SOHC V6 Timing Chain Saga | Page 26 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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SOHC V6 Timing Chain Saga

streetrod, did you have any trouble with the 00m12 torx screw plug? Mine stripped out at the first turn. Do I need to replace the pencil thing?
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That long plastic "pencil" is a check valve, not installed in any of the early models. If that has been installed by a past owner, you are fine. If you think that there may not be one in there, then you need to remove the plug and install that one.
 






Yeah, there's no way there is one in there, I just really don't want to drill that thing out
 






removing galley plug

streetrod, did you have any trouble with the 00m12 torx screw plug? Mine stripped out at the first turn. Do I need to replace the pencil thing?

The "pencil" accomplishes two things. The most important is to decrease the volume of the chamber which reduces the time for oil pressure to build to the hydraulic tensioner. The second is to restrict the chamber from draining after engine shut off reducing the oil pressure build up time on the next start. Since I've added a pre-oiler (Accusump) my tensioners are pressurized before engine start.

I installed an extension to the Torx bit, inserted the bit into the plug and then tapped the extension with a hammer to fully seat the bit and possibly break loose the plug. Then installed the drive and I applied all the downward pressure I could to the plug when loosening it.
TORXIT.JPG


At least one other member stripped the plug when attempting removal. He tried everything he could think of and never got it out. It got to the point he was afraid he would drill thru the plug and still not have it out so gave up since the engine was still in the vehicle. Unfortunately, I don't have any good suggestions to remove it. I hate large diameter plugs with small Torx heads. It is not essential to install the "pencil" but having it reduces the chance of chain slip at start up. The springs in the tensioner are not as strong as they should be in my opinion. Unless you are experienced with extracting stripped head bolts you probably should let it go. If you drill thru the plug it might be difficult to extract all of the metal shavings and you still might not get the old plug out.
 






Unless you do have a pre-oiling system, I consider that check valve essential. I believe that is part(small) of why so many failures occurred in the early models.

I've drilled and removed many stripped bolts, including drilling a hole in a 4.6 aluminum intake to add a temp sensor. It can be done, use a very small drill bit(which will go through but not bend/break). Have a shop vacuum ready when you do get close to going through the first time. Then the vacuum is needed constantly to suck up the debris.

The big key is to only drill straight into the stripped bolt, or extraction bits. never drill off center. Take as long(go slow) as needed to ensure that the drilled hole is dead center in the "bolt." Once you get straight through it, then you just open it up enough to get an extraction tool to grab hold of the remaining bolt. Often you end up drilling it big enough that you get it out with a tiny screw driver or pick/hammer.

Extraction tools are not magic devices, they help but they are not the key tool. You are and your ability to drill a straight hole. Take your time. I have only damaged one set of threads while removing broken bolts etc, and that was my first attempt(5/16" water pump bolt while in the car).
 






Thinking about trying a fat extractor tool before drilling (fits perfectly)
 






If there is anything left of the Torx "teeth", I'd try to get another tool to fit in there. If there is something to grip, even if the extraction tool can be used with an interference fit, use an impact driver.

That is a slick hand tool that everyone should have, if nothing else but for the large Phillips door latch screws. That will apply far more turning force than any other tool, but the bit used must fit well.
 






Thinking about trying a fat extractor tool before drilling (fits perfectly)


Do it. I got mine out with a torx screw driver. I don't remember it being unusually tight, just kinda stiff due to the thread locker.
 






A big thanks

As soon as I completed the performance testing phase of my custom tune I began the possibly lengthy process of assessing my timing chain issues. The cold start up rattle has continued to increase and I know that I have been lucky that the engine has lasted this long without catastrophic failure.

I want to point out that I am disgusted with Ford for manufacturing a SOHC engine with the right timing chain located in the rear of the engine with extremely limited access. This coupled with the short life of the timing chain components reveals Ford's lack of quality, reliability and maintainability. It is indeed unfortunate for current and future owners that Ford has continued to manufacture this engine with this significant design flaw.

