Need Help with 01' explorer sport timing problems

[marquis00]

I have a 01' explorer sport with the 4.0L SOHC engine and 5R55E tranny. A couple of months ago I had the timing death rattle. At 120,000 miles I replaced the timing components in the engine(front timing cassettes, rear timing cassettes, all the chains and gears) my truck is a 4x2, so I didn't have to replace the balance chain. Replaced all the gaskets, pretty much everything except rod and crank bearings. Well after 2,000 miles or so, I start to hear the rattle again. I dropped the smaller of the oil pans and found broken plastic peices where the oil pick up is. Has anyone had this problem before? I don't want to spend a bunch of money and time again if it's going to break again. Anyone have any ideas? I have a 5.0L carborated motor in my garage that runs, will i be able to drop that in and still be able to use the 5R55E tranny? Or will this idea not work because of all the sensors that hook up to the 4.0L??

 

[silentchris]

#1 the carbed 5.0 will go in but not with that tranny and it will require some serious modifications

pull it apart and look at your cassettes its possible there was a factory defect in it that allowed it to fail

 

[2000StreetRod]

after market cassettes?

The 5.0L V8 will not bolt to a 5R55E.

Were the cassettes that you installed purchased from Ford or some after market source? Some of the guide assemblies in the cassettes available on eBay are junk.

 

[silentchris]

thanks street rod you turned my non coherent rambling into something that makes sense

 

[marquis00]

Timing tensioners Problems

After thinking about it, a lot of the computer controlled stuff wouldn't work with out the sensors hooked up. It was just something that popped in my head. Yeah, the parts were aftermarket, but didn't buy it off ebay. My buddy owns a garage and ordered the parts thru autonational which a parts store in fl that he gets a lot of parts thru. I just pulled the motor and took everything off the block, the guides and tensioners looked fine and didn't find anything wrong with them. So I am going to strip the block, freeze plugs, the hole thing. Any ideas about this problems, thanks for the posts about the tranny and the 5.0L. I will keep everyone posted, this is a great site!

 

[janolsson]

marquis
Did you replace the oil filled tensioner bolts? These can get tired.

As you found plastic pieces do you still have the bits so you can compare them to pics to see whats broken? Or could they possibly be old bits that have been floating around and blocking oil ports and causing the oil filled tensioner bolts to not get enough oil.

can you tell whether it is rear or front rattle? Does it rattle all the time or just on start up?

Im confident the main bearings will be fine but have a look at the con rod shells if you have been having oil pressure problems. Worn shells won't cause the chain rattle but will contribute to low oil pressure.

I made the mistake of using aftermarket rear cassette. The casting for the guide cracked at the pivot and broke off at the top end also.
If when assembling or installing the engine it was turned over anticlockwise this can damage the guides. I was also wondering if you timed the engine bang on (used the timing tools otc 6488)

 

[marquis00]

Good Day,
Yes I used an aftermarket kit that had all new chains, gears, Guides, oil filled tensioner bolts. Prttey much everything that has to do with the timing of the engine was replaced. The engine then was timed with the ford timing tools(clamp for the crank, the bolt on piece for the gears, and the blind hole clamp for the rear of cam). Also, the pieces that I pulled out were not the same color plastic from the new one, so my asumpion is that some pieces of the old guides were not totally removed and were rescriting oil flow, and the tubes that spray oil on the lobes of the cam, two were clogged on the passneger the three were clogged on the drivers side. So I am removing everything and cleaning every oil passage myself this time.

Another question, Do the oil tensioner bolts have to be primed before install or not? And there is oil check valve next to the front tensioner bolt, does that have to be replaced?

Any little tricks anyone know about this engine, I would love to know because I plan to keep this car as long as I can.
Thanks everyone for your help, this is a great site!!

 

[CDW6212R]

It does sound like there was an issue with some existing old pieces of cassette guides, or the new parts were inferior to the updated 2002+ Ford part numbers. It's a shame you have to go into it again, take your time.

You don't have to prime anything, but do pull the fuel pump relay to first crank the engine to circulate oil for a few seconds. Find a good way to hold the crank from turning when you tighten the crank and timing bolts. Good luck,

 

[marquis00]

Yep, after pulling everything apart and removing the #30 torx plugs on the sides, rear and inside the motor there was excessive amounts of sludge and broken plastic pieces of in the oil galleys. After 4 hrs. of cleaning inside all the oil passages and everything else, then blowing out everything with air, the engine is spotless. Probally a good thing to anyone replacing these timing components is to remove evey plug and opening for the oil passages to remove all broken plastic pieces. You wouldn't belive how far into the lubebracation system they go.

Also another question. Do all 4.0L SOHC engines have a balance shaft? Because mine dosen't, everyone I talk to says there should be one in the engine. What is the purpose of the balance shaft? and what dose it look like? Anyone have a picture of one assemblemed in a 4.0L SOHC engine?
Thanks again!!!

 

[marquis00]

Nevermind about the balance shaft. I read some other posts and figured it out for my self.