98 SOHC tick, rattle; running with no belt?

[mp88]

98 Sport, 4.0 SOHC, no mods

Ok somebody is going to kick my butt with a previously started thread, but I wasn't able to find it with the search.

So here goes:

From the second my X starts to the second she shuts down there is a constant ticking, borderline rattle coming somewhere from the front of my engine. When I bring the rpm's up, the rattle gets faster. I'm thinking it might be a loose pulley (one broke off my old Exploder, so I'm a bit paranoid). The tick doesn't match up with the pistons firing, so it would be a little far cry to call it a knock right about now.

So to diagnose the whole loose pulley theory I'd like to take my belt off and start the engine up for say, a minute. Is that safe?

I mean, when the pulley snapped off my old '94, I drove 8 miles home (the rest of the way 1:30AM), my temp sensor (which had never worked before) was on red, when I pulled in I could hear the antifreeze boiling.

So what are your takes on this?
*still waiting for that first person to smack me in the face with a link stamped "jack@$$"*

 

[99ex22]

yes it is perfectly fine to take your belt off and start it up...i wouldnt let it run for more than a couple minutes to be safe though. i did the same thing with my 99 SOHC to see if a pully was worn out but it ended up being the timing chain rattle.

 

[Steeda90GT]

You should have no problem doing this. Obviously you know not to keep it running for too long (keep an eye on the temp mostly) ...but you should have no problem running it long enough so that you could diagnose the noise.

 

[aldive]

By all means pull the belt and listen.

Good luck ......

 

[sport97]

yeah.i took the belt off my old car and did this. i have a little rattle sound when its cold but goes away when it warms up. im hoping its nothing since it goes away. my parents bravada has a nasty tick when its cold. then again we did drain metal out of the oil when we changed it last

 

[99ex22]

yeah.i took the belt off my old car and did this. i have a little rattle sound when its cold but goes away when it warms up. im hoping its nothing since it goes away. my parents bravada has a nasty tick when its cold. then again we did drain metal out of the oil when we changed it last

If the tick goes away when it warms up it's most likley the timing chain. it's a very well known, common problem with these SOHC engines.

 

[mp88]

Well from how it's been going, it rattles all the time. Sooo, that could either be a good thing (pulley) or a bad thing (anything but pulley). I just need to get around to doing this. From the little reading I've done, I pray that it's not the timing chain. My college, eating only off the $1 menus, lifestyle can't exactly afford a $2000 operation.

One other thing. The serpentine belt on my truck only covers 4/5 of the pulleys; that is, the belt is skinnier than it looks like it should be. Is anyone else's like that? Or should I get on doing right what the previous owner did wrong and put on a wider belt?

 

[aldive]

One other thing. The serpentine belt on my truck only covers 4/5 of the pulleys; that is, the belt is skinnier than it looks like it should be. Is anyone else's like that? Or should I get on doing right what the previous owner did wrong and put on a wider belt?

Post a picture of the belt on the pulley(s).

 

[mp88]

 

[aldive]

What is the belt number?

 

[BIGHVM]

fraid to let you know it most certainly the timing chain tensioner- you can get a kit to replace the tensioner and add an oil gally restricter to keep the oil at the top in cold start situations and feed the oil for tensioning in start up. In the uk its the oom12 kit- I am certain its another part number in the states. Please do that job quick, it comes with what I have said and also new inlet manifold lower gaskits. I did mine and the whole thing took around four hours, just be careful that you torque the inlet manifold with a torque wrench, not by feel as its plastic and get the tension sequence right or you could warp the manifold. The timing chain tensioner is behind the thermostate, you will notice the replacement is much longer, hold more oil and has a stronger spring........one point to watch for is the cheap thin washer that it comes with, it buckles as you tighten it all up so I threw mine away and used the old one after flatting it with wet and dry on a sheet of glass to remove any marks and keep it flat.
Now my car no longer has that rattle on start up and drives like a dream- IF you dont do that job, you do run the risk of the timing letting go and at least leaving you with a car that wont start or worse a really damaged engine when the pistons come up to meet the rest of the valve gear in a death clash!

Here in the uk we have only a few places that can do the timing chain full tensioner replacement, as the tools required to lock the engine and camshafts in the correct position are really rare!
I know of only two places that would do it they are NOT ford places but independent
garages who know the explorer well and they charge £1000.We are pretty much on our own here and Mine a 2000 Northface was around the last year we had these imported to the uk by ford. I woul not trust Fraud uk to service a wheel barrow! I have always looked after both my xlt and northface myself for that reason!
If you buy on e bay be shure that you are buying the current replacement kit, with the tensioner, its washer, the oil restricter and the inlet manifold lower gaskits, I have seen tensioners for sale that are the OLD ones and not the redesigned LONGER ones.

Good luck and let me know how you get on please, if I can help you in anyway please ask...........Happy to help fellow Ex owners anyplace anytime.
H

 

[mp88]

Thanks for the input BIGHVM, but I pulled the belt off, started it, and there was no rattle. Like I said before, it would rattle prominently at both high and low engine temperatures. So I may have dodged a bullet, yet.

After checking all of the pulleys, the Power Steering pulley pulls slightly towards me, and slightly back freely. Enough, that when doing it quickly, I was able to produce a slight rattle. I'm guessing this is improper function, but could ayone else verify with me?

Aldive, for some reason the belt is in fine shape, but the writing was worn off, so I can't produce a part number. What I did find, however, is that while the belt was sitting on the inside rings of the power steering pulley, it was on the outside rings of the tensioner. Do you have a theory?

 

[mp88]

Pity Bump.

I got the pump out completely and it's at this point I'm deciding: new pump or rebuild the current. As I said before, the pulley slides back and forth slightly enough for it to create a ping. Other than that, no problems.

Would it be worth it to get the $12 rebuild kit from RockAuto or the $63 power steering pump and save myself the hassle?

 

[BIGHVM]

Glad to hear it was not the famous death rattle mate- its the main cause of Ex death in the UK. Afraid people by Explorers and dont know anything about them, have them serviced badly by people who have never seen one before, wrong oil is the main killer!
Sounds like the old bearings are failing in your pump.

Best of luck- hope she is purring soon!

 

[mp88]

Well I decided to just put the old one back in. The SOHC V6 must be God's gift to Explorers, because I only found 2 in the largest Junkyard in my state. I guess the bearings were shot in those, too. They both jiggled out about 1/8", So I guess I'm going to wait it out until the pump dies.