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Analyze this noise.....

Pulsar

Pulsar

Diamond Member
Triton 3V 5.4L V8 F-150, 85k miles. Only makes this noise under no-load conditions, i.e. in neutral / park, and only once in a while.

http://youtu.be/XfKvau5AimE

Engine is obviously missing very badly when it happens. I move the camera back and forth between the two sides of the engine in an attempt to isolate it, but clearly the noise is equally loud near either cam cover.
 
Did you check the oil level when the engine has been off for like 20 minutes, on level ground? what kind of oil are you using? Do you have a check engine light?
 
Cam phaser? I am seeing quite a few videos with the same sort of sound and this is given as the root of the problem. The cam phasers are located at the front of each valve cover.

Try using a very long flat blade screwdriver to isolate the noise. You put the screwdriver against a spot, like the front of the valve cover, and listen to the other end....essentially making the screwdriver into a stethoscope. Or you can use a length of hose, like fuel hose.
 
Meghan54 said:
Cam phaser? I am seeing quite a few videos with the same sort of sound and this is given as the root of the problem. The cam phasers are located at the front of each valve cover.

Try using a very long flat blade screwdriver to isolate the noise. You put the screwdriver against a spot, like the front of the valve cover, and listen to the other end....essentially making the screwdriver into a stethoscope. Or you can use a length of hose, like fuel hose.
Click to expand...

NO CEL and that type of noise. I would bet on cam phasers. Seems like a common one on the 3V
 
Oh boy, doing a bit of research online, that is one expensive repair. But one if you ignore can grenade the engine.
 
My initial guess was cam phasors as well (I build the stupid engines). Very common because they are touchy as hell. My mechanic is still scratching his head because i can't get it to happen at his shop. I'll try the hose trick to see if I can isolate it to one side. It's $800 per phasor.
 
Timing chain. Common problem on early 3v 5.4's. Little fuzzy on the details but IIRC it grinds into the block when it gets that bad.
 
Cripes. This is starting to look worse and worse. Pulling the front of the engine is not a cheap repair if that's where this ends up going.
 
Sounds AWFUL. Holy crap, shut the thing down and tow it to a shop immediately. It's definitely not doing you any favors to keep that engine running.
 
tweakmonkey said:
Sounds AWFUL. Holy crap, shut the thing down and tow it to a shop immediately. It's definitely not doing you any favors to keep that engine running.
Click to expand...


Gotta agree. After perusing quite a few youtube vids with cam phaser noise, yours, Pulsar, is one of the worst. And at only 85K miles?
 
Took it in today because I can make the engine do it on command. Here's the crazy bit - under any load it sounds perfect. You really have to feather the throttle to get it to do this most of the time. On rare occasions the motor gets in a pissy mood (like the youtube video I took, in a Home Depot parking lot).

So we plugged in the diagnostic computer and I reproduced the noise.

1. Driver side cam phasor over retarding
2. Cylinder 5 severe misfire
3. Couple other miscellaneous codes.

You can watch both cam phasor angles real time and they are BOTH way out of position when this is happening. That suggests that whatever the cause might be, it is affecting both sides equally. The computer suggests the most often causes are low oil pressure due to scored cam bores (head replacement), low oil pressure due to score / spun main bearing (engine replacement).

/cry

I'm going to leave it with them so they can tear into it. I'll post the final result if I can bear it.
 
Pacfanweb said:
Just came to post that it's probably the cam phasors. Common.
Click to expand...

This. Makes the truck sound like a diesel engine idling when they go bad. Bitch to fix too from what I read. Timing cover has to come off. Waiting for mine to start doing this. 90k miles so its only a matter of time.
 
I wanted to follow up on this one (because I hate it when I look up threads on google and there's no closure).

Pulled the engine apart and immediately found a broken hydraulic tensioner on the driver's side chain tensioner arm. The shop replaced that and figured they hit a homerun... but no. So since we had it apart, we changed the entire front end - timing chains, tensioners, tensioner arms, and cam phasers.

Put it all back together and we still have the noise. However, all the codes except one are now gone. That code is low oil pressure to the drive side head.

Every tech bulletin from Ford says the only solution is a new engine.

So, I'm going to throw a high weight oil in the thing and drive it till it implodes, then replace the motor. I don't have the cash laying around right now.

Edit: Took it to a dealer rather than my independent garage and they confirmed the analysis. Engine is going to eat itself. Just a question of when. Total kick in the nuts.
 
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If all that work did not fix the problem at hand, were you charged the full amount? I can't stand when mechanics just start throwing parts at a problem.
 
DaTT said:
If all that work did not fix the problem at hand, were you charged the full amount? I can't stand when mechanics just start throwing parts at a problem.
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Well they did fix a lot of problems he had. How much money was spent and would a crate engine have been a better option?
 
DaTT said:
If all that work did not fix the problem at hand, were you charged the full amount? I can't stand when mechanics just start throwing parts at a problem.
Click to expand...

Nope. Was quoted $2200 originally, and it looks like they are charging me for the replacement parts and almost no labor at $1139.

I like my mechanic. There's a reason I go back to him. A crate engine is $5k - 8k from non-ford sources. I haven't called Ford yet.

Frankly, I could do the work myself if I wasn't already in the middle of a diesel tear out and replacement. One engine replacement at a time =).
 
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