ok ok lol i made a mistake and bought a 2004 f150 with the 5.4l. Only reason i got it is bc i got a really good deal on it and it is in great shape. I'm a die hard gm fan, and this truck has reminded me why lol. Here's the problem i'm having, I copied and pasted from an f150 forum.

125k miles. Ill describe the problem best i can as few of words i can.

ok, so the problem is with the motor. At idle it has a real bad tick ( at some points it sounds like a "diesel" as some people describe). and it has no power when you go wot, it just falls on it's face.

-after the truck warms up (5 or so miles) the truck will buck or hesitate at lower rpms when you give it a little gas to speed up, when the motor is under load ( mainly when in OD). smooths back out when you downshift and raise the rpms

after this problem ^^ occurs, a little while longer the truck will completely bog down in any gear, at any speed or any rpms when you give the truck even a little throttle.

now when this problem ^^ happens, at idle the truck will sound tremendously worse then just ticking. it sounds like the light ticking 100 times faster and louder. Turn the truck off and start it again, it goes away and sounds like it did in the beginning of this thread.

I got a code for bank two overly advanced timing. Replaced the vct solenoid and both cam sensors. was able to drive the truck a lot longer before the bad ticking noise started...although i did use it to pull my brother out of the ditch and as soon as i pulled him out the engine started making the real bad knocking noise.

Any ideas here at all? anything at this point would be helpful lol

Hopefully someone here has experience with these motors and can help lol I'd appreciate it a ton