I just bought my first Ford F150 Lariat 5.4 Triton pickup. Hands down, the nicest looking vehicle I have owned to date. It has a clean car fax and is a one owner with 77,000 miles on it and in mint condition. I brought it home and while I was showing to my family, for the first time I could hear this noise, a noise that sounds like a diesel engine only at idle. I have done over 10 hours of research on this forum, and I have to say you guys are very knowledgeable. I have researched the cam phaser issue, the valve lashers, oil filters , spark plugs and so on.
First thing I do is call the previous owner, he tells me at 6000 miles they changed out the head. After further investigating, the Ford dealership I am talking to shows me that they changed out 2 pistons. I called the guy who I bought the car from, I tell him the truck is making a noise, sounds like a loose rocker. He said he will either give me $800 towards repair, or will buy it back for full purchase price and sales tax. That's how Massachusetts law reads.
Then I take it down to my local Ford dealership. As soon as the tech hears the noise first words out of his mouth, cam phasers, passenger side. He used a stethoscope to isolate the problem. To be sure they now want to remove the valve covers to check and make sure exactly what is going on. I told them to go ahead.
Up to this point, the guy I bought the car from has no Idea I am having Ford do this so that I know whether or not to keep or give back the Truck. So tomorrow afternoon, I will have an answer on what the problem is. They are charging me between 2-3 hours labor to diagnose the problem. The service manager said it could be a bad head, to fix around $2000. Is this the beginning of more things to come. I really love the truck, it drives really well, and I got it for a steal(now I know why).

 

I would get your money back, sounds like it has a history

 

Money back asap

 

Get away from that truck... quick!!!!

 

I would take it back unless the seller is willing to make good but considering it has already had more than its average on motor repairs..... WALK AWAY!

 

what dealer has it just out of curiosity...

FYI these bottom ends have forged internals, which is why you can bolt a supercharger onto them and get close to 500 HP out of it with no reliability issues.

Do they have cam phasor issues... you bet!

Do the Spark Plugs break off and cause you to have to extract the broken plug with a rube goldberg tool... you bet.

Do the injectors go bad causing converters to go bad... once in a while.

But the long block is pretty damn strong . For it to need a head or piston work would make me run the other way in a hurry.

 

Theres a ton of good F-150s for sale go else where.

 

If 5 people telling you to walk away and get your money back won't convince you, maybe 6 will.

WALK AWAY and GET YOUR MONEY BACK.

There are a ton of F150s for sale. Good luck.

 

You are lucky with MA law, get your money back! Having had piston work before is worrysome to me on these trucks.

 

Thank You all for your responses. I went to the dealership on the way home. The diagnosis is as follows: #6 Exhaust Valve Tappet is Leaking.
VCT Phaser Replacement needed.
Abnormal wear on the camshaft due to non motorcraft filter use.
Tech recommends replacing long block.
Price for Engine replacement= $7741
So without even going through a full tank of gas, I am giving the truck back to the dealer tomorrow, and I am in the hunt for another f150. Thank you again.

 

sucks man. Hope you have better luck finding another one in better condition
nope...the Navigator 5.4 4v (sorta...the crank is anyways), and the Lightning 5.4 2v are forged, and I think some of the HD 5.4 2v is forged...but the rest of the 5.4 2v and 3v lineup is just plane old cast parts

the 500 HP capability is due to the displacement. they put out roughly 450 crank HP at 6 psi...and 8-10 psi will get your about 500 crank HP. But then you are pushing things and risking piston rings

 

7.... RUN.


EDIT... looks like you did. good luck, youll find another quick enough.

 

Hurry up with pics of the next truck!