So what causes the death rattle?

[paWOLFck]

Well, lets start off saying that I know what causes it and I think most other people do as well, but I just wanted to show everyone how bad it can really get.

I am in the middle of the timing chain repair and, well, we were all kind of surprised.

Not pertaining to the timing chain, here's what we first saw upon removal of the valve covers.

I guess the previous owner forgot to change the oil? More than once.


And then the carnage that was the plastic guides.

Here's what use to be the rear chain guide.

And more of the rear....

And here you can see the metal guide slowly eaten away by the chain itself.

 

[Willard]

WOW that sludge is BAD. Looks like the PO never changed the oil almost. Frankly it seems a miracle the engine is in this good of shape, being as I'm guessing it at least ran.

Sucks to find that, looks like you have some cleaning to do as well as the timing chain work. Good luck my friend.

 

[Jakee]

The previous owner should be made to eat all that crud.

 

[paWOLFck]

Now to the front....
Not too much damage. I guess the front lower guide just broke in half. I'll show you where all the little pieces went to later.

Now get ready this is quite a 'disaster.' Are you ready?

The primary chain was a whole different deal. All of the guides, even the metal had moderate to severe damage.

Notice the lack of the metal guide on the left.

This is how the metal was when we opened her up initially. Notice the screw in the center of the picture with part of the metal bracket.

Minor damage to the primary guide.

....and more guide damage.

and where'd it all go?

.... Well some is visible from the top...

The rest made it to the oil pan.

All of this.....

Came from inside here...

And some more made it all the way down to the pan.

So all in all it was pretty bad. :thumbdwn:
But we are going to have it all cleaned up in no time. Ill be sure to post some more pics as we progress in the repair.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Wow, hope you get it all cleaned up well soon

 

[dogfriend]

That's nasty. I bet they never changed the oil. Ever.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

you know what, the 3rd gen 4.0 has different heads. I replaced my valve cover gaskets on my 2002 SOHC a week ago and I can obviously see, that your heads a bit different, mainly at the intake manifold meets the intake on the heads. Perhaps the 3rd gen did get a redesigned tensioner system...

 

[Rick]

When I was a kid my neighbors dad bragged that he never changed oil, just added when it got low. I imagine that's what his engines looked like too

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

you know what, the 3rd gen 4.0 has different heads. I replaced my valve cover gaskets on my 2002 SOHC a week ago and I can obviously see, that your heads a bit different, mainly at the intake manifold meets the intake on the heads. Perhaps the 3rd gen did get a redesigned tensioner system...

never mind I'm stupid, they do look the same, I was looking at the pictures wrong.

 

[dogfriend]

When I was a kid my neighbors dad bragged that he never changed oil, just added when it got low. I imagine that's what his engines looked like too

My dad had a Chevy truck that he did that to. His reasoning was that it burned so much oil that he didn't need to change it since it wouldn't be in there for very long. Even worse, he started using non-detergent oil that he had originally bought as chain saw lube because he had a 55 gal drum of it and he wasn't running chain saws anymore. I told him that was a bad idea, but he didn't care. I don't know what happened to that truck.

 

[Oldwolf]

Sludge would not cause the tensioners to break. Do you know why they broke? I have a 4.0 SOHC by the way too.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Inspiring photos!

Thanks for posting those excellent photos! They have inspired me to remove my valve covers to see how bad the damage is. I'm hoping that my rear guide is still in good shape since I don't want to pull the motor to change it.

One forum member stated he was able to change the rear guide without pulling the engine while the head was off. Do you think that is possible?