Ford F-150 Cold Start Smoke Inspection & 5.4L Triton Timing Chain System Repair

We're starting to get these newer ones in with failures. This is a 2017 Ford Furd F-150 XLT. I believe this is equipped with the 2.7 L economy boost engine. Troy's going to hop in and fire it up. Uh the customer states that it has a smoking condition during a cold start. So, let me find Hey, let me go to the other side there, brother. Yes, sir. >> You about ready? Yep. >> So, we're going to see if this thing starts rolling some smoke out of it on a cold start. Hey, man. Go ahead. See what she does. >> Yeah, a little bit little bit of haze coming out of it. I see. I smell smoke, too. Okay. Well, Troy's going to check this one out. Yeah, today's Ford day. Hey, man. Go ahead. I saw it happen. Go ahead. I got to do some research on this. Um, let's go ahead and bring it on the the ramps over there on the alignment rack. Uh, do your inspection on it. It is making some smoke. Uh, it's not a lot. So, I need to do some research and, uh, probably call some Ford buddies at the dealership to see if they can give me some direction on this. Um, I'm going to go and go check out that other Ford real quick while you guys do inspection on this. Sound good? Very good. Thank you. You guys heard the plan, right? Yeah. We got another Ford over here. Parts everywhere on it. I'm trying to tie up some loose ends. I'm going out of town up to the Detroit metro area next week or later on this week. It is next week. Yeah, later on next week. And I'm uh like I said, I'm trying to tie up some loose ends around the shop space around here. Uh anyway, we're coming over here to this other Ford. This is a classic. We got an F-150. It's got the 5.4 L Triton 3 valve V8. That's right. Three valves per cylinder. What we're about to discuss on this particular system here, it's a timing issue, a timing chain issue rather. Uh these family of engines, they run uh two timing chains, one per cylinder bank, and those run a single cam, which runs all three of the valves. So each piston is going to have three cam shaft loes, two intake valves, and one exhaust valve. Uh the theory being it's easier to pull air in, or I'm sorry, it's harder to pull air in than it is to push air out. So we have two valves for taking in air and then one valve for sending it back out. That's the theory. Anyway, the idea is to get as much of an intake charge in the cylinders as possible. Now, this thing came in and it really wasn't making any noise and the customer was aware that the Achilles heel on these particular engines is the timing chain system. And it's actually the guides and the tensioners that tend to be the problem. Let me show you guys real quick. Zoom in for the closeup. This is one of the plastic timing chain guides. See that? This thing is busted off at the bracket. It bolts on right right here. And the bracket broke off. And this guide has just been sitting in there riding on the chain. See, it's broken in little pieces here. The tensioner is pretty maxed out on it. The guide on this side also broken. See the brake right there. And this tensioner is not maxed out on that side. See how much protrusion we get here versus what we have over here. So, the fix on this is to continue to pull these chains out of it. We're going to change the guides, the chains, tensioners, the sprockets, do the crank sprocket, and I also believe I've got an oil pump in here. There's a Meling high volume pump. Now, don't confuse that with a high pressure pump because pumps don't make pressure. They make fluid flow in volume. Restrictions in the system is what creates pressure. So, if you have proper bearing clearances and you don't have things like blown out seals on the back of your timing chains, timing chain tensioners, then you should maintain oil pressure. Yeah, these now you turn it up some, but not way up. Yeah, these guys right here. You see that little seal right there behind this plastic chain tensioner? Well, that seal is the end of the line for the oiling system. Regarding the timing system on these engines, let me show you how this works. So, the way the oil circuit is plumbed on these motors, we got the pump down yonder. It's going to pick up oil from the sump, send the oil up to the front of this cylinder head over here. It's going to begin oiling the timing system, the lifters, uh the hydraulic lash adjusters, and the cam shaft phasers. Then the oil is going to travel down the head, back over to the back of that cylinder head on the passenger side, and then forward again. So, these bearings on this side here, and this uh phaser are the last to receive engine oil with the exception of that timing chain tensioner right there. Well, what happens is those little plastic uh tensioners will blow the gasket out of them and then you have a loss of oil pressure either from this side of the engine or from this side of the engine or both sides of the engine and that causes oil starvation issues at the cam shafts and it also causes VBT problems because the phasers do not have enough oil flow and pressure to operate properly. So, as standard procedure, we tend to change these oil pumps out with a a melting high volume