5.4L motor has the VCT instead of the EGR and it can and will fail. If you hear ticking in the cylinder heads chances are its the VCT solenoids or the VCT gears themselves. These solenoids are super easy to install and worth the money. No since in starting by doing gears, its a much more labor intensive project, and if the new solenoids dont cure the issue, than its worth having new ones to feed oil to the new gears you`ll be installing next.