what would cause this and what extent to repair? my sons car and we took the valve cover off to replace gasket and it was laying inside. Looked like a grinder was put to it. Only 105,000 miles on it.

I've had it happen before. I don't know why. I didn't realize I had broken a rocker arm. Truck started running rough and oil pressure dropped to zero. I replaced the oil pump assuming that was the cause of the low oil pressure. After a lot of searching, I stumbled upon a broken rocker arm. It's hard to troubleshoot an engine when you can't run it because you have no oil pressure. I replaced the push rod, lifter, rocker arm, seals, etc and it ran fine after that. Problem didn't happen again and I probably put another 75,000 miles on that truck.

Seen it a couple times. Intake rocker, correct? They just pop out for whatever reason. Replace that rocker, the lash adjuster,and anything else damaged and you'll be good to go. It's a known problem with the 3v 5.4l, among many other issues. I've seen one lose a rocker and it snapped the valve spring so the valve dropped I to the engine and destroyed it.

Yes. He is going to talk to dealer he bought it from tomorrow. they have a "lifetime" warranty on the engine. We'll see how that goes.

Almost forgot the most important part...if you do it yourself, you have to use a special tool to compress the valve in order to slip the rocker in.

Does these actually break or just "pop out" from under the cam? We see quite a few dodge 3.7s and I believe 4.7s spit rocker arms out from under the cam at the shop I work at. We dont do a lot to the 3V fords as the shop owner doesnt want to mess with them much past oil changes.

Brothers 5.4 stuck a rocker last year. Chewed the cam quickly. 3.5k for a top end rebuild

As Ford began manufacturing engines in China in 2013, like all the garbage coming out of China which has zero quality control, including biological warfare, this might be the cause of the failures.

"Construction of the new plant is planned to begin next year, with engine production starting in 2013. With the additional capacity of 400,000 units at the new plant, CFMA is more than doubling its existing engine capacity of 350,000, to 750,000 engines annually."

Ford in China

I grew up driving Fords as they took everything a ranch could throw at them, but after a Topaz quit running in the cold due to computer problems and a Ranger like all Rangers quit running due to fuel pump problems, I quit that worthless company. They are no longer Henry Ford in looking out for Americans. If it is not the engines, Ford has radiator problems and brake problems galore.

PS That rocker is worn due to inferior metal. That is not American or South Korean steel. That is China.

I hope they get the plant done. Read an article the other day that Ford stock has been downgraded to junk by 2 of the major institutions. One more and they call in the loans which is billions from restructure under new CEO. The article said they are on the verge of bankruptcy. I own fords and my confidence is not real high. I don't see Uncle Donald bailing them out this time. He may ask congress to back a loan who knows.

Keep us updated on that??

I'm not sure if they just pop out or if the roller locks up and it gets spit out, but every one I did was all chewed up like in DRF's picture, so by the time I got to it the roller wouldn't spin.

If you follow the requirement that is in your owner manual to keep your warranty valid would cost thousands of dollars a year. Miss one item and your warranty is void. Shop cost on my car is $113.00 per hour. JMO

I thought Ford quit using the 5.4L motor in 2010? I have a 2010 F150 with only 80K on the odometer. I plan on making it disappear this summer and go back to Toyota. That was my first Ford after 25 years of owning Toyotas. Will be my last. No problems with it yet, but I know the oiling system is not up to the job. I run a name brand full synthetic with an oil filter change half way to the oil change interval (8.000 miles) to keep the oil as clean as possible. Haven't did the dreaded spark plug change yet, maybe I won't bother.
I have researched problems with other Ford engines and lots of people are complaining.

It's a 5.4....... that's the problem. Anyone who owns one should expect catastrophic engine failure at any moment. The horrible gas mileage should scare people away from them in the first place.

246,000 on my 04 if it croaks tomorrow I guess it doesn't owe me anything. Get around 16 mpg on the road not great but I wouldn't call it horrible. With that said my next " new used" will likely be a 5.0 if I don't switch brands

Well it's not covered under the supposedly lifetime engine they gave him. Kind of figured they'd weasel their way out as always. We will attempt to fix it ourselves, wish us luck lol

Ford didn't take any bail out money before. But quality sure seems to be lacking, let alone design issues. Not hard to find serious problems currently with every engine they offer.

It is a Ford, don't expect too much.