pump. That way, if there were to be any scoring issues or if there were any issues uh regarding oiling, uh we kind of band-aid it with that high volume pump. It's it's standard procedure. I've we've we've been able to successfully repair engines that were damaged that weren't really worthy of disposal yet by using the high volume. But it's more of a preventative measure rather than a repair type of measure, if that makes any sense. So, the plan for this engine is to get this all stripped down. We're going to get these guides out of it. Oo, I just see a piece there's a piece of plastic back Yeah, it's back there hiding out. Look. See that? Have to dig that guy out of there later. Right in the middle of the screen. You see it? Yeah. That's no bueno. Also, let me show you. It gets worse. Let's go over here to the back side of the timing cover itself. You can see they have not been uh very great on the oil changes on this engine. But if we look at the cover, look at all that shiny metal right there. See that? See right here? What's been happening since that guide is broken? That plastic guide broke. This chain has been coming around and sawing its way through the cover on the engine. And it's curious. We didn't hear any noise. Maybe it's a high RPM type of deal, but it was chopping its hole away a hole its way through a hole that it was making in the timing cover. Now, fortunately, this cover is going to be okay. It's not uh damaged too badly. I've seen them where they've sawed like almost all the way through. Uh, another thing while this cover's off, let me show you guys something right here. See the clearance right there? See that little uh that area where there is no buildup? See that? What that is from is the the recctor wheel down here on the crank is running a very tight tolerance close to that cover. Now, that one's okay. It hasn't been really touching. And that cover is machined to fit the little teeth on this recctor wheel. But if you see that cover where it's all sawed apart from this wheel, that means that the crankshaft bearings inside of the block are wearing out and the thrust bearing is allowing this crankshaft to walk forward and backward and it's moving forward enough to where this gear is contacting the cover and then it's start starting to chop a hole through said cover. So, that's a clear indicator you have major internal engine problems if you have damage on the cover at the uh at the crankshaft area. I'm seeing a little bit of coolant down in that valley, too. See if you can't see it. Changing light mode. Yeah, there's some coolant down there. See it? Not a lot, but it's in there into the flashlight. So, I'm glad this thing has come on to the knife at the time that it did because we were not far away from more engine damage than would have been uh repairable. So, that's today's project. Um, we're kind of tag teaming this one. Like I said, I'm not going full bore on it myself cuz uh I've got the fellas here and I'm doing some uh some closing up stuff because we're going to head up to uh Detroit in a day or so and visit A-Rod at Powerstroke Tech Talk with A-Rod. We're going to go a hang out in Ford country, work on some F350s and such. Oh, I've got one other housekeeping announcement. Also, anybody who's placed uh any tool or shop supply or merchandise orders at the Rayman merch company, we're uh we're delayed a few days because Chris, who uh runs the operation up in Tennessee, uh he has been afflicted with the Ronovid and due to his affliction of said Ronovid, uh he is unable to work right now. So Chris is out and we're delayed a little bit. Now most of this is automated and we do have people in the warehouse doing some things, but a lot of the orders are placed manually uh through Chris and he's not able to perform that function right now. So if you got an order pending, please give me some patience a little bit. Uh my people are dying of the Rona. He's not really dying, but he feels like it. It's it's not good. You guys remember how that was. Yeah, Chris made it without getting the Rona the whole time and now in 25 he's got it for sure. So, that being said, uh I guess I'm wondering what should I do while I am up in Detroit Land. Do you guys want to have a live stream? Maybe. Um I can do it from A-Rod Studio. He's got a pretty nice setup. Uh what do you guys think? Let me know in the comment section down below. Would you like a live stream in absence of content? Should I try to make some content in another shop and see how that works out? I don't know. I'm out of my comfort zone, but but I'll try it. What do you guys think? Let me know what you want to see next week in the comment section down below, please. Continuing the Ford parts tour. We've got all kinds of goodies. Most of this is foamco parts, blue label. Uh we've got chain guides. We have tensioner guides both sides. We've got a crankshaft seal seal looks like. And unfortunately plastic tensioners with the plastic silicone seal inside of them. Not a fan, but if they make it 100k, then I guess that's fair enough. We've got the Ford phasers. Now, these are pricey when you buy the Ford ones, but it's not as pricey as buying a cheap Amazon one first, doing