Trade new SOHC jackshaft tensioner for your old one!

I’ll trade my brand new, in the box, Ford SOHC 4.0 jackshaft tensioner, for your old, busted one. I don’t care how busted up it is, but I do need all the pieces. I also need an old cassette tensioner, the one that screws into the head (either front or rear or both). If you have an old cassette guide (either front or rear or both), that would be great, too. In fact, if someone has all this old stuff, I’ll pay you for it, even if you don’t want my new tensioner. Old, busted, I don’t care. Name your price.

The deal is a shop did the Jackshaft tensioner and chain on my Ex, then two days later my rod bearings are shot. Shop dropped the pan and fished out some metal and plastic bits that were clogging up the oil intake (flat metal spring steel).

Originally I offered the shop that we should just split the cost of a putting in a used engine. I had no proof it was their work that caused it (at that point I wasn't even certain it was a rod knock, or what the broken parts came from), but it was more than suspicious to have occurred just two days after their major surgery. They made it clear they just wanted me to go away, a loyal customer for several years (I’m sparing you the rest of the details, suffice it to say they were being less than amicable).

After some digging I figured out that the broken parts came from the jackshaft tensioner, one of the parts they changed, even though they had specifically told me they accounted for all its pieces (yes, I should have asked for the old parts, lesson learned). I also discovered the loud knock was indeed the rod bearings. So now I’m preparing to take them to small claims court. To win I need to be able to show that the broken parts that clogged the oil intake came from parts they worked on, and left behind (like a surgeon leaving a sponge behind after he stitches you back up).

I bought a new jackshaft tensioner from Ford, to use as a prop in court. To show the broken parts came from the part they changed.

The problem is Ford changed the design of the tensioner, the plastic and metal spring pieces are now different. A non-car-guy judge is gonna take one look at the broken parts and my new jackshaft tensioner and decide they aren’t the same, case closed, I lose. I need something to show-and-tell the original tensioner design, an old part that looks the same as my old broken pieces. I’ve found several photos posted in this forum that show the old tensioner, and I can see my new one is a different design, but I want to bring more than just photos to court. I want to have in my hand an original design tensioner to compare my old broken pieces to (along with my old balance tensioner I already have, to show they didn’t come from that). If I also had a rear tensioner and guide, to show they couldn’t have come from that either, all the better (shop had been trying to say the broken pieces where from the rear chain stuff).

So who has these parts they are willing to sell me, or is getting ready to replace theirs and wants to trade for my new one? I’ll send you my new one on the promise of you sending me your old one. You just pay shipping.

Who can help me out?

PS – Its real easy to drop the lower pan, if you or your shop does any timing chain repairs, insist they drop the pan to fish out anything that could clog up the oil intake. Cheap insurance. Gasket is even reusable, no reason not to do it. Would have saved me all this grief.

Bump - I'll buy your old, busted jackshaft tensioner!

The economy is tight, you need some extra cash. Remember those old parts you can't remember why you kept, that the wife is always nagging to throw out? Well if one of 'em is a jackshaft tensioner, its your lucky day. Name your price, I need that part.

I don't care if its in a zillion pieces, so long as you have them all (or at least most of them).

$$ for your old, busted parts, where else you gonna get a deal like that?

what about going to a junk yard and pulling the parts you need?

Not a bad idea, but I think I'd need to find an engine that is already scrap. I can't see a junkyard letting someone pull apart a good engine for a cheap part. I would think one of the chief $ makers for them is reselling major drivetrain systems, like engines.

Also, here in the litigious North East, salvage operations that even let into the yard, let alone allow you to pull your own parts, are few and far between.

But it don’t hurt to ask around.

You might help your case some by having the new tensioner as well though, to prove that it wasn't replaced. If it had been replaced, the parts would look like those from the new tensioner, not the old. Makes a stronger case than if the assumption is the part design never changed and the new parts would be the same as the old. I'm sure whoever sends you an old busted tensioner would be more than happy to wait until after your claim is settled to receive the new one.

Thanks for your input. The tensioner WAS changed, they just let some of the old pieces fall into the pan when they did the work, then never bothered to retreive them. Its funny, too, they even told me specifically that 'no parts fell into the pan, so no need to drop the pan' when they called me to tell me the job was done.

So I have bits of my old, original tensioner (that this shop replaced), that were fished out of the pan. If only I had asked for the old parts back! I would have seen that it wasn't all there, and could have prevented the issue. Or at least now I'd have a smoking gun, parts from pan, old parts they took off, perfect match.

For someone to send me their old one, and wait for my new one, would mean they'd have to have their truck out of service, in pieces, for however long it takes to get a court date scheduled, and for it to come to pass. I wouldn't want anyone to go through that.

Well, I meant if they sent you a busted one from a salvage truck, or one they had already replaced.

If you're still looking, i'm going to be tearing one down. I'm sure this has been resolved long ago, though. So, how did it turn out?