How bad is the 5.4l 3v cam phaser issue?

[mc01svt]

Since my family has doubled in size in the last 2 years im strongly considering trading in my 5.0 supercrew f-150 on an expedition EL. The 2010-2014 expeditions have dropped to the mid teens and i cant think of any fullsized truck based SUV that is cheaper.

My only concern is the dreaded cam phaser issue. From what i understand ford never corrected it even if you buy the last model year 5.4L and it seems to effect all model years equally. How bad is this issue? Is it epidemic level of just a small percentage of trucks? I hear jasper and powertrain products are making a crap ton of $$$ selling reman engines.

I'd hate to buy a truck then have to put in a whole new timing kit with lockout, plus a mellings high volume oil pump. That's probably $2,500 worth of parts and labor.

my gut tells me to just avoid this motor like that plague and just pony up for a yukon denali, ford got away with murder on this one. All of these start failing conveniently when the motors dropped out of warranty

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

Since my family has doubled in size in the last 2 years im strongly considering trading in my 5.0 supercrew f-150 on an expedition EL. The 2010-2014 expeditions have dropped to the mid teens and i cant think of any fullsized truck based SUV that is cheaper.

My only concern is the dreaded cam phaser issue. From what i understand ford never corrected it even if you buy the last model year 5.4L and it seems to effect all model years equally. How bad is this issue? Is it epidemic level of just a small percentage of trucks? I hear jasper and powertrain products are making a crap ton of $$$ selling reman engines.

I'd hate to buy a truck then have to put in a whole new timing kit with lockout, plus a mellings high volume oil pump. That's probably $2,500 worth of parts and labor.

my gut tells me to just avoid this motor like that plague and just pony up for a yukon denali, ford got away with murder on this one. All of these start failing conveniently when the motors dropped out of warranty

I dunno about these but I know Chevy/GM had pretty serious issues with the displacement on demand tearing shit up too. I would look into what engines/years are plagued by that one as well.

 

[mc01svt]

I dunno about these but I know Chevy/GM had pretty serious issues with the displacement on demand tearing shit up too. I would look into what engines/years are plagued by that one as well.

i have heard that as well but it seems if you change the oil regularly and disable the DOD through a tune you wont have anything to worry about.


i wish they would have never introduced DOD or VVT on any of these motors. Lots of 2v modulars still chugging along with 400k on them.

 

[GodStang]

Since my family has doubled in size in the last 2 years im strongly considering trading in my 5.0 supercrew f-150 on an expedition EL. The 2010-2014 expeditions have dropped to the mid teens and i cant think of any fullsized truck based SUV that is cheaper.

My only concern is the dreaded cam phaser issue. From what i understand ford never corrected it even if you buy the last model year 5.4L and it seems to effect all model years equally. How bad is this issue? Is it epidemic level of just a small percentage of trucks? I hear jasper and powertrain products are making a crap ton of $$$ selling reman engines.

I'd hate to buy a truck then have to put in a whole new timing kit with lockout, plus a mellings high volume oil pump. That's probably $2,500 worth of parts and labor.

my gut tells me to just avoid this motor like that plague and just pony up for a yukon denali, ford got away with murder on this one. All of these start failing conveniently when the motors dropped out of warranty

Our 2007 3V F150 had the issue and we ran it fine for 50K miles and 10 years until we traded into for a 2017 F150. Just noisy no other problems. For sure not worth a new engine.

 

[jaxbusa]

This guy has a good video on it. I would look into a conversion van if I were you.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[mc01svt]

This guy has a good video on it. I would look into a conversion van if I were you.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app

he's way off base, i usually like car wizard but in this instance he has no idea what he's talking about. "Oil passages too small" WTF lol

 

[IronSnake]

Run motorcraft filters and it won't be an issue.

They just clog up with sludge and tick. You can also just rock along and not even bother with it. I had one that made the noise on a 4.6 3v and never bothered with it.

