Turned on my vehicle and heard what sounded like paper being sucked into the fan. Truck started to idle rough and would die out. Popped the hood open and was shocked to see a hole on the drivers side valve cover. We're sorry to hear about what you've been dealing with, RayThe motor still would run so I proceeded to tear into the motor to find the problem. I'am not a mechanic by trade, but not afraid to tackle a vehicle problem. As i tore the motor apart I discovered the cam chain tensioner had broken apart. I plan on getting rid of the ford motor and dropping a gm ls motor and trans. In my opinion Ford has over engineered their trucks to please soccer moms and off road wanna be's. Ford - just make a dependable truck.

DO NOT BUY A TRUCK WITH A 5.4 3V ENGINE, if you notice a rattle upon startup that last for a few seconds, replace the timing chain immediately don't even drive the truck, chances are if you let that issue continue for a good amount of time the lack of oil going into the heads will score the cam lobes and at that point the engine is totaled, the mechanic i talked to he hasn't heard any reports of the engine complete stopping but anything is possible, what mine does on the daily is the rpms at idle will drop below 500 and it will idle so rough you would think the door panels are about to come off, eventually the truck will loose most it power and it may stall upon takeoff from a light. you could just replace the heads and the timing chain but for the cost of that you may as well get a new engine, there were many little problems with this truck before such as the shiftier getting stuck in park, the lug nuts refusing to come loose, and the gas cap spring breaking, but nothing amounts to the fact my engine is toast because of a little oil seal on the timing chain at 100k miles!