2v and 3v timing system the same only difference is on the 2v oem the the chain tensioning solenoid had a ratchet assembly in it so it could never completely release -self adjusting for chain stretch. Somewhere along the line the engineers said that this was putting to much tension on the bearing behind the cam phaser assembly causing failure of same- so the ratchet system was eliminated. ( frankly i think it is more of dirty oil problem as the clearances inside the VCT solenoid are extremely tight, doesn't take much to stick them up and the filter screens on the orginal ones were a bit of a problem also but again dirty oil) I never had an issue with it on my 2valve V10, but I change oil every 3k miles. ( note the cam shafts only have the one bearing - the rest of the journals are lined bored -lubrication by the porosity of the alum. There are no oil ports shims grooves or anything similar on those journals. ) Only other issue is stacked tolerances on the crankshaft vs the oil pump front cover plate ,which has the front 1/2 of the oil pump cast into it. On highly modified ( racing) units the end play ( front to back) of the crankshaft was/is causing wear to that housing 1/2 leading to cavitation of the oil pump and that leads to loss of oil pressure.
been into hundreds of 5.4's and havent seen one yet that didnt have a ratcheting tensioner. its rare to have timing issues on the 2V....mostly it comes down to the right side guide breaking. 3V on the other hand is more common than not to have issues. allot of the issues stem from lazy owners not changing oil, running poor quality oil, or wrong viscosity oil. locking out the phasers is the best solution with little to no side effects provided you install a tuner with the lockouts.
Interesting...1st I've heard of this...can you elaborate? So this "lockout" is done on the tuner, or is it a mechanical lockout?
mechanical lockout of the phaser so it cant move then install a tuner to disable the cam advance/r etard feature. about $800 for the tuner/lockout kit. instructions in the kit and everyone on the net says you can do it with just pulling the valve covers but in my experience if they need locked out they also need chains, guides, and tensioners replaced. early 3V engines had phaser failures...literally they would break the spring and the tone ring on the front of the phaser. newer ones starting in 06 IIRC the phasers dont break which is a good thing because you need undamaged phasers to do the lockout and the only phasers worth installing is OEM, the Dorman brand phasers are trash and dont belong anywhere but in a scrap bin. locking the phasers without the tuner might work for a personal vehicle in a non emission testing area if your willing to put up with some driveability issues.....mainly a bog/stumble when you try accelerate hard....never ran one long enough to know if the phaser would hold up to being locked out while still getting oil pressure to actuate. the phaser just uses vanes like an air motor except the spaces fill with oil to rotate the phaser inside of itself and advance/r etard the cam. locking them out is just a peice of aluminum that fits perfectly in one of the spaces where the vane would normally travel so without the tuner the computer still pressures up the phaser filling the other cavities with oil trying to rotate the phaser....personally i dont think they would last long before the vane would break.......which BTW is the issue with the dorman phasers, the vanes break in them whether they are locked out or not. fastest i saw one fail was under 500 miles......longest lasting was around 10k. OEM phasers are around $450 vs Dorman at $200. Livernois Motorsports
So anything in particular to watch out for with an '03 2V...on the timing chain subject...noises, or any warning signs of immanent doom? Just keep clean oil in 'er, eh? Mine is a Jasper reman with less than 100k on the engine...the only issues I've had was an oil leak on the back right head...thought it was gonna be the whole head gasket thing, it was dripping on the starter and exhaust like the early ones did, turned out it had a leaky "freeze plug" in a pressurized oil passage on the back of the head...was a pretty easy fix. And right now I have a intermittent miss on #6...the spark plug well was full of antifreeze...blew that out, it was better then but still some miss there...so bought new coils, haven't put 'em on yet though. Haven't looked for the leak yet...but I think it has a Dorman intake on it...can't remember for sure what the PO said about that...bad intake might have been why the motor had to be replaced...
2V dont really have issues. rear right head is known to have minor oil leaks....oil passage is close to the edge and it was a poor finish on the head and caused the head gasket to leak. right timing chain guide breaks occasionally, makes a pretty good racket with the chain slapping the timing cover so you know it when it breaks. easy fix tho, just replace the guides....we always replaced chains, guides, tensioners anytime we had them opened up. I'm trying to figure out how you guys are all coming up with trucks that have had the engines/trans replaced.....cousins car lot sells 300 cars a year with probably close to 50% being ford trucks and we have only replaced a handful of engines and trans combined in 10 yrs. on a diesel i can see transmissions....Rafe that used to work for me replaced the trans in his 01 powerstroke twice in 2 years and its starting to shift funny again so that will be a trans per year for 3 years in a row. he is looking to swap over to a ZF6 like i just did to my truck last fall.
How long does it take to get the body off like that...always wondered...figure they made it easy since its kind of thing now...
