04 Oil Pressure Problems
#1
10-07-2011, 08:00 PM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
04 Oil Pressure Problems
Well may need some help from you guys. I have been having issues with the truck lately and I am stuck. I stumped the dealership to. Truck is 04 5.4 3v with approx. 63k on it. Here are the symptoms:
hard starts, loss of power, slight rough idle, light pinging. I recently had a p0011 code (over advanced cam on bank 1). Truck didn't feel much different after it thru the code. Did some research and decided to replace the VCT solenoid on that bank. Seemed a little better after that but then this last week it thru the same code. This time it felt like it was running on 4 cylinders and stalled twice when pulling up to stop lights. Went to work, went to leave it felt like it was running better again. Decided to make an appointment at the dealership.
Dealership had it for 2 days and could not determine the root cause. They were actually nice to work with and let me go back in the service bay and talk with the tech. The service adviser actually wanted me to talk with him since I had a good understanding of the vehicle and could accurately describe the problems. The tech said that the oil pressure was on the low side and that the cams were not advancing/retarding correctly. Went over is data and showed me how the pcm was commanding them to do certain things and they seemed slow to react. They did consult with Ford technical service also. They said to figure out the low oil pressure problems before doing anything else. The tech said at some point there is only so much they can do without removing valve covers and going from there. They wanted almost $700 to remove valve covers and continue diagnosing. I had to stop there. But the tech did say that the oil pressure actually dropped to 14 psi at one point and the truck did stall. From his notes -
"run test EEC for code none present at this time Listen for engine noise accured mostly when cold. Ck eng oil pressure at 30 psi hot engine (low) Test VCT movement advanced at idle. Retarded by 5 degrees hot eng. Movement for both the same. Switch cam sensors Same. No light ran good. Let idle for 2 hours oil pressure was low at 14. did notice stall out during test. Tech did talk to customer regarding concern, still need further diag to determine low oil pressure and confirm VCT movement."
After talking to the adviser more he said that if this was a warranty they would just replace the heads but didn't want to do that since I was footing the bill. The fact that the engine is noisy when cold makes me believe it is not necessarily a phaser issue. The tech though that there might be 2 issues but unsure at this point.
Not sure what to do next. I don't believe the engine is sludged up but was thinking about trying the autorx treatment to see if that might clean some crude out. Thought I would post here and see if anyone has any ideas. And yes the truck has been properly maintained, was serviced by Ford before I bought it and I have always serviced it with motorcraft parts. Always used MC filter and fluids and MC plugs changed recently. Sorry for the long rambling post but trying to give as many details as possible.
kev
hard starts, loss of power, slight rough idle, light pinging. I recently had a p0011 code (over advanced cam on bank 1). Truck didn't feel much different after it thru the code. Did some research and decided to replace the VCT solenoid on that bank. Seemed a little better after that but then this last week it thru the same code. This time it felt like it was running on 4 cylinders and stalled twice when pulling up to stop lights. Went to work, went to leave it felt like it was running better again. Decided to make an appointment at the dealership.
Dealership had it for 2 days and could not determine the root cause. They were actually nice to work with and let me go back in the service bay and talk with the tech. The service adviser actually wanted me to talk with him since I had a good understanding of the vehicle and could accurately describe the problems. The tech said that the oil pressure was on the low side and that the cams were not advancing/retarding correctly. Went over is data and showed me how the pcm was commanding them to do certain things and they seemed slow to react. They did consult with Ford technical service also. They said to figure out the low oil pressure problems before doing anything else. The tech said at some point there is only so much they can do without removing valve covers and going from there. They wanted almost $700 to remove valve covers and continue diagnosing. I had to stop there. But the tech did say that the oil pressure actually dropped to 14 psi at one point and the truck did stall. From his notes -
"run test EEC for code none present at this time Listen for engine noise accured mostly when cold. Ck eng oil pressure at 30 psi hot engine (low) Test VCT movement advanced at idle. Retarded by 5 degrees hot eng. Movement for both the same. Switch cam sensors Same. No light ran good. Let idle for 2 hours oil pressure was low at 14. did notice stall out during test. Tech did talk to customer regarding concern, still need further diag to determine low oil pressure and confirm VCT movement."
