Does Ford says something about upgrading or changing recommendations? Should one pull the valve covers to inspect the followers after some miles?
I know myself, I will ignore new noises as long as possible
I haven't found anything official from Ford concerning these.............and IMHO we won't, due to all this coming into play post-production (remember, these engines originally had a 3yr, 36,000mi powertrain warranty when the vehicle was new thus all this has long expired thus Ford has no impetus to offer any type of post-production subsidy on replacement........if you were running the company, would you do it? you're looking at multi $1,000,000.00+ replacement subsidies on MY's 2005 thru 2014--10yr run affecting millions of vehicles--4.6L, 5.4L 3V VCT-equipped engines). All I do know is this.........for Ford to do this AFTER production run is completed, is IMHO telling you all you need to know that these are a problem waiting to happen, Ford has provided a remedy to this issue thus the onus is now on the consumer..........the old Fram oil filter commercial slogan comes to mind......."either pay me now or pay me later".
Since there aren't any new crate engines to access thus only remans..........IMHO it pays dividends in the long run to fix\replace all this kind of stuff up front to keep your original 4.6L 3V intact as long as you can............so in the end...............it's your vehicle & your money........
My take on this is really very simple since this situation is in reality a Russian-roulette type of deal.........1.) if you only care to run for a short time & trade-in value isn't a concern, then continue to run the OEM parts & hope that they don't fail until you can get rid of the vehicle, 2.) if you plan to keep the vehicle for a long period of time but don't want to put a lot of expense into it, then at least change out all 24 cam followers as these can be changed out w\o removing anything else besides the valve covers, 3.) if you plan to keep the vehicle for a long time & mod the engine in any way, then change out all 24 cam followers & all 24 lash adjusters ASAP--plan to do this along w\ any type of cam swapout or 4.) if the engine mileage is over 100,000 mi-150,000 mi + & you don't know if these have been changed out, then IMHO do it ASAP as a maintenance item as the longer you run the OEM parts, the chances of OEM cam follower failures occurring goes up.......that is, if you plan to keep the vehicle.
Note the main theme here......................"if you plan to keep the vehicle".
This clock starts the moment you start hearing any type of ticking noise coming from this engine, whether from the valve covers or from the front timing cover.........the longer you procrastinate (hold off on repairs\replacement), the more you're playing Russian roulette w\ the engine.
But sometimes, you won't get this luxury warning of noise before failure...........................
My situation some 4+ yrs ago now (simple structural failure of cam follower on 1 of #7 cyl intake valves just 4 months after a cam swapout but finally found 3 months later......had no warning of this other than a P0307 DTC that wouldn't go away but couldn't find\isolate any type of actual plug\coil misfire.....no noise coming from the valve covers prior cam swapout or during\post follower failure w\ no internal damage found to either head, valve or cam lobe & cam follower was never struck by the cam lobe before failure.......engine had a little over 140,000 mi on the clock during all this) is the exception.............most of the time they'll take out at least the top end (heads & valves) or the whole engine as well once they fail........thus is not something to think lightly of\about........you might roll snake eyes......
These have failed in as little as 30,000 mi-60,000 mi & have run w\o issue in other engines well over 200,000+ mi so there is no "set" standard to this industry-wise from what I can see\find.
So, it's on the owner's shoulders.........and how much you value this vehicle\engine as to whether you fork out the money.
My 2 cents....................
PS--Sorry OP for typing this.............but you've had your valve covers off thus have visual on all this...........
