SOHC Engine Removal/Rebuild/Install - Done!

[koda2000]

Update:
Today was a gorgeous day, on the cool side for this time of year with low humidity. Very conducive to working outdoors. I got a bit done on the ST in between helping my daughter removing her toilet and figuring out a way to exact a toy which had wedged itself inside the shoot. Good times!

Anyway, I managed to remove the fan clutch, radiator shroud, transmission lines and the rad, the radiator, serpentine belt, belt tensioner and idler pulleys. Alternator and alternator bracket, loosened the power steering bracket bolts. Tomorrow I hope to remove the power steering lines, pump, bracket and whatever else I have time for. The water pump looks pretty new. I may remove it just to get it out of the way. I also want to remove the complete plastic t-stat housing (no way that POS is going back on).

Over the weekend I priced a few reman engines. I hope I don't need to go that route, but I wont know what I'm working with until after the autopsy. A quality reman engine looks like it would be in the $3000 range all-in where rebuilding the top-end and replacing the timing chain components looks like it would be around $2000 +/- with my labor.

The weather supposed to be nice all week, so I'm hoping to get a lot done in between my other weekly chores. I need to pick up the T55 1/2" drive socket so that I can break the head bolts loose before I pull the engine out.

@david4451 - Do you recommend I reverse the head torquing sequence to loosen the head bolts?

 

[david4451]

Reversing tightening sequence is fine, after you have cracked all the bolts.

 

[donalds]

$3000 wow mine was $2500 with a hundred thousand mile warranty

 

[koda2000]

$3000 wow mine was $2500 with a hundred thousand mile warranty

Yeah the base price of the reman SOHC engines were around $2500, but then there's the core charge, some charged shipping. Warranties were mostly 3 years 100k, or unlimited miles. Possibly paying shipping on both ends, and dealing with the hassle of picking up/dropping off the engine at my buddies shop, not knowing the quality of the parts installed, or the quality of the workmanship, kind of turn me off. The warranties cover the engine, but not my labor and I figure even the best re-manufacturer can make mistakes during the process and this is a particularly complex engine to repair. I have always had bad experiences with other peoples work, so I'd rather do work myself (assuming my engine will be salvageable).

I recall reading reading here that someone took his SOHC Expl to his Ford dealership and they installed an engine (assuming it was a reman, but maybe not) all-in for $2300. If that was the case I would have just taken it to the dealership and skipped all the hassles, but I've emailed 2 Ford dealerships in my area and neither one bothered to even bother to email me back.

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

I just went through a similar job, 03 St,208k, no compression, ran rough. Primary tensioner broke( contrary to makucoco saying they don't) jumped time, bent 2 valves. The thing was, that wasn't why the compression was zero, needed 6 exhaust guides, 1 lifter. I used the motorcraft timing kits, felpro gaskets and head bolts on the engine, I will say invest in a good reversible torque wrench, I managed to break a left hand cam bolt from the torque wrench not being accurate, fished it out and installed the old one snug. I Also put the Simmons housing on it, I don't care for the austek design. After retiming it with the new parts, 175-180 psi compression on all cylinders. Unless you have alot of leaks or issues, I wouldnt touch the bottom end of the engine. We also have a 94 ohv 4.0 explorer pushing 400k miles, still healthy as a horse.

 

[koda2000]

I just went through a similar job, 03 St,208k, no compression, ran rough. Primary tensioner broke( contrary to makucoco saying they don't) jumped time, bent 2 valves. The thing was, that wasn't why the compression was zero, needed 6 exhaust guides, 1 lifter. I used the motorcraft timing kits, felpro gaskets and head bolts on the engine, I will say invest in a good reversible torque wrench, I managed to break a left hand cam bolt from the torque wrench not being accurate, fished it out and installed the old one snug. I Also put the Simmons housing on it, I don't care for the austek design. After retiming it with the new parts, 175-180 psi compression on all cylinders. Unless you have alot of leaks or issues, I wouldnt touch the bottom end of the engine. We also have a 94 ohv 4.0 explorer pushing 400k miles, still healthy as a horse.

