I have been lurking on this site since I traded a C5 Vette for my 2004 F-150 5.4 4x4 truck 5 years ago. The truck had just turned 100K so I had the plugs done at Ford. Now at 190K I replaced the COPS and at 175K I replaced the trans. Sounded like a Diesel at drive thru but sounded just like the you tube vid. Change oil every 3K with motorcraft oil and filter. Cleaned throttle body a few summers ago. Very dirty. Run a K&N, duels and edge in tow. Love my truck.

This week I started it up and it hickuped, went into rough idle, egg smell, ran bad. Code showed up for the 1st time and it was. . . P0012. Read this forum and OMG it had happeded to me. Cam Phaser Bank 1 Retarded. Took it to the only mech around here and he said yep that noise is the chain flapping around, Maybe broken guides and would only do it if motor is pulled. Bad day. Told me Bank 1 was just a half a tooth out of time and that why the code and the sound was different than it had been.

I had given up on my ride but yesterday I was getting around town on back streets and it just cleared up. Code was still there but I reset it with my edge and its running fine. Friday 13th was crazy at my shop restoring old Honda's but can someone tell me what went on? How did it fix itself and will it show up again soon? I use my truck daily and am thinking about trading this weekend. This truck ran bad all week and the more I read the more the cam chain guides being gone and wore out sounded true. Is there anything I can do to keep it from happening again. 2K on this oil change but I did haul a car 800 miles on this oil change so I was thinking getting a oil change early.

 

Double G,

Odds are very good that it just didn't fix itself....in all likelyhood, just a brief reprieve from the symptoms.

What is your normal driving routine....short drives, less than 5miles & shut it off for a few hours?

You do have nearly 200k on this engine, if I understood correctly. You might be better off , time and money wise, finding a lower miled engine or just a new crate engine to stick in rather than fixing the original. especially time wise.

yes, it does sounds like the time chain and phasers/tensioners and associated components are going out.

 

So, thats what I was thinking. I put a can of sea foam in and washed it but I am afraid this is not going to just go away, if it comes back I am dead in the water. I have heard the edge could cause havoc on the ECM so I unloaded it and unpluged. I want it to be OK really bad, I love the truck but I cant get stuck holding the bag with the cam chains , , ya know. Got an offer for a even trade. My truck to a 2000 F-250 7.3 Auto. 150K on it. Should I jump on it or what? Never had a 7.3 and dont really tow as much as I used to but its a good looking XLT 4x4 . All I can think about is my truck is 75% used up where that truck still has 75% left. Fuel is .20 more and mileage is the same. 17 and 13 on both trucks.