Please help a limey

[aej61]

Ford explorer late 1998 35,000 genuine provable miles
At 15,000 miles previous owner paid 2,500 pounds sterling for front timing chain tensioners and sprockets to be replaced because of a engine management light code indicating said was necessary.

At 35,000 miles yesterday engine light re apeared Ford main agent said codes were
P.0171/PCM and P0174/PCM They said these codes indicated front timing chain and tensioners and sprokets required chainging again as there cost for this was now £3,700 pounds sterling there advice was fit a new engine at £4,300 pounds sterling. There is no noise what so ever from the engine, no misfire, no fluid loss, no drop in performance, nothing except the managment light to indicate any fault of any kind. The 35,000 miles covered have all been motorway miles at 70 mph no off road the whole front timing chain complete with a ford kit was replaced at 15,000 milesIs it normal for a expenditure of £2,500 pounds sterling to be required at 15,000 miles and change the engine at 35,000 miles with nothing to indicate any form of problem except a engine management light. Explorers are rare over here in the U nited Kingdom do our Ford dealers know what they are talking about
Further to the above reading your Web site i found a thread that said re call under certain vin numbers re timing chain was in force any one know what numbers any help advice alternatives for the codes shown above apreciated greatly
Thanks
Martin
aej61@dial.pipex.com

 

[Bronco638]

Martin,
First, welcome to the site. You obviously Searched around a little but you might try the Search feature to get more info. I have the OHV V6 but do know that replacing the tensioners requires a major teardown of the engine. So, I'm not surprised by the estimate. That said, who replaced the tensioners the first time? If it was a Ford dealer, that repair may still be under warranty. I agree, you should have gotten more mileage out of the first repair (unless it was not done properly). I'm sure there are other Forum members that are more knowledgeable and will post their thoughts.

Best of Luck - Dave

 

[Howard]

Firstly welcome to another UK owner.

I think the dealer is full of bull.

The codes indicate leaking inlet manifold O rings.

Code P0171 System Adaptive Fuel too lean (Bank 1)
Code P0174 System Adaptive Fuel too lean (Bank 2)

Leaking O rings are very common on the SOHC. Possibly even just tightening down the inlet manifold would cure it. There is a repair kit for the O rings and then DIY and never go back to that dealer again.

 

[aej61]

Re leaking inlet manifold O rings Thanks alternative sugestions such as this were just what i was hoping for big thank you
Martin

 

[TPLYNCH]

Martin, welcome to the site. Run search for 00M12 and 01M01. These are the Ford Owner Notification Programs that cover the intake manifold o-rings, camshaft tensioners and timing chain cassettes on the '97-2000 SOHC engines. The warrantys for the parts/labor were extended to 75K for o-rings and 100K for tensioners/cassettes if I recall correctly. Previous owner should not have paid a dime for anything.

 

[ccanuk]

4,300 GBP for an engine? thats 8,063.36 US! do the SOHC engines really cost that much?

 

[aej61]

Tom
Dont understand im a Limey remeber and not very computer literate either where do I run the search?
Tried typing 00M12 on the site uin the search box no luck
Martin

 

[IN THE STICKS]

I agree with Howard , the dealer sounds like he's talking out of his a*se , see this thread http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121855&highlight=po171 The ford dealers in the UK can be a bit hit and miss with the explorer .I got myself a code reader from Ebay (an OBDII type ) it cost me about $40 when I could find one where they would ship it to the UK . My local independant garage has the euipment too that will read the codes and they seem to be on the ball . so it might be worth trying elsewhere

Dave

 

[aej61]

Update from aej61 First thanks to those who helped
For info TSB NUMBER 01M01 extended waranty 7 years 100,000 miles is listed in the UK by Ford as 1W750 cost me £15 on Fords Techinical line at £1 per minuite to find this out Customer care wont give this information. Having found that out Ford UK informed me today that whilst America got 7 years Uk only got 3 years so its expired
Hard luck Looks like its a Toyota for me im afraid to say
aej61

 

[nemesis]

i got the same problem with my 4ltr v6. i got through 4 ford main dealers before i found 1 that would even look at it. i was quoted £1000 for the same job????? look else where or try a diiff dealer. i dont know where ure based but the 1 i found was in bridgend ford s wales. specialist explorer tecnichian, few and far between!!!!!!!! 10 hours laboure at £65ph plus parts

 

[Monty Beast]

i got the same problem with my 4ltr v6. i got through 4 ford main dealers before i found 1 that would even look at it. i was quoted £1000 for the same job????? look else where or try a diiff dealer. i dont know where ure based but the 1 i found was in bridgend ford s wales. specialist explorer tecnichian, few and far between!!!!!!!! 10 hours laboure at £65ph plus parts

Hi Nemesis - did you get the job done? What was the outcome? Did you get new chain etc? Is the engine OK now?

 

[amessie]

Order a Haynes manual. The front timing/jackshaft chains should not need replacement again for a long time as long as the correct parts were initally installed. Your upper intake manifold gaskets maybe leaking. These are reasonably easy to replace. Do you have any rattling/detonation under acceleration. Inaddition I have had problems with both front and rear timing chains and have not generated any codes.