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New to the 4.0 sohc

I've had my 5.0 explorer a long time no problems at all except the radio display problem ( common I guess ) of course it only has 59k and is a cream puff..so recently I bought my wife the '97 Eddie 4.0 sohc thought it would be great with only 66k very mint!! I didn't have any noises the day I first drive it, hmmmm? Then after sitting a couple days there it was the ball bearings in a can noise for about 8 seconds on cold start and no noise after building oil pressure, then a few days later a little continuous ticking would come and go as soon as I put my stethoscope on the engine noise was gone, so then we put about 50 freeway miles on it came home NO noise at all :) then next morning back again :( so I pulled the upper intake a T-stat and installed a cloyes tensioner, yes I primed it first in 5w-30, started it that afternoon and a little noise for about 2 seconds, took it out for a 65 mile drive both freeway and rural roads wahooooo no noise at all:) next morning and since 2 second rattle and light ticking that may come and go or stays sometimes as well.. :/ the noise is almost for sure the left head area possibility the chain guide, I found a oil galley restrictor on eBay comes with a new plug and gaskets for the tensioner ( again ) deciding on if I want to pull it off again and pop it in?? Anyway guess I'm going to buy the OTC kit and do the front chains and guides, I'm not going to chance a 100.00 no name set going cloyes or OEM Ford what do you think?
 



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If it was me, I'd go straight Ford guides, I haven't been on here long enough to know about the Cloyes set though, but you're in there, and it's a low mile car, and in theory, Ford has the upper hand. As for people who say they've never had issue, I have seen one locally in a JY with 282K miles, which they were all highway miles and it was parked over 6 years ago, so that probably explains it. It's my general opinion that really at this point, the plastic has grown old enough that the number of miles is getting more irrelevant and the way it sounds pretty well is all you have to go on.
 






Our resident SOHC expert (2000streetrod) has used the Cloyes kit. He said he still had some noise at startup and installed a pre-oiler to get around that. I'd probably consider the Cloyes kit if the Ford kit was a lot more expensive. 2000streetrod said the quality seemed about equal.

Don't forget about dropping the lower oil pan to check for/remove pieces of broken plastic. As far as the oil passage restrictor, I bought a Ford 00M12 kit for around $80, went to install it only to find out the engine already had one. It didn't help.
 






I'll do the the timing chain repair soon

Found a shop which have Ford motors experience and they have the timing tools. And I have not give they my kidney in return.

What, after the Cloyes kit, would be your second choice? thinking in ebay kits?
 






jmvb said:
I'll do the the timing chain repair soon

Found a shop which have Ford motors experience and they have the timing tools. And I have not give they my kidney in return.

What, after the Cloyes kit, would be your second choice? thinking in ebay kits?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't touch an eBay kit, that's just asking for it IMO, you'd either get something that's made great (99% unlikely) or junk, that'd be your gamble, but there's no way I'd go through the effort of pulling the engine, doing that much work, only to find in three months I had a death rattle or jumped time.
 






Pop the valve covers before you do anything. I opened mine up last weekend and I could see the tensioner spring was shot by pressing the guide back and the spring not pressing it back out. My guides were both in excellent condition. Rattle went away once oil pressure builds up. there are some crappy springs in some of the tensioners.
 






The Cloyes 9-0398sb is the kit you should look at, it is the most comprehensive parts wise and have a good reputation. There are NO tty bolts for jackshaft and harmonic balancer.
As for the cheap kits, they are made in China or Mexico, and from what I see there are potential problems with the actual chains, plastic and hydraulic tensioners, it is just not worth a gamble with such critical parts.
Having done the front timing you may still have rattle at startup as it is an inherent flaw in the hydraulic tensioners draining of oil once parked.
I feel it is unfixable fault with this engine in original specification, the FIX IS A PRE-LUBE SYSTEM. Streetrod2000 is the resident expert on this engine and his fix is pre-lube.
The life of these pastic TC parts and hence milage is down to the number of cold starts ie one cold start 300 miles, 5 cold starts 50 miles. This explains why some Explorers have high milage with original TC components.
 












I wouldn't touch the eBay kit, either of them, the damage that can be caused by them can quickly equal out to more than buying the good kit.
 






david4451 said:
The Cloyes 9-0398sb is the kit you should look at, it is the most comprehensive parts wise and have a good reputation. There are NO tty bolts for jackshaft and harmonic balancer.
As for the cheap kits, they are made in China or Mexico, and from what I see there are potential problems with the actual chains, plastic and hydraulic tensioners, it is just not worth a gamble with such critical parts.
Having done the front timing you may still have rattle at startup as it is an inherent flaw in the hydraulic tensioners draining of oil once parked.
I feel it is unfixable fault with this engine in original specification, the FIX IS A PRE-LUBE SYSTEM. Streetrod2000 is the resident expert on this engine and his fix is pre-lube.
The life of these pastic TC parts and hence milage is down to the number of cold starts ie one cold start 300 miles, 5 cold starts 50 miles. This explains why some Explorers have high milage with original TC components.
Click to expand...
I believe you are spot on with respect to the amount of cold starts versus mileage... Great comments here :)
 






Well guess I'm going to rip off the valve covers and front cover and do everything in front..yea as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil as snap on is with me...cloyes or motorcraft make me to lie down in green engines... Damn Germans!
 






Snap to it with snap on, please let us know what you find, you also need OTC6488, unless you can time 4l sohc without?
BTW thanks for comments.
 






david4451 said:
Snap to it with snap on, please let us know what you find, you also need OTC6488, unless you can time 4l sohc without?
BTW thanks for comments.
Click to expand...
Yes going to have to get the OTC set I guess..I hope the TTY bolts are available? Probably won't start this project for a couple weeks too many irons in the fire at the moment, son getting married and I have to make a trip to Oregon for a week.. I'll post what I find :)
 






I could only find the TTY bolts OEM. I ended up going through White Bear autonation as they would ship USPS to Canada saving me a bundle. Down there Tasca might be a few cents cheaper.
 






Tech By Trade said:
I could only find the TTY bolts OEM. I ended up going through White Bear autonation as they would ship USPS to Canada saving me a bundle. Down there Tasca might be a few cents cheaper.
Click to expand...
Thanks I'll check with them.
 


















Watch this on YouTube "Cloyes timing chain replacement 20 July 2016" it is short and informative.
 









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