Possibly blew the engine of my 2004 Explorer

[kieran23kk]

My wife was driving home from work last week and noticed the engine was a little rough. Managed to get it home and it was smoking under the hood.

Opened it up and this was lurking underneath:

How screwed am I with this one?

 

[boominXplorer]

Not completely screwed if it was still running. New timing chains and valve cover and your back on the road. To do the front chains in the car it's about a 10 hour job for a novice. If you have over 150k miles I would recommend pulling the motor and replacing the back chain guide too. Doing all the chains with Cloyes, Borg warner or OEM Ford timing components will give you at least another 150k miles ahead.

 

[kieran23kk]

It ran enough to get it back out of the driveway and on to the street.

The truck is at about 150k miles, so I was planning on keeping it around for a little longer.

What would a repair like this run?

 

[BobRob]

It ran enough to get it back out of the driveway and on to the street.

The truck is at about 150k miles, so I was planning on keeping it around for a little longer.

What would a repair like this run?

Define, "a little longer".

Like boomin said, you're looking at least a 10 hour job for a shade tree mechanic.

If you have a shop do it, you're probably looking at somewhere between $1,000-$1,500 with parts. That repair may last a while, but inevitably, the rear one is gonna do the same thing and to prevent that, you'll need to have them pull the engine and replace that cassette as well. You could save yourself the hassle and just put a new engine in it, but that's $5,000.

I have an 02 with 146,000 that I have done some work and inspecting in order to (hopefully) prevent this from happening. Still, even now I'm looking to dump it before I have to deal with timing chain issues.

ETA: If it's running like crap, it's quite possible that it jumped time and damaged valves and or pistons.

 

[kieran23kk]

Interesting. Considering I bought it for under $4k a few years ago, I doubt it's worth putting $5k into it now.

May be better off just looking for something else at this point.

 

[Tech By Trade]

Let me correct that. The book time to pull the engine alone is 20 hrs. You are looking at an OTC timing tool set that will run you 200 new. You are looking at a gasket kit, Cloys timing kit, and replacement OEM TTY bolts, approximately 700 dollars in parts, plus a new valve cover. Not just any shop can do this job, or should be trusted. You are better off getting a low mile engine from a wrecker, pulling the valve covers and checking the guides before any money changes hands, and spending a weekend and some dropping it in yourself.

 

[boominXplorer]

From my experience if it was still running (even running like crap) an you shut the truck off with the key (it didn't shut down on its own) then the valves are not bent. It takes over 90 degrees out of time to bend the valves which at that point it won't run at all. You need to call around till you find a shop knoledgable of the 4.0 chains. For example if you came to my shop and you wanted the front chains done it would be a 2 day job costing about $1000. Add another $1000 for the rear chain.

 

[BobRob]

From my experience if it was still running (even running like crap) an you shut the truck off with the key (it didn't shut down on its own) then the valves are not bent. It takes over 90 degrees out of time to bend the valves which at that point it won't run at all. You need to call around till you find a shop knoledgable of the 4.0 chains. For example if you came to my shop and you wanted the front chains done it would be a 2 day job costing about $1000. Add another $1000 for the rear chain.

That includes pulling the engine?

Damn, maybe I'll set up an appointment.

 

[boominXplorer]

That includes pulling the engine?

Damn, maybe I'll set up an appointment.

Yes you must remove the engine to do the rear guide. Now mind you I worked at a Ford dealer for 6 years before I opened my own shop and have done at least 20 sets of 4.0 sohc timing chains so I pretty much know every bolt size on the motor. Me and my partner(who also worked at ford) can do a complete set of chains in 2 8 hour days as long as no bolts fight. Considering the OP truck is from PA, the exhaust bolts would be fun. As much as I would love the business the tow trip would probably outweigh the cost difference of getting the work done somewhere up there. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

 

[rocco123]

Boomin, is a 4.6 (2002) crank and cam bolts considered torque to yield? Ready to put mine back together now. Dealer has no answer.

 

[boominXplorer]

Boomin, is a 4.6 (2002) crank and cam bolts considered torque to yield? Ready to put mine back together now. Dealer has no answer.

Technically you can do the chains without removing the gears on the 4.6. If you already removed them oh well, I would still probably reuse the bolts. The crank bolt is for sure a TTY and should be replaced. I have done a few timing cover jobs and didn't replace the bolt and have had no issues. It's all about making sure the bolt is plenty tight but not over tight. I would say at least 40 ft/lbs on the cam bolts and about 100 ft/lbs on the crank bolt if you reuse it but definitely use your best judgment. I am just guessing at the specs without looking at the book.

 

[rocco123]

Ran it past neighbor who works at a dealership. Gonna reuse them and loc-tite them with blue. I appreciate the response. Just got cover on after cleaning things up today.

 

[Stick4503]

How much oil do you have left. If you lost a lot then your crank is toast. And your looking a total rebuild. Any noises Whine, chirp, clunking or banging?

 

[boominXplorer]

How much oil do you have left. If you lost a lot then your crank is toast. And your looking a total rebuild. Any noises Whine, chirp, clunking or banging?

The chain doesn't throw as much oil as you think it would. There is almost more oil on 1 cam lobe then on 1 bank chain and guide.

 

[BobRob]

Yes you must remove the engine to do the rear guide. Now mind you I worked at a Ford dealer for 6 years before I opened my own shop and have done at least 20 sets of 4.0 sohc timing chains so I pretty much know every bolt size on the motor. Me and my partner(who also worked at ford) can do a complete set of chains in 2 8 hour days as long as no bolts fight. Considering the OP truck is from PA, the exhaust bolts would be fun. As much as I would love the business the tow trip would probably outweigh the cost difference of getting the work done somewhere up there. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Hell, if you could do this for 2 grand, I'd consider driving it to you from NH and chilling in a hotel for a couple of day while it was in your shop.

My 4.0 valve train is quiet for now, but at 150,000 miles I'm on the fence between selling the truck and/or doing this work preventatively.

 

[boominXplorer]

Hell, if you could do this for 2 grand, I'd consider driving it to you from NH and chilling in a hotel for a couple of day while it was in your shop.

My 4.0 valve train is quiet for now, but at 150,000 miles I'm on the fence between selling the truck and/or doing this work preventatively.

$2k gets you a full set of Cloyes timing chains, all associated gaskets (Felpro) and fluids. If you want water pump, plugs, wires it's extra but I only charge for parts, no extra labor. I am less than 2 miles from the oceanfront, send me a PM if your serious.