 

[Coiled03]

I had a 2007 F150 with the 5.4L. I didn't have any issues with the cam phasers. *shrug*

 

[4GTNSVT]

My 2010 has 165K on it and I bought it from the second owner at 56K. I have not had any issues with the 5.4 at all. As far as I understood it the 04-08 were the worst for the issue. My truck has had long tubes and been tuned for close to 70K with no issues. If you look up the lock out kits all the ones I have seen are listed 04-08. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one at all. Been a great engine. I change the oil every 8k with Mobil 1.

 

[96gt02]

my 2010 5.4 raptor has 92000, no issues, super quiet (probably the quietest ford motor ive ever owner in fact having 10+ mustangs)

 

[4a7191a]

My cousin got 225k out of his before trade in , no problems.

 

[svtfocus2cobra]

We have had two come in for it in the last 3mo. One was an F150 and the other a Lincoln Mark LT. I have called around to get quotes and I believe the Ford remans have the fix as well and obviously Jasper does too but their engines are expensive. LKQ should also sell them.

 

[AustinSN]

Good buddy of mine, his work truck was a 5.4 and about 5 years ago when I last saw it, it had 240K miles on it and had a nasty phaser knock/rattle.

I asked about it maybe 6 months ago and they still have it, but they have a whole new set of trucks and that ones just a back up. Still runs and drives, I bet it sounds like death still.

I also had a friend who wrote service at a 3rd party shop, guy came in with a 5.4 phaser issue that was so bad it would stall when he was pulling up his driveway. He said the first thing they recommend is a BG oil service to clean out any sludge when they get those in and while it doesn't always fix it, on that one it completely solved the issue.

I didn't like that engine when I had it in my 06 and I'm still not really a fan, but I'm not going to call them unreliable.

 

[Recon]

I’ve had 2 at my shop crap out due to the issue. Also worth noting I currently have 5.4 3V F150 with 334,XXX miles on the original engine, from what I’ve been told. It’s a roll of the dice. Some have the issue some don’t.


Pick your poison.

 

[wundrbird]

Check user fordtechmakuloco on youtube. He has quite a few videos on the 5.4 cam phasers. Very informative.

 

[PaxtonShelby]

The knock isn’t usually the phasers...the timing chain tensioners fail and that’s where the knocking / chain slap noises come from. Mine is a 2004 - and I did the whole chains / chain guards / phasers / VCT solenoids / oil pump upgrade myself. $1300-1500 for Ford parts and required tools. Labor was on me. It was a bitch of a job - took me several nights and a few weekends. I couldn’t find a shop that would even touch it! Now she is quieter than when she was new. Did the repair at 120k...I’m at 125k now.

Pretty darn sure the timing chain tensioners were upgraded after 2006 or 2007, so motors built after that should be ok.

Also - it is recommended that you run 5w30 in these motors....not the 5w20 the manual recommends.

 

[03cobra#694]

My 04 5.4 with 138K was fine when I sold it. I did change the oil regular though.
Edit, used 5w30 myself.

 

[SID297]

It's a low oil pressure issue. Want a cheap and easy fix? Run XXw-40 oil and raise the idle RPMs to ~800-850. Both of those will raise the oil pressure at idle and alleviate the knock.

 

[sleek98]

Lost a motor in the office truck at 72k miles.

Ford remain installed with warranty came in at 9,300

 

[PaxtonShelby]

It's a low oil pressure issue. Want a cheap and easy fix? Run XXw-40 oil and raise the idle RPMs to ~800-850. Both of those will raise the oil pressure at idle and alleviate the knock.

Good point, but if the timing chain tensioner gaskets fail and bleed off oil pressure (which happened due to crappy tensioner gaskets on most early 3v motors ) the knock will still be there. The tensioners use oil pressure to keep the chain taught, so when they begin to fail you end up with chain slap. Also, the stock oil pumps are weak in these motors, which is why it is recommended to upgrade to a stronger pump (Melling M360?) when replacing the timing gear. The passenger head is the last part of the motor that gets oil, so you have to be careful the cam caps on that side aren’t damaged from previous oil starvation