Hi to all. Very imformative website.Hope someone can help.Just bought an 05 f150 fx4 100,000 miles.%.4 litre makes noise at idle (600Rpm) after it's warmed up. Sounds fine when it's cold but as temp gauge moves up to normal it gets louder.If I bring RPM's up to 12-1500 the noise goes away or at least decreases a heck of a lot.From what I'm reading here it sounds like cam phasers.I thought I'd start with something easier so I replaced a vct solenoid and it made no difference.I have changed the oil and new plugs.It sounds like the noise is coming from both sides.I thought I'd drop the oil pan and take a look at the screen and pickup on the pump.Seeing as though it's a 4wd didn't know if I had to raise the motor or take a crossmember out to get it all the way off?Am I moving in the right direction?Also it sounds as though they had a lot of problems with the injectors should I be looking at replacing these also? The previous owner claims it's been making this noise for probablly 10,000 miles or so.When I pulled the solenoid out it looked fairly and none of the screens were plugged.Any help would be great.I've owned ford trucks for over 30 years with great luck and hope I didn't get stuck with a headache.I don't mind replacing the phasers but want to make sure I have it diagnosed properly.Thanks a bunch

 

You might want to look at replacing the cam phasers.....

 

I would drain your oil and filter it through paper towel or coffee filter slowly. See if you have any aluminum flakes in the oil. If so then you have the same issue I had with my 05. The tensioner's are notorious for failing. The timing chains will make a knocking noise when there hitting the front timing cover putting aluminum shavings into the oil. You would also likely find broken plastic from the tensioner arms in the oil pickup screen if you pull the pan but mostly likely your issue is the phasers with that mileage on the motor.
If you pull the phasers without pulling the front cover you could probably look down in there enough to see if the tensioner arms are still intact. Honestly if it were me I would take the time to pull the front cover regardless when I changed the phasers so I could pull the VCT valve body and clean them and also put a new timing chain kit on it while I was there. Just my two cents after dealing with a similar issue on mine.

 

I think I'd probably do it all at once.It just doesn't sound as though the noise is coming from the front but more the top of the motor.What does dropping the pan entail on this truck? Ireally appreciate the input

 

I'm not sure if you can get the pan off on the 4x4 without pulling the crossmember. I already had 173K on mine when I had this issues so I pulled it and rebuilt it from the bottom up. Looking back I could have gotten away with new timing kit and phasers but I just wanted to go through it anyway. I pull my boat all the time and I didn't want to worry about it.

If you hear knocking up top you probably have a couple bad lifters. Several of mine were shot at 173K. So you could just pull valve covers, replace the phasers and replace the lifters. Button it back up and see if the knock is gone. Good luck keeping it in time without pulling the front cover though. With worn timing chains they will slip on the crank sprocket very easily. Unfortunately even pulling the valve covers is a pain in the As# on these motors the first time. Once you have done it you can do it again pretty quick but the first time around sucks.