How does this unhook remove? It's right over the radiator, does it end up with enough slack to remove the radiator? Been to a lot of county fairs and never seen such a thing and u tunes show different models or already have it partially stripped.
That looks like a 2009/2010 F150. Just un-clip the box and there is enough slack to move it aside. Even though it appears like you need to remove the condenser to get the rad out. You don’t have too. You can work around it. Ford recommends the Motorcraft VC—7-B Gold coolant in the 5.4. Which is the same as the BASF G-05 Zerex sells it.
Yes, finally got to it and simply unhooked and moved it. Man, this thing really has some connections, dozens of things to move to get at the front of the engine and that is an understatement.
Good to hear. A pain, for sure.
I hadnt worked on one of these. I do a lot of hard stuff but this is right up there,,,, sooooo many connections and hangers. We looked at the time and cost quotes and after getting in to it doesnt seem all that out of hand. Just got it to the valve covers and coils now and we put in a couple healthy afternoons not including a little research. Removing the covers promised to be a challenge all its own. Replacing chains and guides may be the actual easy part. I see the quotes for a blown out plug repair may seem like a deal, they sure convolute some things. Its obvious they build it to build it not to fix it.
If you are doing Cam phasers, I highly recommend OEM ones. Consider lockouts. Switch to over to 5w-30. And up grade the oil pump to the Melling M360.
I will look at that when I get to my office. I was hoping to get someone done this. The Fors forum is about like a fart in a whirlwind. I am not familiar with it. I have another 4.6 apart, has simple sprockets. I am not completely sure what the phasers do etc. The truck it's in is fairly nice. Probably got another 75k ahead of it. I will certainly take any advice here. I have reached in a lot of cramped jobs but this is really something considering the amount of stuff in there. We will get a few pics as we go. I was reading about all the sensors on this, cant remember them all. It had the plugs changed about 75 ago. Supposed to anyway from some records we got, thought about pulling a front one for a peek but I can see a hole repair being quite a challenge. She got a quote of 1200 or so, not sure what it included but looks like a bargain considering the work here if it's done decent. Even if a guy done it before it still not something to look forward to.
What's lockouts?
The phasers control cam timing. They are a weak point of the 5.4. You can lock them in place and make them more reliable. But, not necessary. If you have it apart, I would do plugs and coil packs. If you are unfamiliar with 5.4 3v spark plugs, read up on the process. Lots of tricks that will save you grief and time.
If I lock them do we need to replace? I am not familiar with it at all, so much info to read I cant remember it all. I did order a rebuild manual. I have a 4.6 apart too and found another problem not sure how to solve yet, someone really booger some exhaust studs. 1 really bad. I could go for a replacement engine to get by this if you have idea where to buy from.
I am not concerned with 300k and "bullet" proof nonsense seems to creep in with so many on the Ford forum Those guys not as helpful as they think they are. I was gonna resting the 4.6 but the booger in the head has me concerned. They drill a hole crooked and lucky it didnt end up in exhaust port Not sure I could weld it to the bottom.and completely fill the cavity.
This Exp with 5.4 is about as difficult as I ever worked on. Absolutely terrible. Removing a 4.6 from 150 was easy. As for plugs, does the machine shop use same tooling for inserts as they do on the unit? Rumor has Timesert as the go to, was trying to get price for the 4.6 with heads off at Ford forum but that didnt help. This is the first of these we work on, was considering the tools. I order a couple minor things and a manual. I gonna go back to YouTube in a bit, I watch a couple The amount of wire hangers and connections is astronomical. I don't really want to get involved in these on a regular basis. Already want out of both these jobs but they apart now and need to finish. Started yesterday thinking I was close to having it apart, still don't. My helper,,, she got quote at local shop and in hindsight that looks pretty good although we can control the extent here.