After talking to the adviser more he said that if this was a warranty they would just replace the heads but didn't want to do that since I was footing the bill. The fact that the engine is noisy when cold makes me believe it is not necessarily a phaser issue. The tech though that there might be 2 issues but unsure at this point.
Not sure what to do next. I don't believe the engine is sludged up but was thinking about trying the autorx treatment to see if that might clean some crude out. Thought I would post here and see if anyone has any ideas. And yes the truck has been properly maintained, was serviced by Ford before I bought it and I have always serviced it with motorcraft parts. Always used MC filter and fluids and MC plugs changed recently. Sorry for the long rambling post but trying to give as many details as possible.
kev
#2
10-08-2011, 01:44 PM
Most likely the phasers. They're pretty much destined to fail in these motors at some point. Obviously, you should make sure that there's not some other major problem before spending a bunch of money to fix that but odds are good that's the primary problem.
Also, hard to tell from the way it's written but you shouldn't necessarily look at the lowest reading for the oil pressure. The better way to look at it is whether it was within acceptable range while running. The reason that I bring this up is that I'm assuming that the guy didn't actually sit there and watch the oil pressure for the 2 hours that they had it running. Rather, they probably hooked it up to a monitor and he's just reading the results and seeing that as the low recorded. The 14 psi reading could have come at the point that the motor was stalling for whatever reason, not that the motor was stalling as a result of low pressure. That is, it's reflecting the result, not the cause.
If you actually have low oil pressure, then it that should be fairly easy to see follow the pattern with typical fluctuations from cold /hot and with engine speed. If you don't see that, then I wouldn't lean toward the diagnosis of a general oil pressure problem. That said, you could have some other problems with sludge or restrictions to the oil feed to the phasers (or other areas) specificallly that would affect their operation. In any case, the repair approach will be the same - pull the covers, inspect, then assuming that you don't find major sludge or some other problem that causes you to pull the plug, then replace phasers and adjusters/rockers while you're in there.
Edit to add:
~$700 is high just to pull the valve covers. And they should be able to confirm/deny proper operation of the phasers without pulling the covers. Other than seeing sludge (which they should be able to see enough of through the solenoid opening as a first check) or some mechanical problem (e.g., missing pins on the phaser which seems fairly common on the older ones with the roll-pins versus solid pins on the later), pulling the covers isn't going to tell you whether they are working properly. You can't tell by looking at them. At that point you might as well just replace them and whatever else anyway since the labor cost is going to be about the same.
Also, hard to tell from the way it's written but you shouldn't necessarily look at the lowest reading for the oil pressure. The better way to look at it is whether it was within acceptable range while running. The reason that I bring this up is that I'm assuming that the guy didn't actually sit there and watch the oil pressure for the 2 hours that they had it running. Rather, they probably hooked it up to a monitor and he's just reading the results and seeing that as the low recorded. The 14 psi reading could have come at the point that the motor was stalling for whatever reason, not that the motor was stalling as a result of low pressure. That is, it's reflecting the result, not the cause.
If you actually have low oil pressure, then it that should be fairly easy to see follow the pattern with typical fluctuations from cold /hot and with engine speed. If you don't see that, then I wouldn't lean toward the diagnosis of a general oil pressure problem. That said, you could have some other problems with sludge or restrictions to the oil feed to the phasers (or other areas) specificallly that would affect their operation. In any case, the repair approach will be the same - pull the covers, inspect, then assuming that you don't find major sludge or some other problem that causes you to pull the plug, then replace phasers and adjusters/rockers while you're in there.
Edit to add:
~$700 is high just to pull the valve covers. And they should be able to confirm/deny proper operation of the phasers without pulling the covers. Other than seeing sludge (which they should be able to see enough of through the solenoid opening as a first check) or some mechanical problem (e.g., missing pins on the phaser which seems fairly common on the older ones with the roll-pins versus solid pins on the later), pulling the covers isn't going to tell you whether they are working properly. You can't tell by looking at them. At that point you might as well just replace them and whatever else anyway since the labor cost is going to be about the same.
Last edited by Mike A.; 10-08-2011 at 02:32 PM.
