'97 Explorer won't start

[cable2001]

Hi everybody,

Last Saturday, I experienced some power loss with my '97 Explorer. I also noticed that a rattling sound that I had heard for a while seemd to be louder than usual (I had been told by several people that it was a loose heat shield).

Sunday, I completely lost power while crossing a bridge. I had the pedal to the floor and could only get it up to 35mph. On the other side of the bridge, my truck stalled and never started again.

My dad looked at it since I know nothing about vehicles. It was getting spark and some gas, but he thought it seemed like it wasn't getting a lot of fuel pressure. We tried using starting fluid to get it to turn over, but no luck.

We towed it to an auto parts store which is owned by a family friend who also is a part-time mechanic.

He checked it and found the fuel pressure was only 21 pounds. He said it had to be at least 30 to start, so diagnosed a bad fuel pump as the problem. We replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter, and the truck started for a few seconds, and then stalled and never started again. Fuel pressure was now at 42 pounds.

The next thing to be checked was the compression pressure in the cylinders. It is only showing at 45 pounds. The current theory is that one or both timing gears is bad. The problem is that this was quoted as a 17 hour repair, and I'm not confident that this is the problem.

I noticed a sticker in the owner's guide that said there was a problem with the front cam chain guide. Apparently, it may prematurely wear or break, and an extended warranty was placed on it. Unfortunately, this extended warranty ended last year.

Another tidbit is that I talked to a buy at another parts store the day it happened, and he said it sounded like a cam sensor went bad and was messing up the timing.

At this point, I don't know who to believe, so I welcome any input from you guys. I'd really hate to replace something that doesn't need replaced, all the while there is something else that is really the problem.

Thank you,

Dan

 

[rizzjc]

My experience is that Ford does a *reasonable* diagnosis, and should be able to diagnose something like that. I've never had them charge me for a diagnosis, so I am able to decide if I want to do it, or not, and am not out any money - unlike the private shops who charge you for the hour of labor to diagnise.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

 

[MAXIMIS1]

take your valve cover off (the side exposing #1 Cly. valve rocker Assembly).
manually crank the Engine over until the #1 rockers run into "overlap" (they [the rockers] will both have no tension on them and be somewhat movable. now look at the crankshaft timing marks and verify T.D.C. if not sure you are in over lap fallow the firing order of the engine with the valves to make sure your not 180 off on the overlap.
and check you converter, should have good amount of flow out the tailpipe during cranking check a working car to compare [hand over tailpipe]

 

[cable2001]

Update: Ford tried to rip me off by telling me to replace the battery and starter.

My dad and I tore the engine apart ourselves and found that one of the front timing chain guides had shattered. There may be valve cover damage as well, the next step is to check that.

At least we're on the right track now.

 

[rizzjc]

Well, ripping you off with a battery and starter when you need to do major engine work isn't as bad as doing major engine work when you need a battery and starter. ;-) Good luck with it though. Hope it works out.