Fwirt
New Member
- Joined
- August 13, 2025
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 2
- City, State
- Salem, OR
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2002 Explorer Sport Choic
So I have a 2002 Sport, not a Sport Trac, but there is no forum for the Sport and I think the Sport shares more DNA with the Sport Trac (or even a Ranger) than Base under the hood so here goes…
Didn’t know about the infamous “death rattle” that afflicts the 4.0L SOHC until after I bought the car. Engine seems to be purring right now and according to the Carfax and previous owner it’s been really well maintained. Currently sitting at 143k miles. No chain rattle on startup or running at any RPM so far, and it’s a mid ‘02 so I might have lucked out and gotten the upgraded chain guides. However, all the reports of the tensioners wearing out have me wondering if I’m sitting on a time bomb. So I have a few questions:
- I’ve heard it’s better to change the tensioners before any rattle sets in because by the time you hear it, it indicates damage to the chain guides. But I’ve also heard that changing the tensioners can accelerate guide wear because old brittle guides can’t handle the higher tension from new tensioners. I don’t have any rattle yet, so my guides are probably in good shape and I don’t want to create an issue that doesn’t exist. Should I change them out now or wait until I hear startup rattle indicating that that the tensioners are too loose?
- Oil changes seem to have been pretty regular but I was thinking of running some Seafoam because of some quiet ticking that might be the injectors. Does anyone have experience with Seafoam making the chain guides more brittle? I would imagine that fuel additive has minimal effect but I don’t know about the intake spray since it gets into the oil. I wouldn’t want loose gunk to clog the tensioners.
- I keep seeing horror stories of people cross threading new tensioners and that scares me. But I’ve heard that’s due to incorrect procedure as well, and that after priming the new tensioners in oil you should squeeze as much oil out with a vise as you can so the new tensioners don’t put pressure on the threads as they go in. Is this true? And are there any best practices to avoid cross threading other than “carefully hand thread a few turns and hope for the best?”
I know this is my first post so I’m sorry if this is too much all at once or I picked the wrong subforum.
Didn’t know about the infamous “death rattle” that afflicts the 4.0L SOHC until after I bought the car. Engine seems to be purring right now and according to the Carfax and previous owner it’s been really well maintained. Currently sitting at 143k miles. No chain rattle on startup or running at any RPM so far, and it’s a mid ‘02 so I might have lucked out and gotten the upgraded chain guides. However, all the reports of the tensioners wearing out have me wondering if I’m sitting on a time bomb. So I have a few questions:
- I’ve heard it’s better to change the tensioners before any rattle sets in because by the time you hear it, it indicates damage to the chain guides. But I’ve also heard that changing the tensioners can accelerate guide wear because old brittle guides can’t handle the higher tension from new tensioners. I don’t have any rattle yet, so my guides are probably in good shape and I don’t want to create an issue that doesn’t exist. Should I change them out now or wait until I hear startup rattle indicating that that the tensioners are too loose?
- Oil changes seem to have been pretty regular but I was thinking of running some Seafoam because of some quiet ticking that might be the injectors. Does anyone have experience with Seafoam making the chain guides more brittle? I would imagine that fuel additive has minimal effect but I don’t know about the intake spray since it gets into the oil. I wouldn’t want loose gunk to clog the tensioners.
- I keep seeing horror stories of people cross threading new tensioners and that scares me. But I’ve heard that’s due to incorrect procedure as well, and that after priming the new tensioners in oil you should squeeze as much oil out with a vise as you can so the new tensioners don’t put pressure on the threads as they go in. Is this true? And are there any best practices to avoid cross threading other than “carefully hand thread a few turns and hope for the best?”
I know this is my first post so I’m sorry if this is too much all at once or I picked the wrong subforum.