#3
10-08-2011, 04:20 PM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Mike, thanks for the reply, I figured you would since you seem to have a good understanding of the VCT system. I am not convinced that it really a low oil pressure problem either. I know the tech wasn't watching the truck when it stalled. He even said he just walked away to speak with the service adviser and that's when it stalled.
I really don't think the motor is sludged up but I suppose anything is possible. Now that I have gotten over some of my frustration with this truck I am thinking about just pulling the valve covers and go from there. I did order 2 bottles of the AutoRX treatment, figured that couldn't hurt on cleaning the internals. I may see what an independent mechanic would charge for diagnostic work. I would really like to have some clue of what the culprit is before I go ripping into the motor. the $700 did seem really high but I guess that's what the dealerships charge in the chicago area. They charged my $125 for the work they did and claimed that was really for only 1 hours time even though they had about 6 into it.
Can you explain in a little more detail about following the pattern with typical fluctuations from hot to cold? Not sure if I am understanding that.
Anyways thanks again for the help.
Kev
I really don't think the motor is sludged up but I suppose anything is possible. Now that I have gotten over some of my frustration with this truck I am thinking about just pulling the valve covers and go from there. I did order 2 bottles of the AutoRX treatment, figured that couldn't hurt on cleaning the internals. I may see what an independent mechanic would charge for diagnostic work. I would really like to have some clue of what the culprit is before I go ripping into the motor. the $700 did seem really high but I guess that's what the dealerships charge in the chicago area. They charged my $125 for the work they did and claimed that was really for only 1 hours time even though they had about 6 into it.
Can you explain in a little more detail about following the pattern with typical fluctuations from hot to cold? Not sure if I am understanding that.
Anyways thanks again for the help.
Kev
#4
10-08-2011, 07:31 PM
What I meant was that if you had a general oil pressure problem then that should be fairly quick and inexpensive thing to check and the results will be obvious. If you can see that it's low from the start then you can just stop right there. Otherwise, typically you'd expect to see the usual pattern where oil pressure will start out higher and then fall low as the motor heats up and/or swings more than normal with RPM. You won't be able to see that on the gauge in the truck since they so "helpfully" buffer the actual readings to make it look more stable than it actually is, but with a real gauge you/they should be able to get true readings and low pressure should be a fairly easy diagnosis. If so, then not much sense in chasing issues with the phasers before you deal with that.
If overall pressure is OK, then you still might have a more specific issue related to oil pressure that could affect the phasers but you won't see that with a gauge. The way that the phasers work is that oil is forced into a series of chambers inside in order to hydraulically force the inner part that's attached to the cam to rotate and advance/retard the timing. So you need enough pressure to make them work and also have a clear paths in and out to be able to provide/release that pressure. If the phasers themselves or any of the little ports in that system are restricted in some way, then it's not going to work right.
So what I was saying is that pulling the covers and standing there looking at the things isn't going to help a whole heck of a lot. If you go that far, then you're most of the way there and might as well just go ahead and swap them and do whatever else is needed at the same time.
Without pulling the covers, they should be able to hook up to their diagnostics and run specific tests for proper operation of the phasers. There's a specific service procedure that they can run through to test the VCT system and activation of the solenoids, run the phasers through various drive cycles, etc. and record and review the results. That should be a less expensive way to verify that it's related to the phasers before going in but unfortunately requires somebody who actually knows what they're doing and looking at and you'll be real lucky to find that at most dealers.
If overall pressure is OK, then you still might have a more specific issue related to oil pressure that could affect the phasers but you won't see that with a gauge. The way that the phasers work is that oil is forced into a series of chambers inside in order to hydraulically force the inner part that's attached to the cam to rotate and advance/retard the timing. So you need enough pressure to make them work and also have a clear paths in and out to be able to provide/release that pressure. If the phasers themselves or any of the little ports in that system are restricted in some way, then it's not going to work right.
So what I was saying is that pulling the covers and standing there looking at the things isn't going to help a whole heck of a lot. If you go that far, then you're most of the way there and might as well just go ahead and swap them and do whatever else is needed at the same time.
Without pulling the covers, they should be able to hook up to their diagnostics and run specific tests for proper operation of the phasers. There's a specific service procedure that they can run through to test the VCT system and activation of the solenoids, run the phasers through various drive cycles, etc. and record and review the results. That should be a less expensive way to verify that it's related to the phasers before going in but unfortunately requires somebody who actually knows what they're doing and looking at and you'll be real lucky to find that at most dealers.
