Hello all,
I have a situation with my 2009 F150. I bought about a year ago and since then it has been idling rough on a very random occasions.
Here are the details.
in summer when I had the air condition on the truck would idle rough randomly if I stop at the light (Note not all the times).
now since I do not have AC on it would idle rough on a very rear occasion.
If I put the truck into reverse it would idle rough about 70-80% of the time.
If I go from Drive to N and then wait couple seconds to put it into R it would mostly be okay.
If I have 4WD and put it into reverse count on getting a rough idle.
Check engine lights comes and goes on its own.
If I put the truck into N or press break and then press gas then it would idle normal.
I have taken to two shops.

Shop 1.
I stopped at the outside and it started idle rough so I grabbed the mechanic and he hooked his computer/scan tool and told me it is cam phasers and wanted to charge around $2900 to fix it. At that time i had check engine light on. He said the driver side cam is bad and cylinder 1, 3, 5 are throwing misfire code.

Shop 2.
Says they don't know what is wrong with it but it can't be cam phasers since it is random. The owner of this shop and two of their mechanics owns F-150 and all three of them have experienced cam phasers on their trucks. He said Cam Phasers will not be random thing. The truck is still at their shop and they want to do more diagnoses on it. They said they have hooked the computer and they have code for "retarded timing". They said they have called Ford Dealership and talked with his friend and they said they never heard of truck doing this in mostly reverse.


Any help would be appreciated.

 

bhuter24, My 2009 5.4 has done almost the same. Has 67K miles on it. I notice it seems to do it when I do a quick shift from Rev to Forward and mostly from forward to reverse like when parking.

Have never had a check engine light appear. Has done it for a while ( about 12 to 18 times ) I guess.

I just put into neutral and rev a little. But that's it. Not enough for me to pay dealer to play plug and play at my expense.
It has never done it on the road. You mentioned when a/c is on. Not sure with mine. I know this is not an answer but these trucks do idle very low, maybe that is an area to consider.

 

Hey thanks for the reply, I am going to pick up the truck from the 2nd shop since they can't pin point what is the problem. Lets keep the communication going between us. I was hoping that I will get some guidance here but it seems like that no one has clue about the problem we are facing.

 

Put heavier oil in it. Cam phasers have a locking pin that clicks into place at idle. your oil pressure is too low to lock the pin at idle and your cams are out of time. stock idle is 525rpm and doesn't help keeping oil pressure up. My 09 did it once with very thin 0w20 oil in it, after a long highway run and reversing into a parking stall. After a tune that kept the idle rpm at 600rpm and using 0w40 oil, it ran smooth as a top in every situation.

What do you have to lose...the cost of fresh oil. Try it and you will see. Don't let anyone tell you the 3v 5.4 was designed for 0w20 and will self destruct with heavier oil. It was released in Australia in the Falcon long before it hit north american shores...with 30 and 40 weight oils being spec'd.

when you are reving the engine the oil pressure comes up and locks the pin in place. Cam phasers often make continuous noise, but the rough idle can happen without the continuous noise as bearing clearances start growing. I bet it never happens when the engine is cold.

 

Thanks for the post!
I actually just had the oil changed on it like 100 miles ago and I think they used 0W20. But yes I will use 0W40 and will do the oil change by myself. It may take me few days or a week or so as I am not even driving the truck right now.
I will post the update once I change the oil.
How do you increase the idle PRM to 600 on this truck?

 

Only way to do that is with a programmer and a tune.

 

I had a 5star tune that worked wonders in helping the transmission shift properly. I asked for a 600rpm idle with it.

 

So the only way to get 600rpm is to have a shop to do that?

 

No, you can buy a programmer with tunes and do it yourself.

 

Yes and no.

You can buy a programmer and you can set the idle to 600.

 

The idle speed is computer controlled. It's not like the old days where you used a screwdriver and adjusted an idle screw.

 

okay I checked the price of 5star tune but its around $500. Then I called around and a shop told me they don't have a tool to mess with idle. Then I called Ford dealership they told me they wont do it because it is controlled by the computer and they won't deviate from original settings.

What do you guys suggest?

 

If it were my truck, I would bring it to a Ford dealer and have them fix it correctly, so you don't need to change the idle. Even if you have them find out what is wrong and you fix it (or alternatively have qualified shop fix it), it still beats masking the problem.

A Ford dealer can also put a data logger on it to and leave it with you for a couple days.

 

The Ford dealer said they want $2500 to fix the random problem they also said since they can't pin point they would like to start with replacing cam phaser, timing chain etc. and this might fix the problem.
I don't think its worth putting that much money into it. I can get engine swap for less than that.

Can you tell me where can I buy programmer and how would I set the RPM to 600?

 

I would find another Ford dealer.