Timesert is good stuff. It’s a mess when the 5.4s timing components and phasers go bad. It’s such a labor intensive job, fairly technical and my experience is most of the jobs result in a redo. I’ve stopped trying to fix them and just swing a long block. It’s almost the same price with the Alaska labor rates and way less comebacks. Only exception is if the rig is fairly low mileage with a decent service history Then, I’ll attempt a repair. Fortunately, I don’t have any 5.4’s left in the fleet. I’ve been getting long blocks from Ford. Actually, NAPA Alaska. I get all my Ford parts from NAPA less expensive than going to Kendall or Seekins. Not sure how that works. I set up a commercial fleet account with Seekins, but still get better, faster service going through NAPA. Kendall doesn’t make any attempt at fleet part sales.
The 5.4 has been well taken care of. The 4.6 is a basket case with the boogers head. I was just getting ready to wash the block up, I might hold that and look for a long. Our Napa is history and I might check with the local jobber, they are indy or about 12 store family chain and real good. The guys on Ford Forum start off telling us we got to take the new reman apart and fuss with it, I really don't care but all that. I am not racing. I am not long haul trucking. Just after I get this lemon 4.6 I find another nice little truck, not perfect but drives. My brother bought it, I put brake line, check the fluids, grease and air the tires. Would have been a good stopgap till I come across the right thing.
I got a modest fleet too, a few less than I had, most in good shape or willing to junk in the event of a major. In most cases doesn't bother me to R$R, I fix trannys in 2 recent. 300 in materials, the in/out not an issue.
With used pickup prices skyrocketing, it pays to fix em’.
Only issue with locking the phasers is it will set a check engine light usually and may send it into limp mode but usually just shut it off and restart and all you have is the check engine light can by a programmer and have the phasers tuned out and get rid of the check engine light
plugs in the 3v heads: break them loose by turning them ONLY 3-5 degrees. Spray a bunch of carburetor cleaner down in the hole then let it sit over night. The carb cleaner should get down around the plug and loosen up the carbon. This will allow you to extract it without breaking it. If you do break one or more, there is a special tool to remove them while the head is still on. The tool should be less than $150 and worth every penny if you need it.
That’s a good looking crew, SBerry. Good advice, Ian. I’ll add my $.02 and recommend blowing the gravel from the spark plug wells with an air nozzle, first. While the engine is still warm, add the carb cleaner for the overnight soak. My buddy swears by using an impact driver for removing the original two-piece plugs. Claims the instant torque breaks them loose before they can bust. IDK?
Suppose to be the plugs have been changed, some time ago, if this is accurate they are not OEM. The crew there is my son and his Aunt Sue. It's her truck. If this fogger wasn't such a r&r problem would replace the broken guide we found and shove it back together. I see a lot of discussion, she found parts kit complete, oil pump, valve timing solenoids, phasers, all of it. I will find brand and post. She is doing lot of the work, my son hasn't been involved in this project although he does some and both fair mechanics in their own right. He is a really good problem solver. I was jammed up the other day and he says, shove the big air ratchet in there and turn. Was a real solution. People think he gets that from me but it's really from his grandmother on his mother's side. She is a top hand as is Sue.
I ordered some stuff and fogged up and didnt order the valve spring compressor. I see the scrape that caused the start noise in the cover, just what we thought we would find from the noise. We heard a lot of mechanic in a can type fixes, glad we didnt try one.
We all know there is an ultimate way of doing things but,,, kind of looks like a guy could turn the engine with the starter with the front off. I see a couple oil pressure tests and see something goes wrong with the tensioner causing oil leak. We had 1 upper guide on passenger all busted out and looks like the failure might have been rather recent. This thing run beautiful and quit as a church mouse, although its some work it wouldnt bother me to put a guide or 2 in and take a look at the tensioner, I believe the failure might have been gasket related according to one of the cloyes vids and could see it blown out. As miserable as second work is its certainly easier. The vid showed 30# oil pressure old and 60 new with the starter, was thinking could get a gage on it and see? See if the tensioners are puking oil? Rest of the engine is clean as a,,, well,,, its clean.