Last edited by Mike A.; 10-08-2011 at 07:38 PM.
#5
10-10-2011, 02:09 PM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Mike,
That makes more sense and thanks for clarifying. When i spoke with the tech he did say that start up oil pressure was good - I believe he said 70 psi or maybe 75 psi. It was the hot engine oil pressure which was at 30 psi. He said that should be fine but it's on the low side. I would have thought they would have gone thru the proper VCT diagnostics but since I was only paying for "1 hour" of diagnostic time they might not have.
I did buy a mechanical oil pressure gauge today so I will see if I can get that hooked up today. Do you happen to know where the best spot is to hook one up? I believe there is a spot near the oil filter adapter but haven't gotten underneath the truck yet. Wish Ford had PID for oil pressure in the PCM, sure would make it easier but I suppose a mechanical gauge is going to be the best.
Kev
That makes more sense and thanks for clarifying. When i spoke with the tech he did say that start up oil pressure was good - I believe he said 70 psi or maybe 75 psi. It was the hot engine oil pressure which was at 30 psi. He said that should be fine but it's on the low side. I would have thought they would have gone thru the proper VCT diagnostics but since I was only paying for "1 hour" of diagnostic time they might not have.
I did buy a mechanical oil pressure gauge today so I will see if I can get that hooked up today. Do you happen to know where the best spot is to hook one up? I believe there is a spot near the oil filter adapter but haven't gotten underneath the truck yet. Wish Ford had PID for oil pressure in the PCM, sure would make it easier but I suppose a mechanical gauge is going to be the best.
Kev
#7
10-10-2011, 08:05 PM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks GLC. That looks like a good spot just a PITA to get to. Looks like the ford tech must have just hand tightened his gauge in, oil all over the place.
One question about the phasers. Once you remove them are you able to tell if they are broken? From what I understand, just because they make noise doesn't mean that are not functioning properly. I have also read that the earlier models used a spring pin instead of solid pin to hold them together. Is it when the pin shears that they stop functioning properly?
Kev
One question about the phasers. Once you remove them are you able to tell if they are broken? From what I understand, just because they make noise doesn't mean that are not functioning properly. I have also read that the earlier models used a spring pin instead of solid pin to hold them together. Is it when the pin shears that they stop functioning properly?
Kev
Trending Topics
#8
10-11-2011, 07:53 PM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well got my oil pressure gauge installed. Not a whole lot of room to to work by the filter adapter but was able to get a tee in and still retain the stock sender. Anyways drove it around some tonight and oil pressure seems somewhat normal.
Cold start was 76-78 psi
Warm reading at approx. 2000 rpm was 60-64, oil temp 189 f.
At idle it seems a little low but not sure what idle psi should be. I was reading approx. 26-28 psi. Haynes manual states that it should be checked at normal operating tempature at 2000 rpm.
While driving it would rise when accelerating and fall while coasting or coming to stop. I did see it as low as 24 psi when coming to stop light in gear.
Going to keep an eye on it for a little while and wait to see if I see anything abnormal.
Kev
Cold start was 76-78 psi
Warm reading at approx. 2000 rpm was 60-64, oil temp 189 f.
At idle it seems a little low but not sure what idle psi should be. I was reading approx. 26-28 psi. Haynes manual states that it should be checked at normal operating tempature at 2000 rpm.
While driving it would rise when accelerating and fall while coasting or coming to stop. I did see it as low as 24 psi when coming to stop light in gear.
Going to keep an eye on it for a little while and wait to see if I see anything abnormal.
Kev
#10
10-13-2011, 12:09 AM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Well still monitoring oil pressure but I believe that the overall pressure is fine. Like you said mike that won't always tell you about a oiling problem in the phasers. As I think more about this I have a couple of questions about phaser operation. Maybe I should start a new thread but I will start here.
The tech said that the cams were advancing at idle but should be at 0 degrees. From what I understand the phasers have a spring pin that locks them until the engine comes up to operating tempature. If that pin is not working properly would that cause the cams to advance at idle? I have also read that the phasers will only make noise when the engine is warm or hot, and that many times there is nothing wrong with them even though they make noise. If the phaser is truly broken would it make noise even when cold?
