-Deathrow Update Log- | Page 16 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

-Deathrow Update Log-

Change the tensioners!!!! When it starts ticking a new tensioner can buy many many miles.

Any bits of nylon in the oil?
Use a flashlight and inspect the drivers side tensioner through the oil fill cap. Is the guide in good shape on that side?

Use ford only, of consider manually adjusted tensioners like some of us hardcore dudes would use.

They are to be changed at 90-120k miles according to ford
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Change the tensioners!!!! When it starts ticking a new tensioner can buy many many miles.

Any bits of nylon in the oil?
Use a flashlight and inspect the drivers side tensioner through the oil fill cap. Is the guide in good shape on that side?

Use ford only, of consider manually adjusted tensioners like some of us hardcore dudes would use.

They are to be changed at 90-120k miles according to ford
Okay, tensioner, great start. Although, if they have to pull the engine to do it, rather them just do it all at once. Manual is tempting, I'll have to look into it to be sure between that and the regular one. Wouldn't be too much worse, they estimated me about $1k a while back when I thought this was the issue. Definitely heard it's best to stick with ford or Cloyes stuff, I'll check through the oil cap in a bit. Thank you
 






The tensioner on the passenger side takes about 7 minutes to change

The drivers side you have to remove the thermo housing and upper intake plenum so that one takes about an hour

So an hour an 7 minutes and you can install two new ford tensioners, the life
Blood of a good running sohc engine

The two hydraulic chain tensioners fail due to lack of clean synthetic oil changes or higher miles. The moment you hear a timing cassette tick or cold start rattle is the same moment you should realize it is time to change the tensioners out.the cold start rattle is the engine starting with no tension on the chains which is what eats the nylon guides and is the beginning of the end. Putting a new tensioner in avoids that “slack out of time” condition and keeps the nylon guides together

I have never seen a sohc engine fail for anything other then timing issues. If people would be aware of the tensioners they could get twice the lifespan from their sohc

Ford tensioners are expensive
I will only install ford
or
stainless manual tensioners from eBay meant for a Polaris engine (bit derived from a ford part)

You should do a little reading on this!!

@allmyEXes listened to advice and now he has been running the $50 manual tensioners for a long time

I have saved so many sohc engines by replacing bad tensioners
Also most timing issues can be solved through the front timing cover. The main tensioner, the balance shaft and front cassette can all be changed/serviced /!repaired without removing the engine it is only the rear cassette on the passenger head that requires removal of the engine

As soon as you hear the tick time for fresh tensioners and fresh oil. I will only run full synthetic Mobil one in a sohc engine and change it every 3500-5000 miles
 






The tension on the passenger side takes about 7 minutes to change

The drivers side you have to remove the thermo housing and upper intake plenum so that one takes about an hour
Either of them without getting the engine out?
 






Cloyes makes ford tensioners but the cheapo cloyes parts you get from parts stores are not the same. The real ford ones are $$$ but also the only ones worth installing.

It’s a long story but my 2014 and 2015 Polaris Rzr came new from factory with cold start rattle…. Why? Polaris used a ford part!
Brand new $18000 utv on borrowed time right off the showroom floor…. Nice one Polaris.
However because Polaris used a flawed ford part in their 999cc pro star dohc engines the aftermarket for Polaris came to the rescue with manually adjusted tensioners (no oil pressure needed) the same part threads into your sohc engine… now they are like $50 for a pair
Manually adjusted tensioners do not need oil pressure to tension the chains.
It’s now 2022 and our 2015 rzr has no cold start rattle it has not for many years now…. Manual tensioner. I sold the 2014 too many toys

The passenger side tensioner is on the outside of the head just above and behind your passenger tire. It takes 35 seconds to remove it with a socket. About 5
Minutes to clean the seal surface and prepare the new tensioner and another 35 seconds to install the new tensioner

The drivers side is similar except the upper intake and the thermo housing are in your way to access the tensioner. In 2002 ford finally changed the intake and you can get straight at the tensioner on the 02+ Sohc
No worries it’s a perfect time for new upper plenum o rings and a upgraded aluminum thermostat housing
 






Cloyes makes ford tensioners but the cheapo cloyes parts you get from parts stores are not the same. The real ford ones are $$$ but also the only ones worth installing.

