Timing Chain Fixed Problems

I have read many times on this forum that the timing chain never needs to be replaced, that it lasts the life of the engine. Well, I am calling bull. I had several problems that wouldn't go away and after I changed out the timing chain its like I have a new engine.

I had a couple of problems that replacing nearly everything else didn't resolved.

It would ping badly. Changing the heads, injectors, and every electronic part on the engine didn't fix it. Replacing the timing chain did.

It wouldn't wind up at all, 3500 rpm was about it. After the timing chain replacement it turns to 4500 with power and will go to redline.

There was a noise coming from the timing chain area. Replacing the chain got rid of the noise.

It has noticably more power.

The timing chain on the Explorer engine is a single row timing chain. It does stretch and it does wear. When I pulled mine I found that it was stretched and that there was wear on the gears. As a chain stretches it will retard the timing which will lower the torque curve. It will increase the cylinder pressure at low revs. Thus the pinging and lousy high rpm performance. The teeth where worn which I will assume is why it made noise.

My motor had 160,000 miles on it. The timing chain replacement was one of the best things I have done. I can now burn regular gas again. It spins up and runs great. I just pulled my popup camper from Florida to Colorado and without the timing chain replacement it wouldn't have been very much fun.

Don't believe that the timing chain lasts forever. If your motor won't rev like it should, if it pings and if it makes noise from the timing chain area then I would replace the chain. It took me 5 hours and I love the results. Even my wife could tell the difference. She noted how quite the engine is and that we are going faster up the hills. She also like how it quite pinging all the time.

You might have misunderstood, when most people say a timing chain doesn't need to be replaced, they don't mean it NEVER needs to be replaced, just that most people would never need to replace it for the normal 'lifetime' most people keep a vehicle, which is 6-7 years or around 100,000 miles.

Obviously if you keep a vehicle a loooong time and put a lot of miles on the engine, certain things will need to be replaced that would never come up otherwise. Chains do stretch, and the tensioners and stuff that keeps them tight do wear, so it makes a lot of sense that new hardware helps. It depends on the condition of the engine though, mine has over 200,000, still with the original chain, and still revs great. I do plan to replace all the timing hardware eventually though, and it should give an improvement.

What timing chain kit did you go with?

I went with a higher end set a Cloyes I believe.

Oh, I forgot to mention that my gas mileage went up a bit too.

Do you still have the packaging? I'm curious if the Cloyes set is made in Germany or the USA, or if they've gone to Taiwan or China.

I just replaced mine in the 4.6 with cloyes i got from orielly auto with cast tensioners and my box said made in usa.

My chains cut thru the guide the alumiunm and into the steel tensioner. Now with all new parts the engine is tight and strong. Just gotta replace the plastic crap on the injectors clips as high heat and plastic never work.

and i still have the box if ya want a pic.

I think you got a defective part, or something else went bad to cause the excessive wear, or just bad luck.
There are just WAY too many 1st gens out there with well over 160K on them with no signs of anything timing chain related.

It depends on how an engine is used. If someone is constantly stomping on the gas from a standstill and doing launches, that puts a ton of stress on the timing chain and components compared to an engine that is driven smoothly. Same goes for mods like big tires. Add that along with an auto tranny and high gears and the timing system sees more stress than it normally would, along with everything else.

I replaced a timing belt tensioner spring on another vehicle one time. The old stock spring was much thinner and didn't have much tension by comparison. Simply doing that, without replacing or changing anything else, did have quite an effect. I can see where just replacing timing components on a high mileage engine would give an improvement. If you're doing engine work anyway, it makes sense to, since the stuff for the first gen is pretty inexpensive, compared to the later models and especially the SOHC.

My truck is a 94 Sport and it had 3:08 gears and an automatic. It still has the automatic but it has been converted to 3:78 gears and it is running on 31's now.

The timing chain in an Explorer is a single row chain, it is bound to stretch. Not only was the chain slightly stretched but there was wear on the gears. This all led to retarded cam timing. Retarded cam timing will cause pinging, and it didn't want to rev up very well. It was also a bit noisy. All I am saying is that if you have a higher mileage engine and it maybe doesn't want to rev easily or it pings or it is noisy in the timing cover then change the timing chain, gears and tensioner. It made a noticable difference in my car.

The gears I bought were not made in China. I cant remember if they were USA or Germany but they were one of the two. I would not accept chineese gears or chain. I once put in a chineese chain in an Opel and it only lasted 20k before I had to replace it again so I swore then to never do that again.

timing tentioner question???

HI .. Im a proud Aussie owner of 2 Explorers... My xl model (sohc) has a timing chain noise it has only been happening for a few weeks.. ive been to mechanics but keep getting the same answer...and that they dont know anything about them and dont want too and also keep getting told theyre called EXPLODERS which to be frank is pissing me off... I love my Explorers!!
Im a female and do alot of work on my own cars... i have just gone out and bought timing chain tentioners ..but ive read a few forums and they said if i put new tentioners on it could make the timing chains jump off... WOULD JUST LIKE TO KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE AND WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE A REPLY ... THANX Cazz

I must be one of the "it lasts the life of the motor" guys because mine has 314,000 miles on it and it'll spin to redline all day long and its quiet.

budrose said:

HI .. Im a proud Aussie owner of 2 Explorers... My xl model (sohc) has a timing chain noise it has only been happening for a few weeks.. ive been to mechanics but keep getting the same answer...and that they dont know anything about them and dont want too and also keep getting told theyre called EXPLODERS which to be frank is pissing me off... I love my Explorers!!
Im a female and do alot of work on my own cars... i have just gone out and bought timing chain tentioners ..but ive read a few forums and they said if i put new tentioners on it could make the timing chains jump off... WOULD JUST LIKE TO KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE AND WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE A REPLY ... THANX Cazz

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The SOHC has timing chain noise issues, and it also has two timing chains.

It's a good idea to replace all the components as a set, not just the tensioners. It shouldn't cause anything like timing chains to jump off though, but if work is being done to the timing chains, you're better off replacing it ALL at the same time.

Anime said:

Do you still have the packaging? I'm curious if the Cloyes set is made in Germany or the USA, or if they've gone to Taiwan or China.

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I recently picked up a Cloyes timing set and the box says they are made in the USA.