mrgroote
New Member
- Joined
- June 14, 2007
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Iowa
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '98 XLT
Hello all,
Took the annual family vacation this week with the new to me 98 XLT 4x4 with the SOHC. This unit has had a small rattle at idle ever since I've owned it, sounded like a dry idler bearing on the belt tensioner so I never worried too much. The rattle was only at idle and went away at anything over 1000 rpm, so it didn't sound like the timing chain issue to me. Long story short, on the last day of the vacation I got in to start it up and it made a God awful rattle followed by a small bang and quit. It started right up, but the rattle at idle was noticeabley louder. When we got it home (after a very nervous 200 miles) I tore the front cover off expecting to find broken jackshaft tensioner or quide at least. What I found was a surprisingly great shape main chain tensioner and cam cassettes (unit has 150000 miles so I expected much worse). However the balance shaft chain tensioner was broken and I could see where my noise was coming from. The guide is alright but the chain is/was bouncing off the metal support that is below the broken plastic tensioner. Now I understand I have to drop the pan to get to this piece and that my be a little more involved than I want to get in this high mileage motor. My question is (albeit probably a stupid one) what happens if I just cut the chain to the balance shaft, basically eliminating its rotation. I know the 2x4's don't have the balancer, but I don't know what kind of problems I would run into If I stopped the rotation of mine. Sorry this post got long, but any input from people smarter than me would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Took the annual family vacation this week with the new to me 98 XLT 4x4 with the SOHC. This unit has had a small rattle at idle ever since I've owned it, sounded like a dry idler bearing on the belt tensioner so I never worried too much. The rattle was only at idle and went away at anything over 1000 rpm, so it didn't sound like the timing chain issue to me. Long story short, on the last day of the vacation I got in to start it up and it made a God awful rattle followed by a small bang and quit. It started right up, but the rattle at idle was noticeabley louder. When we got it home (after a very nervous 200 miles) I tore the front cover off expecting to find broken jackshaft tensioner or quide at least. What I found was a surprisingly great shape main chain tensioner and cam cassettes (unit has 150000 miles so I expected much worse). However the balance shaft chain tensioner was broken and I could see where my noise was coming from. The guide is alright but the chain is/was bouncing off the metal support that is below the broken plastic tensioner. Now I understand I have to drop the pan to get to this piece and that my be a little more involved than I want to get in this high mileage motor. My question is (albeit probably a stupid one) what happens if I just cut the chain to the balance shaft, basically eliminating its rotation. I know the 2x4's don't have the balancer, but I don't know what kind of problems I would run into If I stopped the rotation of mine. Sorry this post got long, but any input from people smarter than me would be much appreciated.
Thanks