Weird, I don't see how exhaust valve guides can cause no/low compression. When the valves are closed (assuming they're not bent, broken or burnt) the valve should seal the compression chamber, which has nothing to do with valve guides. I am well aware they SOHC can jump time. In my opinion this can happen when the cassettes break or when the chains have stretched excessively and the tensioners can no longer apply enough pressure to take up the slack. This condition is at it's worst during cold start as the tensioners have no oil in them.

I do not believe I currently have broken T/C cassettes. I've had the oil pan off several times. First time I found nothing but sludge and aluminum grit. The second time was after I starting hearing a little chain noise. That time the only thing in the pan was a maybe 1" long piece of spring steel, which I believe came from the jack-shaft tensioner. I never found any tan plastic pieces in the oil pan and for the past 15,000 miles I crank the engine w/out allowing it to start for 4-5 seconds when cold. Doing this allows oil pressure to fill the tensioners and (other than what I believe is the broken jack-shaft tensioner) the engine is responsibly quiet. It still made great power and it uses zero oil between changes, but it's been using antifreeze and lately had begun to overheat, produces bubbles in the overflow tank and had developed a miss at startup on cyl 4, which is where I suspect I'll find a blown head gasket. After the engine begins to warm the miss goes away.

I do plan to buy a new better quality torque wrench to make sure I get my torques correct. And I'm also planning to go with the Simmons T-stat housing.

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

The way two machine shops explained it to me is the valves don't always seat perfect and leak with worn guides/seals.

The hydraulic tensioners have internal springs to keep the chains tight on cold starts, just replace them if they are weak. The chains don't really stretch much, the guides wear pretty well except for the rear slack side guide usually breaks and falls down.

 

[donalds]

Yeah the base price of the reman SOHC engines were around $2500, but then there's the core charge, some charged shipping. Warranties were mostly 3 years 100k, or unlimited miles. Possibly paying shipping on both ends, and dealing with the hassle of picking up/dropping off the engine at my buddies shop, not knowing the quality of the parts installed, or the quality of the workmanship, kind of turn me off. The warranties cover the engine, but not my labor and I figure even the best re-manufacturer can make mistakes during the process and this is a particularly complex engine to repair. I have always had bad experiences with other peoples work, so I'd rather do work myself (assuming my engine will be salvageable).

I recall reading reading here that someone took his SOHC Expl to his Ford dealership and they installed an engine (assuming it was a reman, but maybe not) all-in for $2300. If that was the case I would have just taken it to the dealership and skipped all the hassles, but I've emailed 2 Ford dealerships in my area and neither one bothered to even bother to email me back.

I think it was $2500 for the engine
$350 core
They will Pay my mechanic $50 hr to do any work if needed
And delivered to my shop in 3 days
Just took a look at the paperwork


The place told me all of the parts are ford even the timing components looks like cloyes to me but the tensioner s were ford and the guides were metal backed so idk not that I can't rebuild it I just don't have the place to do it lol

I spent lots of time looking for a good manufacturer read lots of reviews etc


Now y'all make me start to regret the purchase oh well lol

 

[david4451]

The way two machine shops explained it to me is the valves don't always seat perfect and leak with worn guides/seals.

The hydraulic tensioners have internal springs to keep the chains tight on cold starts, just replace them if they are weak. The chains don't really stretch much, the guides wear pretty well except for the rear slack side guide usually breaks and falls down.

The slack side is the side where the tensioner presses, the side that tends to break being all plastic in the rear cassette is the traction side. When timing the engine the free spin of chain tightens the traction side with timing set tensioner. Any slack is taken up by the hydraulic tensioners once cam end bolt is torqued down( left hand thread ).

I suspect that the front primary tensioner ( crank to jackshaft ) causes chain are rear to exert varying forces on rear all plastic traction guide, leading to fatigue and breakage of this guide.