Appreciate all the help everyone has given and have found this forum to be a great resource.
The tech said that the cams were advancing at idle but should be at 0 degrees. From what I understand the phasers have a spring pin that locks them until the engine comes up to operating tempature. If that pin is not working properly would that cause the cams to advance at idle? I have also read that the phasers will only make noise when the engine is warm or hot, and that many times there is nothing wrong with them even though they make noise. If the phaser is truly broken would it make noise even when cold?
Appreciate all the help everyone has given and have found this forum to be a great resource.
#11
10-17-2011, 03:31 PM
Well still monitoring oil pressure but I believe that the overall pressure is fine. Like you said mike that won't always tell you about a oiling problem in the phasers. As I think more about this I have a couple of questions about phaser operation. Maybe I should start a new thread but I will start here.
The tech said that the cams were advancing at idle but should be at 0 degrees. From what I understand the phasers have a spring pin that locks them until the engine comes up to operating tempature. If that pin is not working properly would that cause the cams to advance at idle? I have also read that the phasers will only make noise when the engine is warm or hot, and that many times there is nothing wrong with them even though they make noise. If the phaser is truly broken would it make noise even when cold?
Appreciate all the help everyone has given and have found this forum to be a great resource.
The tech said that the cams were advancing at idle but should be at 0 degrees. From what I understand the phasers have a spring pin that locks them until the engine comes up to operating tempature. If that pin is not working properly would that cause the cams to advance at idle? I have also read that the phasers will only make noise when the engine is warm or hot, and that many times there is nothing wrong with them even though they make noise. If the phaser is truly broken would it make noise even when cold?
Appreciate all the help everyone has given and have found this forum to be a great resource.
Yeah it could. Along with a host of other things like a bad/not working spring not pulling it back like it should. When I did mine 2 of the 3 pins that hold the assembly together were completely missing so the spring and rest of the mechanism weren't even close to working right. My advance was all over the place.
The missing pins seems to be fairly common in the 2004 - 2005 from what I've seen. The roll pins they used have been replaced by solid pins on the newer. Don't know whether that's your problem specifically but wouldn't be surprised.
The phasers should only kick in once things are up to temp and should only make a light "knocking" type noise when operating properly. And that's a light knocking that you'd have to listen closely for, not the typical running like a diesel effect that you see on a lot of them that's caused by having the advance all out of whack. Some people seem to think that's normal and doesn't affect anything but it's not and it obviously does have an effect on performance/power/mileage just as, conversely, it helps quite a bit when the VCT is working properly.
Not making noise when cold assumes that everything's working right. They could make noise when cold if not, e.g., pins failed as above, spring not working, locking pin stuck, solenoid not working or stuck in the wrong position, etc., etc. Then you have a phaser that's "on" when it shouldn't be.
#12
10-17-2011, 03:57 PM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for reply and no worries on the delay. I have been monitoring everything at this point but your reply confirms my thought process I believe. I did an oil change this weekend and added some auto-rx. I know that's not going to be a cure but hopefully it will help clean the internals up if needed. The fresh oil did not make much of a difference but wasn't expecting it to. I may go interview an independent shop this week and see if they have the knowledge to help diagnose this but I believe the next step is to take the valve covers off, inspect the cams and valve train as best I can and replace the phasers since I'm there. Can the lash adjuster be inspected visually or do they need to be removed to be checked? Also once the valve covers are off is there enough room to visual inspect the timing chain tensioners? I would prefer to only do this once if I can avoid it.
#13
10-18-2011, 12:20 AM
Unless you really have something unusually bad with the lash adjusters or rocker, then you won't really see anything. You'd probably know if you had anything that bad wthout even looking because of the noise that it would cause.
If you have an adjuster or rocker that's bad you might see some difference in the wear on that cam lobe but again if so then you'd likely be hearing it. Some wear/color difference over all of the cam lobes is normal so don't worry about that too much. What you'd want to look for is grooving or deep scoring within that wear pattern, a flat spot on the lobe, heat bluing, chipping, and things like that. Usually fairly obvious when compared with the other lobes.