all the work, and then finding out it rattles and makes a bunch of noise and throws codes, then you got to take it apart, buy the Ford one again anyway, and then do it again. So, quality doesn't cost, it pays. So, buy the right parts. Uh when you're doing these uh these phasers here, it's required by Ford and I know sometimes you got to do what you got to do and you got to put the old bolts back in, but we're supposed to uh replace the bolts. It's a one time use only bolt. We've got a Mocraft water pump to complement everything. Got the Meling high volume, not high pressure, high volume oil pump right here. Part number 251123. I'm sorry, 1213 if anyone's curious. But they also the part number is M360. So I'm not sure which one's accurate. Uh what do we got here? Two more bolts for something. I don't know what these ones are for. I don't recall. We've got some rockers, but not the full set. We need 24. And I think I've only got 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 or 11 here so far. Got one. I think this is the VBT solenoid. Yeah, that's the selenoid that sends the oil flow to the phasers to change the phase of said crankshaft. Looks like we've got a set of timing cover gaskets here. So, I'm missing Yeah. two chains right there. Two chains. So, I'm missing some rockers and I'm missing one solenoid, it looks like. That's about it so far. >> Looks like we're missing valve cover gaskets, too. I'm going to have to order those. Yeah, this case, the the the guy who made the appointment, he brought his own parts. I I usually don't do that and I frown upon that because folks will buy like Amazon parts or counterfeit parts and it turns into be it turns into a huge problem. Um, I agreed to do a customer supplied part job uh before we instituted the policy and I wasn't going to go back and and tell the person no. So, we are doing the parts. However, it should be known that I have an adjusted labor rate for customer supplied parts to compensate for the uh the difficulties that arise with trying to coordinate um all those efforts. So, I I I do raise the rate um slightly on customer supplied parts jobs. That's all made clear and apparent. And uh transparency always wins on that front. So, I let people know like from the get- go, um, price is going to change because I don't have the option to source my own parts. So, um, that's how we're moving forward on this one. Anyway, uh, I think we should get back at it. I'm going to go and help Troy out with the diaging on that F-150 over there. Um, I think I think it's a valve stem seal issue, but I'm going to check on Ford TSBs to see if the turbochargers are causing that. I'm not really sure that that sure about it. I got to learn about that platform a little bit. Um anyway, that being said, guys, I think I've got nothing more to offer you on this particular video. I'm going to close this one out. Thanks for watching this short one. Just wanted to touch base on a couple things. Um content's a little light right now because number one, it's summertime. Kids are about to go back to school and I'm doing a little bit of traveling. So, I'm kind of slow, so I'm I'm pulling back the content a little bit. But, like I said earlier, I'm I'm not opposed to filling the gaps with the live stream. Um what do you guys think? One more time. Let me know. And if we do do a live stream, what would you like to talk about? I would love to hear your opinions on the matter. Uh send me a couple emails, too. Um maybe we can address emails in the live stream and kind of uh do it that way. I don't know. I'm not I'm not the greatest at live streams, but I try. Anyway, guys, I'm closing this one out. Thank you for watching. Let me know what you think about this video again in the comments section down below. Don't forget to engage that like and subscribe button while you're down there. And most importantly, have yourselves a fantastic day. Stay cool, stay dry, stay safe during hurricane season. See you guys later. Okay, revisiting. Here's what it's supposed to look like with good guides on it. We have the cams out and it looks like all of the cam bearing journal surface areas are looking good. There's no scoring due to lack of oiling. We got one of the new solenoids installed right here. Yeah, it's all looking good in the head. We're changing the uh all the lash adjusters and all of the rockers to go with it. Spark plugs, too. We're putting spark plugs in it. Waiting on parts, though. We had We were short on our rockers. I had zero lash adjusters, so we're we're throwing those guys in as well. Okay. Yeah, that's what she's looking like. MIG progress right here. It's starting to come to come together. We have some new parts in. The oil pumps in. That's the hard part. We managed to get the oil pump in there without pulling the oil pan off. Look right here. See the bolt right down there? Actually, you can't see the bolt. There it is. There's that bolt. And then there's one on the other side. If you're really sneaky, you can get those bolts in and out of the pickup tube without pulling the pan off. But if you end up dropping the bolt, then you have to pull the pan off. So it's it's a high-risisk procedure.