94 Explorer timing chain rattle

[CTroxtell]

I can hear what I am guessing is the timing chain rattle when I accelerate, it has almost 245k miles on it. Can this be fixed easily? Could this make the timing be off? I seem to have a miss in the engine at times and its almost like the engine cuts off for a split second and then cuts back on. Thanks in advance.

 

[MrShorty]

Timing chains rarely develop a rattle on these engines -- certainly rare enough that it wouldn't be my first guess. My first guess for a rattle on acceleration is spark knock or ping. Typically there are three causes: a dirty MAF, loose lower intake manifold, or carbon build up in the cylinders. This is a common enough issue that you should be able to find details for these issues using this site's search engine. I'm pretty sure there's some discussion in the useful threads forum, too.