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

I meant by slack as the fixed guide, not the one that pivots. I noticed the metal on the rear guide is sintered or cast,the front one is stamped steel, much more durable. Literally no timing parts have been redesigned by ford since 2003.

 

[donalds]

^NC

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

^NC

I'm near the Garner area.

 

[donalds]

Oxford

 

[koda2000]

Today's progress:
Removed the power steering pulley, high pressure line and pump, drained and removed the P/S reservoir, removed the A/C compressor, removed the P/S and A/C compressor mounting bracket and unbolted a bunch of brackets.

So far it appears that I can leave the A/C compressor and P/S reservoir off to the side w/out disconnecting them. With the inner fenders, battery and battery tray out the two parts kind of fall into the area where the battery box was. It does not appear that they will be in the way of the engine coming out, but if it turns out they are in my way it will be easy enough to remove them later.

Questions:
When I unscrewed the P/S high pressure hose from the pump I was surprised to see Teflon tape on its threads. I know it didn't come from the factory that way, so I assume the pump was replaced at some point. Looking into the hole where the hose goes it's not a compression fitting/flare seal, but I think I see a place where there should be an O-ring inside the pump, but no O-ring. Does anyone know if there should be an O-ring there?

@david4451 - If I end up removing the A/C compressor I want to replace the line/line going from the compressor to the condenser, but it looks like the hose is part of an assembly and cannot be replaced w/out replacing both the pressure and suction lines and the condenser. Is that the case? I have to look more closely, but I recall you replaced some of these pieces.

I noticed the rubber boot on the steering shaft is torn. Does anyone know where I can find a replacement boot (besides the salvage yard, which would be too much work to remove and likely will also be torn).

Comments:
Why the hell didn't Ford use an E-socket type of stud on the 2 upper A/C mounting studs? Instead they used a tiny metric hex head on the ends of these studs. Fortunately I was able to leave one mounting bolt in the P/S, A/C mounting bracket and pivot the bracket far enough clockwise to let the compressor slide off its 2 upper studs, then I jammed two 13 mm nuts together on the stud's threads to remove them. which should make re-installation of the compressor easier. I assumed that the ends of the studs were E-sockets, or perhaps some tiny 1/4" hex socket I owned, but no such luck.

I've ordered a Williams T55 x 1/2" drive socket to remove the head bolts. One socket was $21, but I figure I'd break one of the cheaper Torx sockets I already have. I'm also looking into acquiring a new digital 1/2 torque wrench (Craftsman 1/2" Drive Digi-Click Digital, Back Lit Display Torque Wrench 25-250 ft lbs - approx $82 eBay with 5 star reviews) for the rebuild phase.

Making progress, little by little. If I was maybe 12 years younger this job would go much faster... LOL.

 

[Fordtruckfan89]

I used a t55 impact bit on a breaker bar, it sheared a corner off the bit when I was loosening the rear head bolts on the driver's side. Had to use some of the irwin bolt extractors, spun it right out after the head bolt was stripped.

 

[koda2000]

I used a t55 impact bit on a breaker bar, it sheared a corner off the bit when I was loosening the rear head bolts on the driver's side. Had to use some of the irwin bolt extractors, spun it right out after the head bolt was stripped.

Yeah, the head bolts are super hard to break loose. I don't see how anyone could do it with the engine on a stand. I watched a guy on YouTube breaking them loose with an 18" breaker bar with a piece of pipe on the handle for added leverage and he still had a tough time with them, of course he was not exactly a heavy weight. I'm tempted to try my 1/2 impact wrench to break them loose, but I've been warned not to, as the bolts might break. I have a 24" and a 36" pipe I can add to my 24" x 1/2" breaker bar. With my luck I'll probably break the breaker bar (I've done that before), but at least it's lifetime warranty.

 

[donalds]

I used a t55 impact bit on a breaker bar, it sheared a corner off the bit when I was loosening the rear head bolts on the driver's side. Had to use some of the irwin bolt extractors, spun it right out after the head bolt was stripped.

