SOHC rattling in engine, please help.

[joeycanola]

I have a '97 Explorer I just bought at an auction with 148,000K miles on it. It has the SOHC engine and is an automatic. I have read many of the posts concerning the rattling that may be coming from the front and rear tensioners, and/or the tining chain. I will look into that on mine. But mine seems to do this more when I start the engine up in the morning after the engine has been sitting all night; it sounds like I am starting a deisel Mack truck. Once the engine gets warmed up it is not nearly as loud. Would any of the after market lubricants such as Slick-50 solve this other problem or am I just being foolish? The owner's manual says not to use any of these lubricants.

 

[Nate1]

With that many miles you need to perform TSB 00M12 yourself or pay to have the dealership do it.
The diseling is because of leaking intake manifolds, and the rattling will probably be fixed by the new tensioners.
You need to do it ASAP with that many miles.
Good Luck
-----Nate

 

[mbryda]

And if that doesn't work, you'll need TSB 08-2-1 done. Hopefully that will fix it. If not, the engine has to come out and the rear chain/tensioners have to be replaced.

Good luck...The timing system on this engine is pretty much a POS.

 

[joeycanola]

problem fixed

The front tensioiner kit worked. The intake manifold needed to be removed to get to the front timing chain so the replacement kit included the manifold gasket. The total bill from the dealership (including a diagnostic check to read the codes for a separate issue) was under $300.

Now I need to put a clutch into my '91 Navajo. The same Ford dealership quoted me $310 for that job...... not bad considering other local auto repair shops want $450 - $550. Sometimes it is cheaper to go directly to the Ford dealer than to f##k around with the local mechanics.

 

[mbryda]

Glad to hear yours was a simple fix!

Weird - now that it has warmed up, mine (TSB rattle 2-3k RPM) seems to have gone away.

 

[EliteConcept]

what is TSB i've been wondering that

 

[Gonzo]

Technical Service Bulletin. It's not a recall (although some can be). It is just a notification of possible problems, and what needs to be done to fix it.