Engine lost power now won't start

[apuszczalowski]

So I was driving to my hockey game tonight and ran into a huge problem with my truck.

The truck is a 1999 4.0 SOHC Explorer sport, it drove fine all day, gas was low so I filled up on my way home from work, no signs of any problems. I go to leave to go to play hockey and about 5 minutes (driving) from my house, the trucks motor got a little bit louder then usual (not really that noticble but just a bit louder). I kept going thinking it was just the muffler maybe starting to go and all of the sudden I started to feel like the truck was getting a little sluggish. I look down and was still cruising at about 2,000-2,500 RPM so I let off the gas and then back on it and the engine just lost most of its power, then the tach went dead and the motor stopped leaving me enough to coast tot he side of the road and into a parking lot.

I put her in park (engine won't crank in neutral) and the motor just cranks (and there seems to be a "slapping" noise) and won't fire. I tried a bunch of times and it won't fire. I looked around under the hood and can't see any visual signs of a problem, try again and the same thing. Walk over an hour back home in very cold and windy temperatures, take my girlfriends car back to get our hockey gear and try it again and still nothing. Go back home and called a tow truck and off it went to the mechanic.

Does anyone have an idea what may be wrong? according to the haynes manual I have it could be anything from a dirty or clogged fuel filter to a dead fuel pump all the way to the timing being off a little. Has someone had this happen before? I was not getting a check engine warning (can't tell if I have one now, if I leave the ignition in the on position, eventually all the lights ont he dash go off except the check engine and the check guages).

I am really hoping for the clogged fuel filter or dirty injectors, or bad spark plugs, (doubt the injectors, I use injector cleaner every couple of fill ups) or even a dead pump, but knowing my luck its going to be a rear timing chain or one of the cylinders lost compression. I'm leaning towards a fuel problem only because after all the cranking, I'm not smelling any gas like I do on my old Dakota pickup that also wont start and only cranks (I think that one has an ignition/spark problem cause it cranks but I hear the fuel pump when i turn the key and smell gas after cranking for a bit)

When bought the truck the dealer told me that he went to a Ford Dealership to get the rattle looked at and they said it was a sticky valve or lifter, but I'm starting to think they screwed up or he screwed me and its a timing chain issue thats going to cost a fortune to have fixed, I'm already down $50 for the tow. This was supposed to be a winter beater to get me through the winter cause I didn't think my Dakota would after it was leaking coolant for atleast 6-8 months and I lost heat, plus noticed an oil leak. I still ran just fine until I let it sit for about 2 weeks without starting it.

I'm dreading the call from the mechanic tomorrow (would do it myself if I had a warm garage of my own, or lived somewhere where there isn't 2 feet of snow on the ground in my driveway

 

[2000StreetRod]

compression check

It could be a lot of things. If you've had a rattle for a while that could indicate a timing chain related issue. If your mechanic says its the timing chain ask what the compression test results were. If the compression of all cylinders on one bank are very low then the chain on that bank has slipped. If the chain has slipped enough there will be damaged valves on that bank. Hopefully, your problem is not timing chain related. Fuel pressure problems would not result in the "slapping" noise you hear when cranking the starter. Nor would a defective crankshaft or camshaft position sensor.

 

[1AJeremyD]

I am suspecting timing chain as well. Was it making any other noise before this happened? Did it ever act up before?

 

[apuszczalowski]

It never had any issues before. I bought it just before christmas (Dec. 23) from a small used car dealership that said they took it to a Ford Dealler to check out a rattling noise and was told it was a sticky valve/lifter. So I bought it after doing some research on the valves/lifters thinking I could fix it later, and afterwards found out there were big timing issues with those motors.

I never had any issues starting it before or losing power, just really crappy gas mileage (I filled up yesterday and was getting 15.67 mpg driving mostly rural and larger highways to work) and a rattling noise from the motor.

I'm assuming the worst, being a timing chain problem, and I know it won't be a cheap fix.

 

[apuszczalowski]

Just to update, called the mechanic this morning, he said he has spent about 2 1/2 hours on it yesterday and found that the rear timing change has skipped a tooth and is slapping against something inside. Basically they need to pull the motor, fix the problem witht eh rear timing chain, get it back in and see if theres damage to the valves or anything else, or get another motor and drop it in.

i told him to hold off moving forward until I can get an estimate from his guy to fix the problem. I already know its going to be way more then I can spend and I will probably have to do it myself in the spring. $2,500 basically for 1 month of use

 

[apuszczalowski]

Another Update, the motor is dead, basically

Mechanic has it apart and he says it ain't worth fixing. Besides the guides (he found pieces of them everywhere), there were a bunch of other items inside needing attention, and alot of sludge/gunk buildup from poor previous maintenance.

Hes gonna price replacing the motor for me, but chances are thats gonna be out of the budget, so I will tow it home til the spring when I can do it myself and then sell it off to hopefully get my money back

 

[Joe Dirt]

That sucks.

That's why I never trust a small dealer, especially when they say stuff like "well, we took it to a Ford dealer and they said it's just..." I'd be visiting that "dealer", seriously. They never did, and they flat out lied, to unload the truck. Call the Better Business Bureau as well, or the similar agency up there, and report them.

I knew it was a tensioner issue when you described it before in your welcome thread, I just wish is was warmer and you could have gotten in there a couple of weeks ago before it grenaded.

 

[apuszczalowski]

So did the mechanic last night when I told him that it had a rattle noise!

Problem is I bought it "As-Is", and although they did the running around and actual work to safety it, the paper work was done so that it was viewed as me buying it from them As-Is so the taxes and cost would be less, not much that can be done when that happens

I spoke to the mechanic this morning, thought about it for an hour and decided to bite the bullet, lube up my rear and go ahead with having him put another motor in. They found one with less than 66,000 miles on it for about $950, he's going to give me a deal on labour and do some "preventative maintenance" work on it before it goes in (like all new filters and fluids, change the thermostat, do a full tune-up, and I believe change the tensioners and guides). Its gonna run $2,500 for everything, with taxes, but the motor he yanked out had a new thermostat installed a month ago, and I just bought a brand new air filter so some of that amount will be going down. I'm going there tomorrow to see how else I can lower the cost.

i should have it back by Wednesday night if it all goes well

 

[apuszczalowski]

If I had it my way though, and I had a place to work on it and some time and money, I would have ripped out the v6 and replaced it with a v8