It’s a long story but my 2014 and 2015 Polaris Rzr came new from factory with cold start rattle…. Why? Polaris used a ford part!
Brand new $18000 utv on borrowed time right off the showroom floor…. Nice one Polaris.
However because Polaris used a flawed ford part in their 999cc pro star dohc engines the aftermarket for Polaris came to the rescue with manually adjusted tensioners (no oil pressure needed) the same part threads into your sohc engine… now they are like $50 for a pair
Manually adjusted tensioners do not need oil pressure to tension the chains.
It’s now 2022 and our 2015 rzr has no cold start rattle it has not for many years now…. Manual tensioner. I sold the 2014 too many toys

The passenger side tensioner is on the outside of the head just above and behind your passenger tire. It takes 35 seconds to remove it with a socket. About 5
Minutes to clean the seal surface and prepare the new tensioner and another 35 seconds to install the new tensioner

The drivers side is similar except the upper intake and the thermo housing are in your way to access the tensioner. In 2002 ford finally changed the intake and you can get straight at the tensioner on the 02+ Sohc
No worries it’s a perfect time for new upper plenum o rings and a upgraded aluminum thermostat housing
i thought borg warner made some of the timing components? provavly wrong though... but with timing, OE or bust!
 






i thought borg warner made some of the timing components? provavly wrong though... but with timing, OE or bust!
OE is nice, unless I could find some metal timing chain guides rather than the annoying plastic ones that break now and then. I do think Borg Warner makes some, but I'm not 100% on the quality. I know most people prefer ford or cloyes though
 






Cloyes makes the tensioners for ford

At least they did back in 97?

There are many upgraded parts for your sohc timing system now days but metal guides w rollers is not one of them
There are also lots and lots of the cheapo crappy parts you can put in there too.

Most ohc engines use nylon to tension and guide the chains it is no big deal
Until the chain goes slack
 






afaik theres no meta guides, only thr plastics.... couldve sworn BW made the guides... dunno anymore!

edit: according to the 2000streetrod article on here BW made the cloyes guides...
 






Cloyes makes the tensioners for ford

At least they did back in 97?

There are many upgraded parts for your sohc timing system now days but metal guides w rollers is not one of them
There are also lots and lots of the cheapo crappy parts you can put in there too.

Most ohc engines use nylon to tension and guide the chains it is no big deal
Until the chain goes slack
Yeah, I only wish there were metal guides, actually last and not have to worry about it. I'll try replacing the tensioners to start. Definitely not crazy enough to go with the cheap stuff, or I'll end up doing this again in a month! 😂
 






You keep saying Guides
I am talking tensioners
Also sometimes I am wrong hahahaha

I do not Mind being wrong either it is a good way to learn
 






Well you could use the “cheap” stainless manual chain tensioners

Set tension once and forget about it

See @allmyEXes posting about them with a search
 






You keep saying Guides
I am talking tensioners
Also sometimes I am wrong hahahaha

I do not Mind being wrong either it is a good way to learn
whoops, my bad! i dont know about the tensioners, i just remember looking at different guides for the primary chain...
 






Well from what I've seen, the tensioners are definitely part of the issue, but the guides being plastic, I see those decay and break so often, leading to most of the timing chain issues I've read. I'll be starting with the tensioners, if that doesn't do it, I'm screwed! 😅
 






The plastic comes apart because the tensioners are slack during cold start
Do that enough times and the chain smacks the nylon until it brakes

Did you know if you mash your throttle pedal while cranking the engine won’t start….
But you will build oil pressure

Then let off the pedal and it will start, but now with oil pressure and pumped up tensioners
 






The plastic comes apart because the tensioners are slack during cold start
Do that enough times and the chain smacks the nylon until it brakes

Did you know if you mash your throttle pedal while cranking the engine won’t start….
But you will build oil pressure

Then let off the pedal and it will start, but now with oil pressure and pumped up tensioners
I actually did not know that, interesting!
 






Anyone know each of these wires for the overhead console? Red/black was the dimmer, I mainly need to just know which are the wiring for the dome lights so I can tap these new ones into them. But it would be nice to know what all of them are too since I can't find a diagram to list colors.
Blue/white:
Blue/yellow:
Black/blue:
Green/orange:
Grey/black:
Grey/yellow:
Red/black: dimmer
Also, found some tensioners on 1A Auto, $160 for both, Ford OEM. Being from ford, assuming they aren't the manual ones yall referred to, but should still work fine.

You weren't kidding about the mashing the gas pedal thing, @410Fortune, really worked. Cold start sounded so much nicer after work thanks to that.

20220409_222042.jpg
 






I learned it here from these dudes

I have never owned a sohc engine myself, but that little trick every sohc owner should know!!!
 






.
 

Attachments




Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.











Back
Top