All of the research I did online, and mechanics I talked to, said that the Ford 5.4 Triton engine had a problem with the Phase Adjusters and described the symptoms, and my truck had all of them. They also said that if the Phase adjusters were not replaced when they got weak, the timing could get off so much that a piston could hit valves and destroy the valves, the piston, and even the cylinder walls.
the noise came back just as bad as it was before and the engine would hesitate when you would accelerate.
I knew that I had to have the phase adjusters replaced but I wanted them replaced with new Ford adjusters and I wanted a professional shop to do the work. I had seen a commercial for Sun Automotive on TV and it looked like a good choice. I went to Sun Automotive and talked to Craig Noel and explained what had happened with the phase adjusters he said for me to take my truck to his shop and he would look at it, and he also stressed that if the phase adjusters are weak and do come apart, they can destroy the engine.
I took my Ford F-150 to his shop and left it for him to look at. The next day on my way to work, I stopped to see what he thought and he said that it did look like it was phase adjusters, but then he walked me over to my truck with the hood open and he pointed to the front of the engine and told me that he could guarantee me that the other man had not replaced the adjusters at all. He said that he used to work for Ford, and he could tell that the front of the engine had never been removed and you could not replace the adjusters without removing the front plate. He then stated again that the bad phase adjuster had to be replaced or I could lose the engine. He also said that when one adjuster was bad, you had to replace both because the 2nd one would soon also go bad. He said that he could replace both for $1,500 and that would be with actually replacing them and using new parts, and he would warranty his work for 36,000 miles.
I was happy to agree to the $1,500 because that was only $300 more than I had paid another man and according to Craig, they were not actually replaced. So I gave him a $1,000 deposit and asked him to replace them.
A few days later, Craig called me and said the truck was still not running the way he would like and I would need to spend another $450 to have another part replaced, and after a few more calls, the bill had gone from $1,500 to $2,500. I was sorry to have to spend the extra $1,000 but if I was going to spend $1,500 to have the phase adjusters replaced, I might as well go ahead and spend the extra $1,000 to make it right.
I only used the truck to take things to the dumps 2 or 3 times a month. It was only about 9 miles round trip so it was not getting much use. The 2nd or 3rd time I used it, when I started it up, it was clattering the same way it did, before I took it to Sun Automotive.
I was going to take the truck to Sun Automotive so Craig could listen to the noise it was making. I made it about 5 blocks from my house and the engine made a noise, miss fired, and then just went dead. I called a tow company and had my truck towed to Sun Automotive and was glad that I had the adjusters replaced by a reputable shop because I knew they would be able to correct whatever had happened.
I left the truck with them and I called them a couple days later to see if they had it repaired yet, and Craig said that a phase adjuster had completely failed, and the engine had gotten so out of timing that a piston had hit the valves, and destroyed the valves and piston and it would cost $4,500 to $5,500 to repair the engine.
I was really happy I had them do the work because of their warranty.
Then everything changed. Craig said that it was not warranted because it was a phase adjuster that had failed and because they did not replace the phase adjusters, there was no warranty. WHAT? The only reason I took the truck to them was to have the phase adjusters replaced and $1,500 of the $2,500 was for the phase adjusters. If they didn't replace the phase adjusters, why did they go ahead and charge me the $1,500 after they realized they forgot to replace the phase adjusters.
After talking to other mechanics, I discovered that if they had actually replaced the phase adjusters like they said they were going to do, the extra $1,000 I paid for parts would not have been necessary, because those parts were used to try and make the truck run right without replacing the phase adjusters. read more
