Any Crazy Things To Look Out For On The 5.4L 3v Timing Job?

[eddytheexpy]

I've decided to undertake the rite of passage associated with owning a vehicle with the 5.4L 3v Triton and take a crack at the timing job. I'm a few weeks out from having the time and parts to do it and I intend to start on October 4th when I get off of work.

Since I'm just a random moron with a wrench, Brian from FordTechMakuLoko will be my shaman and guide. I've done my research beyond his videos to find common and not-so-common pitfalls with the job. I've also don't some reading in the Haynes Manual for some extra info.

However, does anyone have advice for what off-nominals to look out for and what to do about it? I was watching the standalone video for the roller follower removal and installation and he said, "make sure the valve stem keepers are fully locked in and flush with the retainer" (at 8:20 of the video for those interested). He showed what it's supposed to look like but doesn't go over the plan if it's not. So in general, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. The first time I do any job there's always something that is off-nominal. Annoyingly and without fail, any other time I do a similar job being prepared to use the experience I've gained, it goes as textbook as it gets. So I'm trying to mitigate the impact of what history suggests will happen. Of course, I'm also open to hear about wacky things that went down during the job if you've had such an experience and what tools to have on hand should something go south. This isn't my only car so I can make an emergency run to go pick something up in the moment or a bottle of whiskey should I do something to nuke the engine but I'd like to have things on hand especially if they are tools that I'm likely to use in the future for other stuff.

I know there's a 1000 threads on this job but I plan to post a thread of my experience of it and include before and afters of the engine sound and other things I find noteworthy.

Thanks in advance!

***update***

I’ve been looking into the job a bit further and have some direct questions:

1) when you re-install the cam shafts, you add a liberal amount of oil on the journals. If oil drips into the bolt holes for the cam caps wouldn’t that cause pressure and crack the towers when you put the bolts in?

2) when reinstalling the roll followers, do you just turn the crankshaft clockwise until it’s reasonably close to the base circle of the cam for that valve? It’s not a 1 to 1 comparison between the timing walkthrough and the standalone roller follower video. The walkthrough you put them all back in at the same time and the standalone video removes and installs them one by one since the camshaft wasn’t removed.

 

[twodollars]

Make sure you have the special tools for compressing the valve springs, pulling the crank pulley, and the crank alignment tool. If your changing your oil pump, go slow and don't drop those bolts. If you do pray a magnet on a stick will find them in the pan. I found the roller followers on the passenger side were bad, the rollers on that side all had enough play in them you could easily feel it. Since they were all out, I replaced with new. In retrospect I should have swapped out the lash adjusters too, but money was tight and they all worked fine. Just a ***** to get too later.

As for the locks on the valve retainers, look at them as they are before disassembly so you know how they should look when your done. If they hang up and don't fully seat, compress the spring again and work them into position. Just be patient. None of its real difficult, just can be time consuming.

 

[eddytheexpy]

Make sure you have the special tools for compressing the valve springs, pulling the crank pulley, and the crank alignment tool. If your changing your oil pump, go slow and don't drop those bolts. If you do pray a magnet on a stick will find them in the pan. I found the roller followers on the passenger side were bad, the rollers on that side all had enough play in them you could easily feel it. Since they were all out, I replaced with new. In retrospect I should have swapped out the lash adjusters too, but money was tight and they all worked fine. Just a ***** to get too later.

As for the locks on the valve retainers, look at them as they are before disassembly so you know how they should look when your done. If they hang up and don't fully seat, compress the spring again and work them into position. Just be patient. None of its real difficult, just can be time consuming.

thanks for word of caution on the oil pump bolts as well as what to do to re-seat the valve stems. BTW, I plan on dropping the oil pan while I'm already in there in case stuff falls in it whether or not I'm aware that it fell into the soup.

As for the crank pulley puller, I have a few different sizes of 2-jaw pullers already. I'm expecting those to work and if not, run to harbor freight for their 3-jaw puller. I was reading that a lot of people had success with those instead of the $70 puller MakuLoco recommends. Do you believe a relatively large 2-jaw puller would be adequate for the job?

 

[twodollars]

I couldn't get any of my normal pullers to work. Nothing for the fingers to grab. I bought a cheap Amazon puller, worked fine.

 

[JExpedition07]

Oil pump pickup tube bolt was tough. I was 21 when I did mine so my hands were still smaller or boyish or whatever LOL and it was still hard. Maybe have someone smaller ready to try and get those bolts if you have issues. I ended up bending a 8 mm I think it was in the vice to fit the angle. That was a bear trying to get my hand in the damn oil pan from the front. Beyond that portion was very doable with patience (a virtue I didn’t have much of a few years ago). That was my big hang up. Had to walk away from the truck a few times at that pickup tube and just collect my thoughts.

 

[eddytheexpy]

I watched the video on that and the clearance looked pretty tight so I wound up getting the 8mm flex head wrench to avoid any of that. Glad I bought it hearing the pain the it is to do it without it. I was planning on dropping the oil pan for this job but it seems I should leave it on the whole time and do that at the end since it helps support the timing chain cover when you're lining it up to put it back on.

 

[James A Martin]

My mechanic did this once, I did it again with misfire codes still showing.
The third time I replaced the valve springs and seals, and it runs fine.

 

[Dustin Gebhardt]

There may or may not be a flex-head gear wrench in my oil pan after I performed this a few years ago. I have a 4WD, so dropping the oil pan was going to be extra difficult, but I loosened all the bolts and was able to nudge it down a couple of inches, which made getting the oil pump pickup tube reattached much easier.

Regarding the valve spring compressor tool, make sure that both sides of the fork are on the spring and hold it there with one hand while making the initial tightening with the tool. If the compressor tool starts to slip, one of the tines of the fork will bare all of the force and will bend. Been there, done that. Also, make sure you have a good layout areas for the rocker followers. Learn from this dummy's mistake and don't place them on a sheet of cardboard (numbering them as you go), with the sheet of cardboard on the roof of the car next to you and ignoring the gusty Oklahoma winds. It's been roughly 3 years since then, and I'm sure that I didn't put the roller followers back into their original home after the wind launched them 20 feet into the neighbor's yard, but they've held up so far.

 

[peterwells]

OK, I'll dive in, some background, I'm not as flexible as I once was and have a spare car, so go slower than most, from memory...

(i) Clean the top of the engine well before starting, you'll have to push wires and hoses around to get the covers off (particularly the driver's side brake vacuum line) and in the moment you don't want to be worrying about debris falling into the engine.
(ii) Most of the wire routing is straightforward but photo's on the driver's side help (and not too zoomed in).
(iii) Some of the harness covering was broken and various anchor points had come lose, I'd have some tape to hand to repair as you go.
(iv) I had to modify this tool from Amazon to remove the rockers, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RZ9HVS2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1, it didn't have enough stroke.
(v) In my case the timing chain guides were broken and pieces had fallen into the oil pan. The pan and pickup had to come off to be cleaned.
(vi) Removing hood is quick and IMHO worth it for easier access, added light.
(vii) My rockers were all in good shape, most of the lifters were bad.
(viii) Removing the engine fan shroud was a PITA, I hope yours is easier.
(ix) My tensioners had been gone for a while, so the timing chain would strike the timing cover on start up, ended up using a ball end cutter to tidy the inside of the cover.
(x) Quite a few of the fasteners require low torques, I suspect too much torque will cause leaks, so have a low range torque wrench, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C5ZL2EG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 at hand.

Off the top of my head that's all I can think of that's not on YouTube, fan shroud and brake vacuum line were the tough parts. It's not a bad job.

Good luck,

Peter