apparently this is a common problem with the 5.4L V8 gas engines. My well trusted mechanic described it as a giant pain in the ass. It involves tearing apart the front engine bay of the truck, about 800 - 1400 Canadian dollars in Ford proprietary parts, and many hours of (expensive) labor. After calling another mechanic down the street he also informed me that repairing it properly is not as simple as replacing a few hard to reach parts, and opted to send my business to his associate who had replaced/repaired a dozen phasors in the last few months.

I rate this at the maximum pain in the ass because any $2000+ fix on a sub 200k vehicle is f*cking ridiculous. this ford invented system is faulty, and i feel burned because now i have to pay out of pocket.

FYI I'm not 100% sure what exactly sure what the phasors are, or where they are located, but it has something to do with the engines variable cam timing. it manifested itself as a really rough, awful sounding idle, that would only happen intermittently. i noticed it most after the engine had run for a good 20+km when i would throw it into reverse to back into my driveway. currently i still drive the truck short distances, but i was warned that driving with bad, or failing phasors could result in catastrophic engine failure. my advice would be to get this repaired as soon as possible.

I bought my dream truck 2008 Ford F250 with "BULLET PROOF" 5.4 Triton. Now at less than 100000 miles and 20 days after making the last payment I am facing a "repair bill" of up to $6000. The dealership is offering me $9000.00 on trade for a truck I JUST paid out of pocket $46000.

This cam phaser issue is a known problem to Ford and we should have been informed as loyal Ford guys but I am told there isn't anything we could have done differently, it's "JUST A PROBLEM WITH THE 5.4 IN THOSE YEARS, 2006 to 2011". Lets band together and have ford step up to the plate and help us out. My dream truck is undriveable and sits at the dealership, I have missed work due to lack of wheels and am pissed. Thanks, Bill