clearing oil passages

[ahuggins6]

My old 99 SOHC had the chains and all replaced a few years back, but even when I put the motor back in, it still has an occasional rattle. Well.... really it's more like, occasionally it DOESN'T rattle. Idling it has a very pronounced clunking in the rear cassette area along with the rattle. Most noticeable with stethoscope on the rear tensioner. The thought recently occurred to me that I could pull the tensioner, along with the harness connection to the coil pack and spin the motor hoping the oil pressure might push out any trash that's keep full pressure from getting to the tensioner. What say you fellas?

 

[C420sailor]

I wouldn’t crank an engine with a chain full slack. That’s just me, though.

In theory, you could remove the tensioner and connect a pressurized oil source to the engine and pressurize the system that way. Or maybe compressed air? Not sure, never tried this.

 

[ahuggins6]

To follow up, I pulled the rear tensioner, which had no gasket/seal on it, started the engine and immediately shut if off. Reinstalled the tensioner with a gasket, and now the engine runs much smoother with no rattle at idle. But there is still some clunking on the right side of the engine just like before. I'm afraid it may be slightly bent valves from when the tensioners let go three years ago while stuck in traffic, but if a valve was bent, it wouldn't be running so smooth now. So I'm at a loss on that.

The point is that if you're dealing with chain rattle after replaced the timing set, you can blow the gunk out of the oil passage on the rear by at least spinning the motor over with no tensioner in the hole and it will get full pressure to the tensioner after that.

 

[donalds]

The point is that if you're dealing with chain rattle after replaced the timing set, you can blow the gunk out of the oil passage on the rear by at least spinning the motor over with no tensioner in the hole and it will get full pressure to the tensioner after that

Cool

 

[sport trac jr.]

Cool

i'd say this is the time for this....."its only right thing to do as a licensed certified cool level 5 neanderthal mechanic roaming wild on the planet ."

 

[ahuggins6]

i'd say this is the time for this....."its only right thing to do as a licensed certified cool level 5 neanderthal mechanic roaming wild on the planet ."
View attachment 328393

Is this a solid adjustable tensioner??

 

[donalds]

i'd say this is the time for this....."its only right thing to do as a licensed certified cool level 5 neanderthal mechanic roaming wild on the planet ."
View attachment 328393

This mod has been a success every time someone does it
Just check back when your ready to adjust it
Btw these engines are noisy it idle
Whatever you do don't put thicker oil in it I run 10 w 30 synthetic year round from Napa I switched from m1 and it worked out well
It is much more quiet now

 

[donalds]

Is this a solid adjustable tensioner??

Yes

 

[sport trac jr.]

Is this a solid adjustable tensioner??

Correct......410 might have found this ...might be wrong..polaris tensioner deal....this is a mod.
someone did as test or forreal?? youtube

 

[sport trac jr.]

Is this a solid adjustable tensioner??

Here is the thread AH.................

4.0 SOHC Timing Noise

The tensioners I am talking about are used for Polaris machines but compatible with our Ford SOHC engines (same cloyes body) You see Polaris used the same Ford tensioner to tension the chains in the Prostar OHC engines. I own three of these, a 2014, a 2015 and a 2018. The 2014 and 2015 had...

www.explorerforum.com

 

[floridacatfan]

I just don’t see how the solid tensioner is a long term solution - I just don’t think it will work for many rotations but what do I know - I’m just a rocket engineer

 

[1991 sploder]

A rocket engineer dam..... anyways the solid tensioner isn't as low maintenance idk if it were me i would just go with the stock tensioner... maybe replace it but doesn't this motor have a balance shaft?

 

[donalds]

Don't need the balance shaft
And manual tensioners have been used in engines for years
People use the manual tensioner because they don't want to spend two grand for a timing repair
Cost more than they paid for their car
This isn't rocket science lmao

 

[Mbrooks420]

An unfortunate side effect of high end engineering is the tendency to overcomplicate a simple function. Manual tensioners have a pretty solid track record.

 

[1991 sploder]

Yea

 

[ahuggins6]

An unfortunate side effect of high end engineering is the tendency to overcomplicate a simple function. Manual tensioners have a pretty solid track record.

Manual tensioners....Solid track record. I see what you did there.

I'm going solid because the hydraulic version rattles at startup. ALWAYS. Maybe not in your engine, but it does in mine. I've replaced them twice to stop it and it didn't fix. The solid tensioners fix it.

 

[C420sailor]

Mine rattle on cold start. I crank my truck for 2-3 seconds with the pedal to the floor when cold to build pressure, so the chains aren’t slack when she fires up.

Manual tensioners seem like the way to go, but I don’t trust myself to adjust them properly.

 

[floridacatfan]

Go for it - all I know is 190 k miles and not even a single rattle at start up with pressure in the tensioner and known broken back and front chain guides - seems pretty good to me