My first task was to remove the right valve cover to determine what damage may have occurred. I have not previously detected any rattle from the upper rear of the engine so I assumed that the timing componets in this area would be in better shape than those in the front. Also, the oil lubrication to the rear timing chain components is superior to what it is to the front timing chain components. I was surprised at how many things block access to the valve cover and its attaching bolts. Eventually I loosened all of the valve cover bolts except for the outer rear one that is under the bulge in the cover for the rear cam sprocket. I purchased a set of 1/4 inch drive metric sockets and two wobble extensions to fit around the bulge in order to loosen the bolt. The photo below shows the underside of the right valve cover.
View attachment 58034
I puchased the vehicle in May, 2009 with approximately 150,000 miles on the odometer. The tow truck driver I purchased it from (the vehicle was abandoned on the freeway) changed the oil just prior to selling it. I changed the oil to full synthetic after about 1,000 miles before starting the performance phase of my custom tune.
The photo below shows the buildup of sludge on the camshaft and in the head.
View attachment 58035
It's not as bad as some I've seen on the forum but certainly nothing to be proud of. At least drainage from the top to bottom was not blocked.
The photo below is the best picture I could get of the timing chain components without using a mirror.
View attachment 58036
Please note the obvious lack of tension (slack) on the inner side of the camshaft sprocket as the chain drops toward the jackshaft. I could easily deflect the chain toward the center of the block more than one inch with my fingers. I did not feel the presence of a guide but my reach was very limited. My only hope is that the tensioner on the outer side of the head has a broken internal spring. I encourage every SOHC V6 owner to change the upper tensioner every 75,000 miles or less to reduce cassette damage. However, periodic replacement of the tensioner will not prevent guide wear on the traction side of the chain.
I will clean the chain area with engine flush and puchase a mirror for better visibility. I'll also remove the external tensioner and compare it with a new one I have.
The photo below shows a new rear upper cassette.
View attachment 58059
I suspect that most of the plastic "ladder" is missing allowing the excessive chain deflection.


Well, I own you one! I would like to thanks you a lot for all you did on this forum! I'm just done of working on those timing chain! All well done, no drama, no problem. But no easy to do it. The hardest part was to put it back inside and properly with the automatic transmission.

I took my time to work on it alone... I past 6 days to do it, and i had good and bad feeling. Now it's working, i'm really happy and i had to come over the forum and thanks you for your write up! I'll have question later normaly, because i have to check my transmission....

See you Streetrods
 






I have a 98 explorer and my timing chain has over 210,000 miles on it although it is now starting to click. :-(
 






A couple quick questions for those in the know. First the facts:

2002 Ford Explorer XLS 4 door, 4.0 SOHC, about 78,700 miles. Symptoms: Rattle in the engine between 2500-3000 RPM, I understand this is a classic symptom with this engine. Also, stumble at idle with a noise I thought was a serp belt pulley bearing, but now I'm not so sure - thinking timing related. Yes the stumble at idle could be many things, but a tune up did nothing to help. Thinking the timing is jumping?

Haynes manual says to pull engine, the transmission, transfer case, front axles, shafts etc... basically the whole smash has to come out. True? Or not true? Can the motor be yanked without the rest of the power train and drive line needing to be removed?

I bet this has been addressed already, but with the vast amount of info here on this topic, I could read this thread for a day and a half before I find the answers. So forgive if I'm rehashing old news.

Secondly... I'm really disgusted with Ford and this Explorer in particular. This is the family's 4th Ford, and I think it will be the last. I have had so much go wrong with this thing, and there is even more wrong with it now, and very few miles. I could do the repairs - I just really really don't want to.

Stuff that went wrong so far that I fixed:

Rear Diff ABS sensor. around 45K
Rear drivers CV axle, 50-ish K
rear calipers, rotors, pads, front pads, rotors (rear calipers seized around 47K, warping the fronts cuz the rears were not working)
Had the rear plastic trim panel on the lift glass crack, water got in, rotted away the rear wiper/latch bracket - naturally ford does not sell those by themselves - want to sell you the 900 buck lift glass - F$%^ you Ford... had a friend fabricate a new part for me for a case of beer, replaced and panted the rear panel myself for a fraction of the cost...
Last summer, all four wheel bearings went out - around 72K, rears first, month later was the fronts...

