Engine not getting oil at passenger valve cover

So my expedition starting making a bad ticking sound. not like the one they usually make but alot louder. my wife drove it for about a week like that. so i took it to a recommended mechanic and he told me that it was coming from the passenger side of the engine. he took the valve cover off and said that there is no oil getting to that side. so there must be a clog. he said that he would put in another engine instead of putting a new head and the clog not there. i was quoted $6500 by him and $6700 by the ford dealership. i would rather take it to the dealership since i would have a better warranty. so after all this rambling my question is, do i spend that much for an engine or do i move on. it is a 2007 with 125,000 miles on it. i paid it off two years ago. i hate to have a car payment but dang thats alot of money to fix it.the body is in good shape, transmission is fine, and nothing really is wrong with the expedition but the engine. are the ford transmissions like their engines where they are either good or bad? i mean i hate to put the engine in and then the tranny go and i have to fix that too. i am just trying to get as much input as possible. thanks in advance.

Mead,
I bought my 2005 expy 5.4 with 99K miles and had the same problem with stalling and the truck sounded like a diesel. 7 months ago I replaced everything on the front of the motor phasers, tentioners, chain, the works. All the problems came back last month with 108K miles, after exhausting all my trouble-shooting and forum digging I took it to a dealership and was told the low oil pressure has caused engine failure and cylinder wall damage and needs a new motor. So I bought a re-maned engine from a local shop installed it and have the exact same problems. Now I have to fight with the dealership on their miss-diagnosis and if it's not corrected I may never own another ford again.

If you could do the work yourself I would say hold onto it and drop in a 6 speed manual when the tranny dies. But these are the adaptive shift bs transmissions.
Very costly when they bite the dust.
Swapping heads will be cheaper than an entire engine swap. Check head remanufacturers for prices. One I use is Dover Cylinder Heads in Atlanta. There are others you can check with also.
Should you choose to go that route, change the timing chains and guides. If any of the guides are missing the oil pan needs to drop and the chunks removed.

Yourfavgui - what is the dealer calling low oil pressure? The big trucks I used to work on would have 10 psi at idle, but the oil pump was a man & was moving a bunch of oil.
And a worn out motor? - Give me figures on the clearances, measured diameters and engine specifications. I don't believe what they tell me.

So should o just go ahead and get a new engine or move on to a different vehicle?

They said Oil pressure was under 10psi

Mead85 said:

So should o just go ahead and get a new engine or move on to a different vehicle?

Click to expand...

Mead,
If I could afford it I would move on to something else. I now have too much $$ tied up into mine that I have to make it work. I'm just not sure what to fix right now because I cannot find anyone to diagnose it.

Do you think the ford dealer would give me any type of trade in value? It runs and drives but I know it is probably slowly messing up more and more as it is driven.

Can you turn wrenches without adding to the current problem?

No to any kind of trade in value unless you like being *****.

Check the back of the head for the oil restrictor. I'm assuming that they are used on the 07's like the earlier models. You can also check on youtube for a video on a plugged restrictor for the 4.6 and how to remove and clean it.
That head is shot but you may be able to limp for a while as long as you get oil back up there. If you can, then it is only a head job.