My dads 300,000 mile explorer. Timing Chain?

[tonyroc14]

yes this thing really has 297,689 miles! Everything is all original. New water pump radiator and intake. Other than that it's all original. Starting making this noise about 6 months ago, but recently it has gotten to this point. My dad drives 4000-4500 miles a month. He is very easy on his car, and he maintains(well I maintain it) very well. Anyways, point is I told him he should be fine, just keep driving very easy. Am I right? I know there is a possibility of skipping teeth but I don't think this is that bad yet.

 

[koda2000]

At 300,000 miles I'd say the engine is living on borrowed time no matter how gently it's driven or how well its been maintained. That being said, if you are thinking of replacing the timing chains and related parts, it's a big job (especially the rear one) and even if you're thinking of doing the work yourself, fairly expensive. Considering you need to pull the engine, I wouldn't consider doing it with doing a complete engine rebuild at 300K. You'd probably be better off finding a used low milage replacement engine, and I wouldn't install it before replacing the timing chain sets.

By the way, what are your pictures of? I had no idea what I was looking at...

 

[fifthranger]

Looks like the first picture is of the level of oil on a dipstick, and the second picture is the reflection of light onto the floor and vehicle.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Driving easy won't keep a failing tensioner from catastrophically ending the engine's life. No way to forecast, it can conceivably go another 300,000 miles, or another 3 feet. It will go when it wants to go. Only way to avoid is to fix or replace.

 

[TomCat_Ford]

By the way, what are your pictures of? I had no idea what I was looking at...

They're links to videos of the engine running.

 

[tonyroc14]

Those are links to videos guys.

And I thought that sound was the chain hitting the tensioner. If the tensioner fails completely then the chain will skip teeth? I do believe we are going to buy a new car, and keep the explorer for back up.

Its been a great car!