Gear shifter is wonky, have to shimmy it between park and reverse to get it to go into park - as I understand it - these POS things are known to break off in your hands at random times - also know these X's are prone to transmission failures, and rear diff failures...
tires are bald again, needs struts, pulls to driver side, klunk in the front end - might need steering parts or ball joints...
Add to that its rusting out on the rockers... and the gas gauge stopped working.

Its paid for, I just sold my other car, so I'm car payment free - and I was hoping this X would last a little longer before needing overhaul or replace... I have zero faith in it now...

My mechanical level is high, I've torn apart 4x4's before, motor swaps, trans swaps, etc... but everything I have ever had to do on this Ford was a nightmare... I really do not want a car payment - would be difficult to manage with one... but I can't see sticking any more money in this damned thing... just too much wrong with it...

Opinions?
 






Haynes manual says to pull engine, the transmission, transfer case, front axles, shafts etc... basically the whole smash has to come out. True? Or not true? Can the motor be yanked without the rest of the power train and drive line needing to be removed?
not one bit true. You can pull the motor alone for easy access to the rear jackshaft chain, but jack the transmission. Some have done it by pulling the tranny alone (sounds harder but acceptable if you don't have a lift).

Opinions?
trade it for a ranger:D
 






Good to know about the motor - might change my decision here - however I *really* want a new truck... just not the payment right now.

As for the Ranger - I took a 2012 for a test drive a few months ago - was not impressed. Too small for me. Explorer is roomier inside - and my last actual truck was a Ram, even roomier. Felt claustrophobic in the Ranger.
 






rear main sleeve

I used a small pry bar as a lever as shown in the photo below.
i am replacing the rear main seal and am confused about the sleeve, i opted not to use as there was no groove on the crankshaft but i notice there is a gap between the seal and shaft the same as your picture, i am now worried the main seal area may be the same. what would you suggest





View attachment 59192
The old seal was easy to extract with the pry bar.
View attachment 59193

I inspected the crankshaft for wear to determine if I needed to use the sleeve. I found some crud accumulated on the surface but no indentation from the seal rubbing.View attachment 59194
I cleaned the crankshaft surface with a thick cloth soaked with solvent folded over the end of a small flat blade screwdriver. I was very careful not to poke the screwdriver blade thru the cloth and scratch the crankshaft surface.

I applied engine oil to the inner and outer surfaces of the new seal and placed it in position. Then I used the coupling and my 4 pound hand sledge hammer to tap the seal gradually and evenly into it's seat. I used the short end of an allen wrench as a "feeler gauge" to compare the distance from the end of the crankshaft to the seal. The installed new seal is shown in the photo below.
View attachment 59195
 






Rear main seal spring?

i am replacing the rear main seal and am confused about the sleeve, i opted not to use as there was no groove on the crankshaft but i notice there is a gap between the seal and shaft the same as your picture, i am now worried the main seal area may be the same. what would you suggest
There is a spring that closes the inner flange of the rear main seal over the crankshaft. The spring is really thin, looks kind of like a guitar string and can pop off real easy if your not aware of it. If the spring has popped off the inner flange and is what's causing the "gap" you speak of then you will need to reinstall the rear main seal with the spring set in place, or it will leak oil like a tap. I'd say you could poke a feeler gauge between the crankshaft and the seal to feel if the spring is just sitting on the crankshaft by its self to confirm my suspicion. The inner flange will close on the crankshaft quite firmly "oil tight" if the spring is in place.

When I replaced my rear main seal I was doing an engine rebuild anyway after I hydrolocked my engine and bent a conrod, so I just removed the rear crankshaft endcap to install it along with a new lower oil pan gasket that has tabs to be inserted in between the rear crankshaft end cap and the engine block.

If your not doing an engine rebuild then I would suggest purchasing a new rear main seal as the one you have installed and now want to remove will most likely be destroyed once you have pryed it back out.

The rear main seal will only go this far onto the crankshaft and then stop as it sits up hard against the rear crankshaft end cap and a recess in the engine block.