You really need to pull the adjusters to check them which requires pulling the rockers and at least lifting the cam to get them out. I had ~150K on mine and they were tapping a lot so I just went ahead and swapped them all. Probably about 1/4 of them were pretty much done at that point.
With ~65K on yours unless you have some tapping then I might just let that go. It would be a whole lot less work and less money. It's not real hard, but there's 24 of the damn things and they're about $8 each so the time and money add up. You'll also need to pay attention to the torque for the bearing caps, etc., and you'll need a tool to compress the springs. Overall, it's a lot more work versus just doing the phasers alone.
You can see the tensioner and guides. At least well enough to get a pretty good idea of condition. Might need a flashlight. You can't really see that the tensioner is working right but you'll see any unusual wear on the guides. As I think that I may have mentioned at one point, you may see a bright spot on the case where the chain spools off of the driver's side phaser sprocket. You'd need to pull the front cover to do any more than that. With ~65K, unless you have some unusual problem, then you've probably got some time on that.
If you have an adjuster or rocker that's bad you might see some difference in the wear on that cam lobe but again if so then you'd likely be hearing it. Some wear/color difference over all of the cam lobes is normal so don't worry about that too much. What you'd want to look for is grooving or deep scoring within that wear pattern, a flat spot on the lobe, heat bluing, chipping, and things like that. Usually fairly obvious when compared with the other lobes.
You really need to pull the adjusters to check them which requires pulling the rockers and at least lifting the cam to get them out. I had ~150K on mine and they were tapping a lot so I just went ahead and swapped them all. Probably about 1/4 of them were pretty much done at that point.
With ~65K on yours unless you have some tapping then I might just let that go. It would be a whole lot less work and less money. It's not real hard, but there's 24 of the damn things and they're about $8 each so the time and money add up. You'll also need to pay attention to the torque for the bearing caps, etc., and you'll need a tool to compress the springs. Overall, it's a lot more work versus just doing the phasers alone.
You can see the tensioner and guides. At least well enough to get a pretty good idea of condition. Might need a flashlight. You can't really see that the tensioner is working right but you'll see any unusual wear on the guides. As I think that I may have mentioned at one point, you may see a bright spot on the case where the chain spools off of the driver's side phaser sprocket. You'd need to pull the front cover to do any more than that. With ~65K, unless you have some unusual problem, then you've probably got some time on that.
#14
10-18-2011, 06:50 AM
I really don't think the motor is sludged up but I suppose anything is possible. Now that I have gotten over some of my frustration with this truck I am thinking about just pulling the valve covers and go from there. I did order 2 bottles of the AutoRX treatment, figured that couldn't hurt on cleaning the internals. I may see what an independent mechanic would charge for diagnostic work. I would really like to have some clue of what the culprit is before I go ripping into the motor. the $700 did seem really high but I guess that's what the dealerships charge in the chicago area. They charged my $125 for the work they did and claimed that was really for only 1 hours time even though they had about 6 into it.
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
Last edited by Bluejay; 10-18-2011 at 12:22 PM. Reason: Advertising on this site is resricted to paying sponsors.
#15
10-24-2011, 12:12 PM
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 294
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Mike,
Sorry I missed your response until the other day, must have something to do with the post above me here. Not sure what that was about but hopefully nothing I did.
Thanks for the response. Truck is getting worse so I think the time has come to rip into it. It's getting harder to start sometimes and I am noticing the pinging more right before it shifts. I am ordering phasers and gaskets today and hopefully that's all I need. I am going to try and rent a timing wedge also this week and get the AC drained. With the low mileage I am hoping the rest of the valve train and timing components are in good shape. Thanks again for the help and if your in Chicago next weekend and want to work on Ford let me know, I will buy the beer. I will let you know the results.
Kev
Sorry I missed your response until the other day, must have something to do with the post above me here. Not sure what that was about but hopefully nothing I did.
Thanks for the response. Truck is getting worse so I think the time has come to rip into it. It's getting harder to start sometimes and I am noticing the pinging more right before it shifts. I am ordering phasers and gaskets today and hopefully that's all I need. I am going to try and rent a timing wedge also this week and get the AC drained. With the low mileage I am hoping the rest of the valve train and timing components are in good shape. Thanks again for the help and if your in Chicago next weekend and want to work on Ford let me know, I will buy the beer. I will let you know the results.
Kev