I'm guessing guys misdiagnosed the broken timing chain guide and thought it was major engine lunchage. ??? Jasper to the rescue.
it was off and rolling the chassis out of the shop for a good pressure wash in under 3 hours by myself. going back on was closer to 14 hours tho....i had all my plow wiring, lights, air compressor, boost gauge, tranny temp, egt gauge, and transfer pump wring all running thru the clutch master cylinder hole in the firewall so it was a total rewire on all my goodies once the cab was back on plus added a fuel pressure gauge and fixed a bunch of small issues in the process. 6 months later and i still havent finished figuring out the wiring to make the cruise work again and the starter is jumpered with a piece of tie wire in the electrical connector that used to go to the neutral safety switch which is also where my cruise issue is....some day I'll fix it but that may get put off until i swap cabs....figure i am stuck driving this truck for quite a few more years so looking for a rust free cab to swap on in the future.
probably correct. when we started fixing the 3V phaser issue 9-10 yrs ago there was nobody else around that dared to tear them apart....even dealers we contacted told us to just replace the engine, thankfully my cousin handed me a blank check with instructions to fix it and get em figured out because 3V engines werent going away and he was going to be selling them for a long time to come and couldnt afford to put reman engines in every time one had an issue. Tried every combination possible on em to fix them cheaply from replacing heads to turning cranks and replacing oil pumps(the issue is low oil pressure, they require 30psi at hot idle). settled on just locking them out and they are fixed for life instead of a temporary fix.
Yup, sounds like a mechanics truck! What's that saying about the cobblers kids...barefoot or something...
No deal yesterday. Drove an hour, started checking exterior of the truck as the kid selling it came outside. Found more body rust than what it looked like in the pics, needs a door skin, two rear fender well patches. fixable stuff.. Bed is solid as new thanks to the cap it's wearing. Didn't get as far as crawling underneath, but from what I could see peering in the wheel wells not too bad. Popped the hood, fluids look good (who doesn't sell a used car with brand new fluids, though?) - I can see the exhaust manifolds are on the way out, but the studs look pretty fresh. Wiring for plow and extra lights is a rat's nest. Receipts verify new long block, nothing on the tranny but again the fluid looks brand new so I'm inclined to believe it's a replacement even if the fluid was just dumped. It looked like it should for having under 10k on it. Long block was done at 123k, truck is at 129k now, tranny was done somewhere in between. Starts easily enough, sounds good. I'm listening for ticking (thanks to what I read here and more research on these engines) and it sounds clean. Idle is surging a bit, but he admitted the truck sits a lot, could be a simple vacuum leak, could be something else. Not a deal breaker, I'm pretty confident in my ability to pick up a manual and troubleshoot after looking for obvious vacuum leaks etc. So let's go for a ride - if we're shifting good and there's nothing catastrophic going on with the suspension, and 4wd operates properly, I'm going to make an offer. Raise the plow and.. dead. Ruh roh. Try to crank it again, nope. Battery has nothing. Not having a volt meter for even basic troubleshooting, I had to leave it. Probably just a bad alternator, but swapping it roadside with wife and toddler waiting wasn't in the cards, so we didn't bother jumping it for a test ride. If there was some other drain going on, the 60+ mile ride home isn't the place to find out.. maybe when I was 20. So I told the fella if he can get the battery charged and tested, test and replace the alternator if that's the issue, I'd be glad to make an offer. Even offered to do the alternator job if it tests bad and drives ok. It's a good deal at asking price, and I'd like to get it barring any electrical gremlins. Thanks again for all the wisdom dispensed here, I learned a lot about my former enemy.
Deal may not be dead.. heading out tomorrow morning with cash and a toolbox, see if we can't strike a deal. Not really looking forward to a roadside alternator swap, but if that's the cost for what I think is a pretty solid buy, I suppose it'll be alright. Hope the rain holds off.
I have owned a couple of Ford trucks with the Triton. Good engine. My current 08 F250 has the 5.4 Triton. Has plenty of power. I mean. I wouldn’t race will711 to the beer store with it, but ...
alternator is easy....even with hand tools you can have it swapped in 20 minutes. the belt is a bigger pain than the alternator
My E350 alternator did just as I pulled up to a job a few miles out of Seward, Ne. Got lucky with an O'Reilly's a block away. Put it on, but 1 bolt hole was stripped. Didn't want to chance it so I returned it back and walked to a NAPA to pick one up. I tied the belt up out of the way and when done just pulled the belt back in place since alternator was on top of the engine.
This relates a bit more to the 3v engine, but here’s my adventures a few months back So you wanted to change your spark plugs?
Well, no deal again yesterday. "Clean title" apparently has different meanings to different people. Going to try and meet at the rmv and get it sorted out this week.
unless i missed something you didnt need to pull the head. the pusher just pushes the remaining porcelain thru the metal tip and the extractor screws into the remaining metal tip.
