Is it worth the cost?

[lbv150]

15 psi at idle may not be too bad as long as it comes up at speed. You are correct maintenance from the get go is number 1. We also warm all our vehicles up to operating temperature before driving. All our engines get oil changes at 3,000 including the '16. The oil change meter in the '16 is useless to me. Never run anything other than 5-20 in the 5.4....that is what causes the valve train problems. There are very fine screens in the VTC solenoids and very small passages in the cam phasers. The only vehicle we ever bought used was '06 at 130,000...it was a fleet vehicle and I suspect they used 15-40... it had noise issues and also ate a quart of oil every 400-500 miles. Didn't leak or couldn't see it in the exhaust. I put another 100,000 on it before I sold it.

 

[MLKESQ]

Does knock and rattle go away when you apply throttle? These engines are notorious for having their cam phasers go bad. Way cheaper than 7K and well worth the fix.

It didn't go away until about 1500 RPM, and at 200 rpm, it was still minimum spec range if I remember correctly about 50psi. The misfires on 1 and 3 never changed either...no matter what we did, and were a daily occurrence under both no load and load conditions. Since I bought used we installed new plugs and coils first to combat that then started moving injectors around. The misfire always stayed on those two cylinders no matter what. The best guess without tearing into it was burn exhaust valves or weak springs. The end result was the same. The cost of the timing work (phasers solenoids guides etc) and the prospect of pulling the heads to see what was really gong on was going to be near the same cost as a new motor.

There's a chance it was ok internally, and I knew that in the back of my mind, but there was also equal or greater chance that is was shelled before I bought it too. It hated to start if parked nose down and knocked worse that normal in those conditions.

 

[Snag]

I am glad you were able to get rid of it and I think you will like the new rig.

In 2 weeks we will get a new member. I just bought a 05 with a 5.4 with an engine that tics and knocks. I didn't hear the noise until I got home. :O)

 

[Hamfisted]

That's probably the best thing you could've done with it. But the used car lot will probably put 4 cans of STP motor honey in it and sell it to someone for $6k ....

 

[kheidkamp]

It didn't go away until about 1500 RPM, and at 200 rpm, it was still minimum spec range if I remember correctly about 50psi. The misfires on 1 and 3 never changed either...no matter what we did, and were a daily occurrence under both no load and load conditions. Since I bought used we installed new plugs and coils first to combat that then started moving injectors around. The misfire always stayed on those two cylinders no matter what. The best guess without tearing into it was burn exhaust valves or weak springs. The end result was the same. The cost of the timing work (phasers solenoids guides etc) and the prospect of pulling the heads to see what was really gong on was going to be near the same cost as a new motor.

There's a chance it was ok internally, and I knew that in the back of my mind, but there was also equal or greater chance that is was shelled before I bought it too. It hated to start if parked nose down and knocked worse that normal in those conditions.

Knocking was most likely the cam phasers. I had a similar problem but my misfires were not specific to the same cylinders and they only started happening at idle speed or up to 1500 rpms or so. The misfire codes seemed to jump around all of the time. Cam phasers and solenoid fixed my issues. Sounds like yours has some underlying problems. Sucks dude! Sorry