Front Timing Chain Guides and or chain | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Front Timing Chain Guides and or chain

ascrap2003

New Member
Joined
August 12, 2015
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City, State
DFW
Year, Model & Trim Level
2006 Explorer 4.0
Im fixing the timing chain on a 2006 4.0 thinking of doing just guides already have 1 new tensioner the one next ti thermostat housing.

I already removed intake, alt, bracket, ps bracket.

What else is involved?

Seems to me like water pump, timing chain/engine front plate, valve covers.
Will that gain me access to the guides?

Do heads need to be removed? Please say no. :scratch: Front chain only is where noise is coming from.

Thanx Im David btw and am new to the forum.
 



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replacing front cassette

Around 2004 Ford changed the casting alignment between the head and the block making it almost impossible to replace the front cassette as an assembly without removing the head. However, on the newer cassettes the pressed pivot pin has been replaced with a removable pin/keeper.
LftGuide.jpg

7U3Z-6A257-A.jpg

As I recall one member was able to disassemble the cassette and pass it thru the head/block castings and then reinsert the pin and keeper avoiding removing the head.
MarkLow.jpg
 






ok a few videos so you can get an idea,

The first is what this truck sounds like:


The next two show you what I discovered after removing drivers valve cover.




 












Around 2004 Ford changed the casting alignment between the head and the block making it almost impossible to replace the front cassette as an assembly without removing the head. However, on the newer cassettes the pressed pivot pin has been replaced with a removable pin/keeper.
View attachment 85458
View attachment 85459
As I recall one member was able to disassemble the cassette and pass it thru the head/block castings and then reinsert the pin and keeper avoiding removing the head.
View attachment 85461

Thanx for the input!:thumbsup:
 






Pulled the timing cover today the main guide the one on the left is destroyed thank god the chain didn't jump chain still looks good I'll post some pics if I can.
Gonna have to pull the oil pan didn't pay attention does the pan come off or am I gonna have to loosen any motor mounts? Also cheapest place to get replacement guides?
 






AWD or RWD?

Check the primary chain tensioner for broken leaves. Mine looked good but was not putting any tension on the chain. Do you have AWD or RWD? If AWD, inspect the balance shaft chain tensioner. Keep track of all of the cassette guide pieces you find so you'll know when you've found all of them. Pull the lower oil pan and check for pieces. You don't have to lift the engine (disconnect motor mounts) to remove the lower pan. Also, check the oil pickup screen for pieces.
 






Check the primary chain tensioner for broken leaves. Mine looked good but was not putting any tension on the chain. Do you have AWD or RWD? If AWD, inspect the balance shaft chain tensioner. Keep track of all of the cassette guide pieces you find so you'll know when you've found all of them. Pull the lower oil pan and check for pieces. You don't have to lift the engine (disconnect motor mounts) to remove the lower pan. Also, check the oil pickup screen for pieces.

The primary tensioner is the one that is shot it has 6 leaf springs, the plastic on it is broke in half with a good size middle piece missing which I'm thinking is in the oil pan.
Do you know where I can get the guides/tensioners cheap?

I will check the balance shaft once I pull the pan, it seems a little loose, I see many guys on here just cut the chain and let it be.
 






block cradle

Pulling the lower pan will not give any more access to the balance shaft chain tensioner. You have to pull the block cradle and that is quite a bit of work that includes disconnecting the motor mounts to raise the block.
BlncShft.jpg


Some members use Rock Auto for timing chain related parts. I think they sell Cloyes which is a good compromise (price vs quality). Here's a link about the cassettes which I guess you don't need: SOHC V6 Timing Chain Parts Sources
 






You don't need to remove the upper oil pan to do the balance shaft tensor entirely if you want to replace the whole balance tension yes but if you leave the steal bracket that holds the tensioner and remove the guide and put the new guide on it can be done I know this cause my 97 had that guide break and I wasn't spending 20 hours pulling the motor I was able to replace all the tensioner with out pulling motor but I had to pull trans to do back tensioner and just a side note idk if they put timing marks on the newer years but I know on the older 4.0 you needed a ford timing tool or otc tool to do chains on this motor.

Tom
 






ugh

Hey! I'm new here too. Have a 2004 Mountaineer with the 4.0. My plastic broke on my guide. Got the noise and tried to solve with tensioner... didn't work so I took it back out to find it mangled because there was nothing for it to press on. Is there a way to just swap in new plastic on the existing old guide? Really not looking forward to doing this work!
 






No your most likely referring to the cassette which needs to be replaced and only way to do that is to remove intakes, valve covers front balancer acessories and timing cover and once all removed you need a special tool for timing alignment and you will need to pull trans to do the back cassette or pull motor there is also a balance guide which can be replaced without pulling motor but is tricky.
 






anybody in the NJ area wanna do the timing chain job for me? I'm really not thinking of doing this one myself...
 






You could just do a motor swap prob be same price. I live in New Jersey but I just don't have the time right now if it was summer I could but i got to much on my plate right now I'll lend you the tool for the timing if you need but you will have to find someone to do it.

Tom
 






Just out of curiosity, other than frequent oil changes, quality oil, and not driving like an #######... Is there anything I can do to prolong the life of my timming components? I have 95,000 on my 2006 that I purchased new, and everything I read on this topic makes me sick
 






Lol not drive it ! But kidding a side 3k mile oil changes Mobil one full synthetic a good oil filter and performing just regular maintenance and not being hard on it it will be fine but things do break I have an 08 with 100k that I regularly change oil 3k miles with full synthetic and sounds great I wouldn't get to worried the major failures where in the 90s 4.0 they always broke no mater how good at keeping up with your engine if your timing guides fail now it's because they followed fords 7500 mile service as per the oil change light on dash so as long as you keep up with oil changes you will be fine

Tom
 






no sound basis for delaying failure

I've spent a lot of time searching for clues to how I might improve the reliability of the camshaft timing related components. I installed a pre-oiler (Accusump) to eliminate "dry starts" (except after a complete oil change) to make sure the chains, sprockets and guides are oiled and the tensioners are pressurized before the engine is started. However, that may not delay the traction side of the rear "plastic" guide from failing. But realistically, I probably don't have to worry since I'm 69 years old and only drive my Sport about 3K miles per year. If the new components last another 150K miles like the original ones did, I'd be 119 years old before they failed. Since the engine is no longer in production vehicles I seriously doubt Ford will invest in any reliability improvements.
 



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Also I think the original poster his truck was an 05 if the first video is truley of his truck cause in 06 shifter was moved to the center console and vents are round. Like I said most failures were in early years 1997-2001 and some 2002-2005 I haven't heard of a 2006 4.0 fail like it has in its previous years there were bulitins for those years but I see no builtins for 06-10 and besides chains do stretch and should be replaced like a timing belt but clearly the chain lasts longer

Tom
 






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