I seen this done many times almost works better than a e socket

 

[donalds]

Today's progress:
Removed the power steering pulley, high pressure line and pump, drained and removed the P/S reservoir, removed the A/C compressor, removed the P/S and A/C compressor mounting bracket and unbolted a bunch of brackets.

So far it appears that I can leave the A/C compressor and P/S reservoir off to the side w/out disconnecting them. With the inner fenders, battery and battery tray out the two parts kind of fall into the area where the battery box was. It does not appear that they will be in the way of the engine coming out, but if it turns out they are in my way it will be easy enough to remove them later.

Questions:
When I unscrewed the P/S high pressure hose from the pump I was surprised to see Teflon tape on its threads. I know it didn't come from the factory that way, so I assume the pump was replaced at some point. Looking into the hole where the hose goes it's not a compression fitting/flare seal, but I think I see a place where there should be an O-ring inside the pump, but no O-ring. Does anyone know if there should be an O-ring there?

@david4451 - If I end up removing the A/C compressor I want to replace the line/line going from the compressor to the condenser, but it looks like the hose is part of an assembly and cannot be replaced w/out replacing both the pressure and suction lines and the condenser. Is that the case? I have to look more closely, but I recall you replaced some of these pieces.

I noticed the rubber boot on the steering shaft is torn. Does anyone know where I can find a replacement boot (besides the salvage yard, which would be too much work to remove and likely will also be torn).

Comments:
Why the hell didn't Ford use an E-socket type of stud on the 2 upper A/C mounting studs? Instead they used a tiny metric hex head on the ends of these studs. Fortunately I was able to leave one mounting bolt in the P/S, A/C mounting bracket and pivot the bracket far enough clockwise to let the compressor slide off its 2 upper studs, then I jammed two 13 mm nuts together on the stud's threads to remove them. which should make re-installation of the compressor easier. I assumed that the ends of the studs were E-sockets, or perhaps some tiny 1/4" hex socket I owned, but no such luck.

I've ordered a Williams T55 x 1/2" drive socket to remove the head bolts. One socket was $21, but I figure I'd break one of the cheaper Torx sockets I already have. I'm also looking into acquiring a new digital 1/2 torque wrench (Craftsman 1/2" Drive Digi-Click Digital, Back Lit Display Torque Wrench 25-250 ft lbs - approx $82 eBay with 5 star reviews) for the rebuild phase.

Making progress, little by little. If I was maybe 12 years younger this job would go much faster... LOL.

Yep an o ring lives there not even a special one
Edited it's a Teflon o ring

The ps pump a.c. compressor and their bracket
Can be put to the side and be out of the way we hung mine with a bungee cord over the spot the battery box was hung it as a unit

 

[koda2000]

Yep an o ring lives there not even a special one

The ps pump a.c. compressor and their bracket
Can be put to the side and be out of the way we hung mine with a bungee cord over the spot the battery box was hung it as a unit

Thanks for the info re the A/C compressor @donalds. It sure looks like the engine will clear okay.

Yeah, I figure the PO had the P/S pump replaced at some point and whoever did it didn't realize there was supposed to be a O-ring in there, then when it leaked like crazy they put the Teflon on the threads. Frankly I'm surprised it didn't leak with the tape, but they put so much tape on the fitting it was hard to unscrew it. I'll take the pump into O-Reilly's and find a O-ring to fit. I'm pretty sure the replacement pump would have come with a new O-ring, so maybe I can use that for size comparison.

 

[donalds]

Thanks for the info re the A/C compressor @donalds. It sure looks like the engine will clear okay.

Yeah, I figure the PO had the P/S pump replaced at some point and whoever did it didn't realize there was supposed to be a O-ring in there, then when it leaked like crazy they put the Teflon on the threads. Frankly I'm surprised it didn't leak with the tape, but they put so much tape on the fitting it was hard to unscrew it. I'll take the pump into O-Reilly's and find a O-ring to fit. I'm pretty sure the replacement pump would have come with a new O-ring, so maybe I can use that for size comparison.

So when we gonna see some pictures