(April 10, 2018) For late model Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicle owners dealing with a clicking, tapping, or knocking V8, a newly updated Cam Phaser Lockout Kit from Forbidden Diesel is available. Designed to be an affordable alternative to expensive engine repairs, the cam phaser lockout kit fits Ford Triton V8 engines with 3-valves produced between 2004 and 2014.

Many Ford 3-valve Triton 5.4L and 4.6L engines produced between 2004 and 2014 suffer from cam phaser problems. Specifically, the cam phaser in many of these engines begins to "knock" or "rattle" after a certain amount of wear and tear. These noisy cam phasers will eventually fail, and a failed cam phaser can potentially lead to engine damage due to lubrication issues.

When a 5.4L or 4.6L 3-valve Triton V8 has a cam phaser problem, there are a few ways to fix the vehicle:

    • Replace the cam phasers themselves, which are typically replaced along with the chain tensioners and lash adjusters. This repair requires a fairly extensive teardown of the engine and can often cost several thousand dollars to complete.

    • Replace the entire engine because of suspected cylinder and piston damage caused by a noisy cam phaser that was ignored for too long.

    • "Lock" the cam phasers into one position, ending the rattling problem and preventing future damage. Using a kit like the one produced by Forbidden Diesel, the cam phaser problem can be solved for as little as $30.

“If someone came to me and said 'I can solve your Ford engine noise problem for $30, even though your mechanic quoted you $3,000, I'd call that person crazy. But that's what our kit does," says Shane Marler, director at Forbidden Diesel Performance.

“As long as there's no underlying damage caused by the noisy cam phaser, our lockout kit will eliminate the engine tapping and prevent future problems. The reason our part works and is so inexpensive is simple: We don't actually try to 'fix' the cam phasers because that's too expensive. We bypass them instead."

Forbidden Diesel Performance was one of the first companies to recognize the value of a cam phaser lockout and to produce a kit. Here's how their kit works:

    The vehicle owner removes the valve cover on each cylinder head
    Using a timing chain wedge, the cam phaser can be removed from the vehicle without further engine teardown
    The phaser itself is partially disassembled, and then the lockout is inserted to lock the cam into the 'advanced' position
    The phaser is bolted back together and replaced in the vehicle
    Once the lockouts are inserted into the phaser on each side of the engine, the engine can be reprogrammed to recognize the new standard engine timing (only this step is optional)

While the $30 lockouts are all that are needed to lock the phaser, Forbidden Diesel offers the timing chain wedge, a set of phaser replacement bolts (it's not recommended to re-use the stock bolts), and an engine programmer that can tune the engine to adjust the timing and prevent future check-engine lights.

"It's true that our kit — which locks the engine into the 'advanced' timing - will cause a slight drop in fuel economy,” Marler says. “Most of the people that installer our kit say their fuel economy decreases about about 1 mile per gallon. However, many of these same people report that their engine is more powerful. Other than the fuel economy change, there are no risks or downsides with our kit."

The cam phaser lockout kit is made in the USA, and Forbidden Diesel has free technical support available to anyone that purchases their cam phaser lockout kit. This free tech support is available because the kit is designed to be installed by someone with basic mechanical knowledge.

"Most of the people that buy our kit are Ford truck or Ford Expedition owners who are relieved to find out that they don't need to do thousands of dollars of work to their engine," says Marler. "We've got good instructions for our kit, and there are some good photos of our lockout kit being installed on our site that help people figure it out. But we're here to answer the phone too."

Learn more about the kit here: https://forbiddendiesel.com/i-23438629-cam-phaser-lockout-kit-for-5-4l-4...