5.4 issue, going crazy!

[Wheelman21]

Hi everyone. I'm brand new here. A family member has an 05 Expedition Eddie Bauer. This thing is making me crazy. I've worked on a little of everything, but never been quite so stumped. A few months back it threw an engine light indicating a bad VVT solenoid. Both have been replaced. It was in the dealer recently and they said it isn't the cam phasers. They say they don't know and want to replace the motor. It has 102 on the clock. I'm hard pressed to believe the motor is bad, or replace it without catastrophic engine failure. The code is reading that the motor is over retarded. It idles rough but doesn't clatter. They say that the oil pressure is fluctuating and I think that is throwing off the valve timing solenoids. I'm not overly familiar with this motor, but I've worked on far more complex things. I have a couple thoughts but wanted to ask what some people more familiar with this motor think. Any thoughts on what could be causing this?

 

[BrandonH13]

Sounds kind of like what my motor was doing. Ford said it was also timed incorrectly, but it would be ok til warm. Then the cam phasers would start acting up, but ford said it was because my oil pressure was fluctuating so the phasers aren't getting the pressure they need. They tried to tell me it that it could be an oil pump or that the gallerys "somehow got bigger"
Its still that way and currently in a lawsuit with the dealership that sold it to us. Its a 05 with 119K on it

 

[ZombieSoldier]

mine has the clatter. i wanted to take care of the problem back in September, and the dealership told me they would not do it, because they would have to replace the heads at the same time (something about they crack when re torqued) and that they could not guarantee the work due to the crappy design of the cam phasers, that they could work for 10 miles or 100,000 miles. so they said basically live with it, because it is an inherently crappy design.