Alright,

I'm new to this online stuff, but I've a problem...
2006 screw king ranch 5.4 with 200k.
Truck has been a gem.
Changed plugs and cops at 90k. Regular maintenance and That's it.

Coming home a week ago to the drive way and it looses oil pressure, had a misfire a week before but just the one. Pull codes and looks like cam/timing issues. Tensioner are a problem I know. New solenoids, new phasers, new chains, tensioners, cranks pocket and guides. Replaced the water pump and all the pulleys, and spark plugs crank sensor and cam sensors. Done today....
Fire it up and when it gets warm.... drops pressure to zero knocks worse than it did before. Some build up in the valve covers. It's had amsoil and mobil1 only which is a bit depressing. Could it be oil pump failure, pressure comes up when I tap the throttle but it sounds like hell.
Ideas?

 

I have an 04 F150 FX4 3V with 140K. Engine has been sounding like a diesel for a couple years but recently started ticking louder and threw a code for the cam phaser. We installed lockout plugs in both cam phasers, replaces the timing chain, sprockets, tensioners,guides, water pump and oil pump. Valve covers were full of sludge as well as front cover so we cleaned them well. Oil pump went in easy and the oring and bolts we're tight. Before we did these repairs I was getting a knocking noise with good oil pressure. Now with the new oil pump, chains, tensioners and guides my truck started with no oil pressure? I started a second time and oil pressure came up good for about ten seconds and instantly dropped to no pressure. We left all of the new components on and dropped the oil pan just to check if the oil pickup tube was lose or broken. It appeared to be installed fine but there was a 1" square chunk of the original broken plastic chain Guide in the oil pan. Is there a chance that such a small piece of plastic can completely obstruct oil pressure? Is there anything I could have done to lose oil pressure when I installed the cam phaser lockout plugs $ Also is there seals on the chain tensioners or guides that can cause no oil pressure. I'm dumbfounded after putting the engine back together and having no oil pressure. Where do I start next?

 

I pulled the pan this afternoon. It was a much easier job than I thought it would be.
Some sediment in the pan. This engine does not burn off condensation well in my opinion. Any time condensation occurs under the filler cap you are looking at trouble. I've always been suspicious of the milky film when adding oil. An emulsion of oil and water creates varnish resulting in a bad result for a mechanism as complex as this engine.
I've run mobile1 and amsoil signature series in this engine, I have watched amsoil mix with water and the result is varnish... the wear in this engine is minimal for 200k. Dirty, yes, but impressive in how tight it is. I would be interested in seeing how it performs on the dyno. So much for the rant.....

Varnish on the pickup screen. My guess is low pressure would not activate phasers/solenoids to maintain timing. Demand for oil could not be fed due to reduced supply caused by a 1 dollar screen.

I bleed ford blue. This is a great powerplant, not without its issues. Thanks for the information posted on this site. Without this info, I would not have been able to to deduce a drop in oil pressure results in an engine that runs like it's out of time (because it is).

 

Even if you run Mobil 1 or Amsoil in that engine, you can't safely extend the drain intervals like you can in simpler engines.

The safest way to desludge it is with AutoRX, directions must be followed exactly.

 

I've run autoRX. Don't think it's worth the expense.

 

I had a similar set of issues in my '05 5.4 about a year ago. I had some bade coils that created a misfire, which led to my engine burning off some oil as fuel mixed in.

By the time it started knocking I was down 2-3 quarts. Replacing with 5w-20 did nothing, so on the recommendation of some here, I switched to 10w-30. Since then I've had no issues, and I installed a pancake adapter and an electrical pressure gauge to monitor.

I know that approach is controversial, and some consider it a band-aid. However, the way I looked at it, the only other fix would likely mean a rebuild or new motor. If that happens at this point I'll be ahead of the game by a year or two. I've probably driven about 10k miles in the last 14 months wince making the change to thicker oil.

It's worth a shot at least.