04 f-150 fx4 5.4 3v
I am looking some advise from someone more familiar with the 5.4 3v than me.

Long story short, Though I had a cam Phaser tick, Turns out it was my timing chain slapping the timing cover. ( R Side tensioner loosing pressure when engine turns ) and was making a sound behind the vct solenoid housing like it was leaking air when turning - with engine off and timing cover off I could hear it

I put 2 new cam phasers, entire new timing set, vct solenoids and new spark plugs.

I still have the valve and timing cover off the truck cause Im not sure if its right. It is set in time correctly. But when I rotate the engine, the timing chain slacks and tensioner slacks just enough on the right side to wiggle the chain. then as I continue to rotate it, it tightens right back up.

My thoughts and questions are, Could it be a bent cam shaft, worn cam bearings, Just loosening up because the oil pressure is not holding the tensioner tight when not running?

I cant even find a set of cam bearings or bearing caps anywhere for this truck. I am stuck and need some advise from someone very knowledgeable about these 5.4 24v motors. If I have another bad part, I would like to know now rather than put it all back together and tear up all these new parts I just installed.

 

That's a new one fella. If its going slack / tight then it sounds like the end of the cam is oscillating?

Are you looking for some 3v cam shafts?

 

It doesnt seem as if the cam is turning on its own. it honestly seems as if the timing tensioner on the right side looses pressure and then increases it on the compression stroke. Which makes no sense to me, so thats why I figured it may be a bent cam shaft causing it to loosen then tighten with every 1/4 turn of the engine.

It did the same thing with the old phasers and timing set but it got very loose, the old tensioner lost all pressure, and I could pick the timing chain off the right side phaser a good 3/4"

With all the facts I know it seems like either bent cam or that it just doesnt have enough pressure to hold back the tensioner with the engine not running.

And the one thing that makes no sense to me about the potential of a bent cam, is that with the old parts it was very loose and very obvious, with the new parts, I probably would not even notice it getting looser on rotation if I wasnt really looking for it.

 

Weird!

If the chain is going tight / slack then something is causing the crank gear / phaser centres to widen then shorten. (If you know what I mean)

 

first off your not going to be able to find a set of cam brg caps with out buying a new cylinder head. the caps are machined for the head and specific location on the head. i'm sure you can probably get cam bearings from a ford dealer. if you think the cam may be bent you can always take a dial indicator and set it up on a smooth surface of the cam (not on a cam lobe either) and rotate the engine and see . you will need to check it in front of the 1st cam bearing some where near the cam phaser. possible you may have a out of round cam phaser. i doubt you have a cam bearing issue though. you can always pull the caps/cam and check them if you question them. just make sure the caps are put back in the same location/direction they cam off of.

 

its probably more related to no oil pressure to the chain tensioner if you can barely notice it. (did you install new chain guides?)

 

Yes, all new guides, I've been told that the reason the tensioners fail at all is low oil pressure, so i was planning on trying to find a good cleaner to run through it anyways encase the oil jackets maybe stopped up. Any recommendations? And to tensioners should hold tighter if the engine is running with better oil pressure right?


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I assume you installed new tensioners with the new timing chain? If not, then you need to. I just re-did my chain, tensioners, VCT's and Phasers as well. Is your chain one link off? Maybe you are a gear off on the timing?

I have 2 cams in excellent shape I would sell you for $100 shipped. I took them out and installed Comp Cams at same time. I can box them up and ship them out Monday AM if you would like. They have 105K miles on them on a one owner motor with oild changes every 3000-3500.

My phasers and VCT's seemed fine when I changed them, no broken guides either, I had a little tick tick coming from passenger side. It wasn't exhaust either. I never really figured out what was causing it cuz everything looked good.

PM me if you want the cams. We can do paypal.

Jeff

 

Yep, New tensioners,chains,guides,vct solenoids,camphasers,crank sprocket.

I may be interested in those cams Jeff. Im going to go check it over good in about a hour to see if i need cams. Did they come out of a vin number 5 truck? and do you happen to have a valve compressor for this motor you may want to get rid of?

THe timing was exactly right before I started turning the engine. My chains had the black links to line them up, However with every revolution of the engine, the marks move 2 teeth to the right of the timing marks on the phasers, both sides move evenly and both move 2 teeth with every full turn so I assume thats right considering its a odd tooth count chain.

 

I did the same DIY project on my 5.4 last summer. I changed all the same parts and used the same chain kit you used.

I also noticed some weirdness on the (US) passenger side.

I researched and chalked it up to the possibility that the tensioner just works that way on that side of the engine.

I backed up my little theory by reading this website, which seems to indicate that the tensioner placement on that side of the engine is a poor design. THey also have a new tensioner that coiuld fix it. I didn't do that. I just closed up the engine and fired it up and it sounded great.

http://www.modularmustangracing.com/...g%20chains.htm

 

Thanks Island truck, And thanks to everyone for your help, I feel better hearing someone else has seen the same issue and went foward with the repair with a good outcome.

My cam seems true and timing is ok, I am going to go ahead and button this thing up and see how it goes.

Considering the main reason for timing chain tensioners seem to fail is oil pressure, I would love to know of a really good engine flush that works very quickly - really dont want to use kerosene ( although I do believe that would clean the heck out of the engine) I dont want to go that extreme but do want extreme results.

the insides of my valve and timing covers are very dark and there was some gunk in there. Ive only had this truck for 7000 miles and ive switched it to penzoil synthetic 5w 20 but I really dont believe this truck was taken that good of care of.

thanks to all and will let you know if it blows up or runs okay once its buttoned up.

 

^^ Good luck fella ^^

 

Well, Just finished putting the truck back together about 30 minutes ago. Fired right up and the cam knock seems to be gone. (Thank the Lord!) However it seemed to uncover a new issue.

Now that I can actually hear my engine running again, It sounds like my fuel injectors are ticking pretty loud. Maybe I can find a really good cleaner or if someone knows where I can get a fairly reasonably priced set of fuel injectors i would love the information.

Maybe this engine will last now! ( fingers crossed )

 

Cam bearings are not available for the 5.4 3v engines. Just precision machined cams and caps with the head assy. (Just for future info)

 

The injectors have always been a bit noisy in these trucks....