2007 F-150, 4.2 V6, 148K Miles
The last few months my engine has been squeaking. It was a slight squeak at first, then in the last 2 weeks it has been screaming like a school yard of kindergarten children! My cousin took it to his house to diagnose it and called me to say it was the a/c pulley. So, he changed the pulley and clutch. Still squeaking. I took it to an indy shop and for $20 he diagnosed it as a cracked flex plate. I disagreed with him and he suggested I get another opinion. I took it to another indy/trans shop and he too said cracked flex plate (no charge).
I was in the big city and decided to stop by the local Ford dealership. As I was pulling up, engine screaming real good, there were several techs coming back from lunch. One said,"Man, I ain't never heard a CAM SYNCHRONIZER (CS) make that much noise!" The others kind of laughed and one stated,"Yeah, a $650 squeak!" I stopped them and asked them if it really was the CS. They explained it to me, told me what parts to buy, and find someone to install them.
Long story short, my son works at a Ford dealership 125 miles from me. The shop foreman replaced it, replaced my t-stat, and flushed the coolant system. I provided all the parts and he charged me $125.
If you own a 4.2 V6 engine truck (3.8 V6's are the same) and it's screaming/squeaking/squealing like a Banshee Indian, pull the serpentine belt, and start the engine. If it continues to make the aforementioned noises, get the CS replaced ASAP! If it freezes up, your oil pump will stop rotating, which will stop the flow of oil throughout the engine, then your bearings get scorched, making you need a new engine!
SOMETIMES you can just squirt a couple of shots of oil in the CS after you remove the cam sensor. It will wick its way down to the dry bushings and stop the noise (it's a temporary fix). If it's too far gone like mine was (and in the video below) you MUST replace the CS.
I figured by me posting this I could help someone else out there in the same boat as I were in. GOOD LUCK!

 

Thanks for posting. It doesn't apply to anything I own but it's something I didn't know about.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

Man, it sounds like all of a sudden, you've got all these maintenance issues creeping up on you. First the fan clutch, and now this.

 

The fan clutch was okay. The fan clutch turned out to be the CS.

 

Not that it will make you feel any better, but I just had a new radiator installed. What was wrong with the old radiator? Nothing. It was perfect. Beautiful. Worked perfectly. Until I stabbed it with a knife. Hood was open. I needed to cut something else. Exerted a little too much strength. Knife cut through what it was cutting, and kept going. I stabbed the radiator. Radiator fluid came gushing out, and I was covered in it. A cash expense which I was not planning on. Not worth it. Try not to stab your radiator.

At least now you won't have to worry about the special purpose tool for the fan clutch release.

 

UPDATE!
Since having the CAM SYNCHRONIZER (CS) replaced, my truck gained 1 mpg on highway driving. I haven't figured the city driving, yet, so I don't know that mpg.
Usually I can travel 420 miles on 18 gallons of gas (23 mpg) on the highway, and 325 miles (18 mpg) in the city. This last tank I drove 443 miles on 18 gallons of gas to get 24 mpg. This is because of the CS being at fault, and the carbon buildup on the CAM SENSOR. Also, there was almost a 1/4" of play, up and down, in the shaft. THAT'S A LOT!
It's a PITA to get to the CAM SENSOR/SYNCHRONIZER, but if you can clean/replace the CAM SENSOR, you too will most likely gain more mpg's. YMMV.

 

 

Too bad you didn't make a video of the dealership techs performing the service on your truck.

 

The dealership techs didn't do the job at the dealership. My son is friends with the shop foreman at the Ford dealership he works at. He (shop foreman) brought it to his house and did the job there.

 

ANOTHER UPDATE!
The last few days I have been doing city driving. I had to go to my sons aunt & uncles home to let them use me and my truck for some trash hauling. It seems that the neighborhood drew up a petition for them to clean their yard up (6 broke down cars and trucks, misc. auto parts, and junk). I made 13 trips with my truck, fully loaded, driving speeds of 25 mph-45 mph. After driving home (95 miles) I stopped to fill up with gas 3 miles from my house. There were 335 miles on a tank filled with 17.4 gallons of gas, which gave me 19.2 mpg city driving. That's an increase of 1.2 mpg since the CAM SYNCHRONIZER replacement.
My truck is running so good! Better acceleration, smoother idle, and better gas mileage. It feels like a new truck. Oh, and I am currently running CASTROL EURO 0W40 oil.
For those of you that have the 4.2 V6, I would remove and clean the cam sensor, or replace it. Who knows, you might see the same gas mileage increases like my truck has achieved.