DSCF3175.jpg
 






Took two days, a few hours here and there, but I've finally read through the whole 'saga'. I enjoyed the read, but have many questions of my own as I am going to do similar work on my 2002 Explorer 4x4 soon. It has the constant rattle at idle and all speeds. I am fairly sure it is coming from the front of the engine as I tried my mechanic's steth on it (without the diaphragm installed), but it was hard to get a pinpoint on it due to some echo factor.

I have the whole Ford master cam timing kit (OTC 6489) and I was wondering that in the event of the failure being in the driver's side cam cassette, if I could pull the front engine cover, replace just that cassette and retime just the one side, fishing the pieces out of the oil pump screen from the lower oil pan/sump/pickup. Or would I have to retime both heads anyway because the primary timing cassette is in front of the cam cassette? I was going to pull the front cover anyway, along with the driver's side valve cover and take a look to see if that was the side with the issue. The truck has about 145,000 miles on it now. Just hoping for a less expensive/time intensive repair.
 






Primary tensioner

. . . I have the whole Ford master cam timing kit (OTC 6489) and I was wondering that in the event of the failure being in the driver's side cam cassette, if I could pull the front engine cover, replace just that cassette and retime just the one side, fishing the pieces out of the oil pump screen from the lower oil pan/sump/pickup. Or would I have to retime both heads anyway because the primary timing cassette is in front of the cam cassette? I was going to pull the front cover anyway, along with the driver's side valve cover and take a look to see if that was the side with the issue. The truck has about 145,000 miles on it now. Just hoping for a less expensive/time intensive repair.

If you have an early 2002 you may have the old primary (crankshaft to jackshaft) chain tensioner. They were prone to failure and the later design is much more robust. I suggest that you pull the driver side valve cover and check for a broken guide assembly. However, they sometimes break at the lower section and it's hard to detect without pulling the front timing cover. If you don't loosen the jackshaft sprocket bolt then the passenger side timing will not be lost. It is possible to replace the driver side guide assembly (but not the chain) without loosening the jackshaft sprocket bolt. See SOHC V6 Timing Chain Inspection & Repair . Since it is no longer possible to obtain the guide assembly without purchasing the complete cassette and you have the timing tools it seems appropriate to replace the entire cassette. It's not that much more work to remove the passenger side valve cover after you've removed the intake manifold to remove the driver side valve cover. Also, if the rear guide assembly is broken it's good to know that before spending time on the front cassette or timing cover since the engine will have to be removed to replace the rear guide assembly.
 






Thanks, Streetrod. This is what I needed to know. Where can I find the build date on the Explorer?

Now if i can only get my hands on the most current engine assembly data. I saw that somewhere, someone has the 2005 Mustang info in PDF? I have a Haynes Manual, but I don't trust it 100% from past experience, but thats a whole other story. I'd love a copy of that PDF though. My computer didn't like the link.

I could use the most recent Ford part numbers too. I contacted Tousley on Wednesday with a request for the info but haven't heard back yet.

Also, am I to understand that the '02 4.0 has already received the 00M12 treatment with the oil volume reducer and revised plug tensioners? Just kinda wanted to know. I'm worried about pulling that little torx plug to check due to the appearance of corrosion everywhere else on the engine.
 






Assembly instruction & PNs

. . . I saw that somewhere, someone has the 2005 Mustang info in PDF? . . .

I have a copy. PM me your email address and I'll send you a copy.

I could use the most recent Ford part numbers too. . .

Look here: SOHC V6 Timing Chain Related PNs I try to keep them updated. If any are obsolete please let me know.

Also, am I to understand that the '02 4.0 has already received the 00M12 treatment with the oil volume reducer and revised plug tensioners? Just kinda wanted to know. I'm worried about pulling that little torx plug to check due to the appearance of corrosion everywhere else on the engine.
At least one member has failed when attempting to remove the galley plug. As you stated, your 2002 should have the 00M12 kit already installed. Compare your driver side tensioner to the one in this thread: Starting my 00M12 Installation
 



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Thanks.

PM sent. THANK YOU, Streetrod!:thumbsup:
 






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