Okay, so I'm fairly new to my F150. Dumb question but I'll ask anyways. What exactly does the 3 valve do? How does it work? Why not 2 valve?

 

Two intake valves, 1 exhaust valve per cylinder. It was ford's answer to bridge the gap performance wise between the 2 valve engines that had a good low end and the 4 valve engines that had a better top end. The 3 valve engine didn't fall on it's face as soon as a 2 valve would, but wasn't a top end screamer either.

 

Ford also added variable valve timing, which produced good low RPM torque (with the cam at full advance) and good high RPM power (retarded the cam 60°). It's also the source, unfortunately, of all the cam phaser problems. Ford should have designed the cam chain tensioners with a steel O-ring groove in both the cylinder head and tensioner, like high-performance head gaskets use. That would have prevented nearly all the cam phaser problems we see today.

 

Thanks guys for the details,

 

Kid that went to my high school convinced fellow retards that he removed one if the "V"'s (as if 3V meant the whole engine had three V's, and he didn't even know it stood for 3 valve) from his engine, which made it faster. Just by knowing that it's three valves per cylinder will prevent you from being anything like that doofus. Good question.

 

For a second there I was thinking your college, being in College station I would be sorely disappointed... Aggies know better than that...

 

I am an Aggie that's in College Station! That's just a story from back in the day (2 years ago, such a long time ago haha). That kid is at A&M Galveston or another one of the satellites though. Both of his parents are Aggies too