04 f150, 5.4 , 4 door (supercrew), fx4. I heard they have alot of them with bad cam positioners I believe its said? Ive also heard that the way of telling is you're fuel mileage goes to hell, and im defintly there, down to 12 mpg?! thats with easy driving (all highways), i have a tonneo cover, everything else is stock, except for K & N cold air intake. Any suggestions, or anyone heard of that? Does replacing spark plugs, or fuel injectors help anything? I mean 12mpg, might as well get a hummer h2 . Let me know if there is anything, or if I should just trade it off. thanks!

Tried using search, but couldnt find anything.

 

I too noticed my mileage going down. I just hit 46K on my 04, SCAB. I have the digital read out and I was getting around 14.5, but over the past 4 months, it has droped to around 13.4 to 13.7. I had a caliper that went bad and hang up. I figured that once I had a new one installed, I figured I would gain back my 1 mile.

I dont drive too much, but I sure would like to see 20 mpg out of a 4x4....

Oh, and I have the "phaser knock" on my truck. But with 600 bucks in new tires and 300 bucks in new brakes, I will be hanging on to it for a while..

 

have you tried replacing them? they are like $10 at autozone they are the same for the 98-03 5.4l they dont have it listed under 04-08 yet... but they take literally a minute to replace they are on the front of the head its the only thing there a novice mechanic could change them just unhook the wires pull the bolt out and pull the sensor out then reverse with new sensor(btw you have one per head)


on another note i kep throwing codes about this sensor (even after the change) untill my alt finally died so check out your alternator while your at it and only go to ford for the alt if its going bad

 

Hey, Are you talking about fuel injectors or sparkplugs as far as replacing them? $10 a piece? let me know, thanks!

 

Unless your cam phasers are totally wrecked, far enough to where the engine will barely idle or not run at all, they won't affect your fuel mileage. They're either working or they're not.

 

no the cam position sensor, thats what you said is bad right? well its just a tiny sensor on the very front of the head and can be changed very easily and cheap

 

are they really that easy to replace? ive had a bad cam pos sens. since i put my s/c in. i just havent replaced it because i was under the impression that it was buried somewhere that would require taking half the motor apart...

but if not i'll order one today

 

If your buying gas with the Ethanol blend, then your milage will definitly drop.

 

yep very easy to replace and no need to order them they are sold at most autoparts stores but ask for the ones for the old 5.4 because it is the same and they wont have it listed under the new 5.4 ive tried every auto parts store before i bought a sensor for the older models and it was the same

heres a pic

 

I am stunned. You are the first to say it was that cheap and that quick... If I remember correctly, someone said that it was covered under their warrent, and according to their paperwork, it took a few hours and cost a few hundred under warrenty.

And that causes the "diesel knock" that mos 5.4 owners hear?

 

cool, thanks for the pic. ill try that this weekend. i wonder if one of these could cause any decrease in performance as well as a decrease in mileage?

 

you are talking about a cam "phaser" this is a position sensor

yes a bad sensors decreases your power quite a bit

 

Hey,
so the sensor on the front can cause a decrease in MPG? Or do the phasers? Which one creates the knock that you can hear ? Thanks TON for the pictures and all of this info!!! THANKS!

 

Good morning Sir, F150 2004, My truck runs good for about 15-20 miles. After that it seems as if the idle is not set right, aftherwards the vehicle turns of at every stop. But only after running the vehicle for a while. Autozone trouble shot it and told me the cam shaft sensor was bad. I guess my question is, if the sensors where bad, would it take a while for them to give me trouble? or might it be something else?