If i'm doing my timing chain guides, what else should I do? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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If i'm doing my timing chain guides, what else should I do?

CorbinDallas

Active Member
Joined
April 3, 2013
Messages
87
Reaction score
9
City, State
Calgary
Year, Model & Trim Level
1996 5.0 EB/2005 Aviator
2005 Aviator awd

Going to open it up. I can afford to have it off the road for 2 weeks. Looking for ideas. It has 220k km's on it, and i also need to do the rear struts, bearings, and parking brake pads.
 



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What engine? 1600cc Volkswagen? Are we supposed to read your mind?
 






I think the Aviator used a 4-valve variant of the 4.6L V8. I don't know that engine, but would think that (i) water pump; (ii) (possibly) thermostat housing (if its plastic); (iii) spark plugs (don't laugh--especially if its got the same crap spark plugs as the 2 valve 3rd Gen Explorer V8!); and (iv) mayby exhuaust manifold gaskets. 220,000 kms is only 137k miles, so she's practically a baby! (Okay, maybe mid-life.) If your the Aviator has similar front wheel bearings to the Explorers, they are failure prone (mine went out within a few hundred miles of one another at 195 k miles). If you're planning to keep 'er a long time and to do long trips, I could see the logic of preemptively replacing those, too. (Rockauto had good prices on WJB HD's for $50/each, which have worked fine so far. Others here insist on using only the name brand ones, mostly Timken or SKF.) Once they start grinding, they can fail quickly--which could be a real problem on a long trip.

When I swapped a 4.0L V6 SOHC for my '02 Explorer (timing chains and cassettes), I decided to replace the harmonic balancer, having seen plenty of posts of them failing (separating). That balancer is a b*** to get off with the engine in the truck, and I did not want to mess with that possibility. Maybe overkill, but hey, I had 179k on the old one; it depends on how much you value confidence in your ride.
 






If you are doing the timing chain guides, you might as well do the whole timing set, tensioners, chains, sprockets etc, unless you really want to do it again a few more years.
 






If you are doing the timing chain guides, you might as well do the whole timing set, tensioners, chains, sprockets etc, unless you really want to do it again a few more years.

Sorry, yes, i bought the whole timing kit.
 












I think the Aviator used a 4-valve variant of the 4.6L V8. I don't know that engine, but would think that (i) water pump; (ii) (possibly) thermostat housing (if its plastic); (iii) spark plugs (don't laugh--especially if its got the same crap spark plugs as the 2 valve 3rd Gen Explorer V8!); and (iv) mayby exhuaust manifold gaskets. 220,000 kms is only 137k miles, so she's practically a baby! (Okay, maybe mid-life.) If your the Aviator has similar front wheel bearings to the Explorers, they are failure prone (mine went out within a few hundred miles of one another at 195 k miles). If you're planning to keep 'er a long time and to do long trips, I could see the logic of preemptively replacing those, too. (Rockauto had good prices on WJB HD's for $50/each, which have worked fine so far. Others here insist on using only the name brand ones, mostly Timken or SKF.) Once they start grinding, they can fail quickly--which could be a real problem on a long trip.

When I swapped a 4.0L V6 SOHC for my '02 Explorer (timing chains and cassettes), I decided to replace the harmonic balancer, having seen plenty of posts of them failing (separating). That balancer is a b*** to get off with the engine in the truck, and I did not want to mess with that possibility. Maybe overkill, but hey, I had 179k on the old one; it depends on how much you value confidence in your ride.

Thanks, i'll look into the water pump and thermostat housing. The truck has COPs which are a cake walk, and i did the front bearings last year. I'm looking to get five more years out of the aviator as my winter "beater".
 












(iii) spark plugs (don't laugh--especially if its got the same crap spark plugs as the 2 valve 3rd Gen Explorer V8!); .


i can say that out of all the vehicles that i have owned in my many years. the 2002 Mercury Mountaineer V8 spark plugs have been the easiest plugs to access and change...
 






You might be the luckiest man in the world. Any stock tips?
 






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