read. I knew that warranty work needed to the kept at a minimum, but what about a legitimate warranty repair? I know the short answer would be to take it to a different dealer, but still... So even though the dealer keeps the most accurate records on warranty repairs ever, they still get a slap on the wrist from big mama for doing the right thing. That sounds worse than D.C. bs.

 

That's what I was trying to say.

 

Well, don't get me wrong, some dealers will give you the run around just 'cause they don't want to mess with you. But quite a few are giving out the cold shoulder because there's not a lot of things worse that a dealer can experience than going into an audit with Ford. Audits cost dealers lots of money, more than losing a few upset customers.

It really is a stupid, ignorant system that puts the almighty dollar ahead of the customer. I've only touched the surface, too, there's a lot more politics behind the scenes that customers don't know about. A lot of it is stuff I really shouldn't discuss in a public forum, honestly.

Okay, hijack over.

 

Hey I was just summing up past experiences that had been posted before mine. If I were you I'd consider myself lucky, not the norm. I've already had mine in to two dealers who said that the cam phasor tick is normal for the truck. So like I said, you should feel lucky while most others have to fight with the dealers to get them to cover it under warranty...

 

Always helpful...in this case to get me to stop hijacking. Thanks for the information, Quintin.

 

I have an 04 150 with the 5.4 Triton. I think Ford should go back to the drawing board and address these issues. I bought it new and at around 35k I stated to hear the same ticking and tapping. I knew that the ticking was normal injector noise but the tapping wasn't.I have an appointment to replace the lifters on Monday 01/25/10. But I think I'm going to change my mind.The dealers I think are jumping on the band wagon with this issue. They will tell you "it sounds like a lifter but it could also be your "phasers" (the real term is "Camshaft gear".) I have 4 payments left I think I'll wait and see what happens. It's a shame cause Ive been a Ford owner for the past 20 years. My last one was a 90 GT..which I bought new, had it for 16 years 236k no runs,no hits no errors..it was an excellent vehicle. All original,no leaks..no nothing. And by the way...that Lucas oil doesn't do anything for the problem. What I'd like to read is if someone had their lifters changed ..did it solve this problem of the tapping. Please let me know. I'd much rather use the 1200 dollars to put some more chrome on my Fatboy!!!