Cautionary tale, rough idle, knocking, tick, low oil pressure
 

We have a 2004 late model f150 and just went through the shake at low idle, knocking and pP0340, P0344, P0345, and P0349 codes, ours also had the 22 code which i Think is low oil preasure and it seemed like the transmission was about to go. Mind you this didn't happen all at once, the condition had been deteriorating over time. We change the oil and filter ever 6k miles. Before we took it to the shop, i read horror stories of thes symptoms and folks replacing cam sensors, VCR, timing chains...etc, and thousands of dollars later symptoms remained. Since I know the p codes pointed to cam sensors, and I know many times that didn't resolve, I wanted to have them go right for a skipped tooth. My husband went against my recommendation and took it to his ford Truck expert mechanic. A week later and 1800 dollars the mechanic called and said their is sludge all over the engine, the truck barely runs, not to waste any more money to get a new engine...

So my husband told me this news, i did not believe this diagnosis. So i did a lot of research and came to the conclusion that we needed to chane the oil to 15-40 diesel. I told my husband to call his expert mechanic and tell him to humor you and put in that oil.

My husband was laughing, thinking how rediculous this idea was. But since the alternative was to get it towed for a second opinion or buy a new engine and tranny, he went with it.

Well the next day the mechanic calls and says he can't believe it but the 15-40 oil resolved all the issues. Knocking, stalling at idle, rough idle, transmission symptoms, running like a diesel oh and the ticking... GONE.

I found at least 10 other people who have resolved these issues with the 15-40.

I wish someone had posted this resolution with more clarity so that we could have done this first and saved 1800$ and a lot of stress.

I hope this helps someone else! Good luck. Oh and if I got some of the mechanical terms wrong, ots because I am a computer programmer with no auto repair experience

its only a temporary fix. The thicker oil just holds the bears together tighter so it doesnt make the noise. the problem isn't gone, and it still is gonna end up dying.