Timing Chain D-Day, your thoughts...

[mountaineer2004]

2004 V8 173k miles. I love my car. Want it to last another 100k miles.

Mounty is making a new noise. To me, it sounds like the chains are on the aluminum runners of the guide.

So I need to make a decision, replace guides/tensioners now, or wait and replace engine when it stops running.

I have all the parts, but never actually did the job. I started to, but it turned out to be too much for me.

Personally, I'd rather not pull/replace the engine, but repair. Any opinions out there? Thanks in advance.

 

[drdoom]

The little "seals" probably blew out behind the tensioners. You need to at least replace those. Mine had a start up rattle from the "seals" failing but the guide arms were in perfect condition. I had a kit with chains so I went ahead and replaced everything except sprockets.

I agree it is a fairly meaty job, but must be done.

 

[mountaineer2004]

Hey Doc

Yeah, I couldn't get the crank pulley off, got frustrated, put everything back together, and called it a day.

So you think just replacing the timing stuff is ok? Is your engine running good now?

I'm just trying to decide if I should wait till the engine blows and replace the whole thing.

Thanks.

 

[ROBinGa]

My 2003 with 160,000 started rattling timing chains. Was going to put in new engine but my shop convinced me to have them replace chain kit and it's been running great since then. The timing chain kit rebuild at the shop was about 1/3 the cost of the new remanufactured engine replace cost. I was tempted to just do the whole engine and be done with it but the timing chain rebuild has been great choice so far.

 

[deaconblues]

I just did this job on a 2002 Mounty V8. I almost waited too long and nearly killed the engine. This thread was very helpful:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...chain-service-on-4-6l-v8.456903/#post-3607906

My experience here:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...-timing-chain-chatter-low-oil-pressure.458261

I took a few shortcuts (doing guides and tensioners only, leaving the valve covers on) and had to clear the oil pickup using compressed air. Engine seems to be doing very well so far, over 5K miles later so far.

I think I got the crank pulley off by bumping the starter to aid removing the nut, and then using a loaner crank puller from Autozone (made it easy to pull). The fan was a bit of a trick -had to lock the water pump by jamming a wrench on the pulley nuts so that I could unscrew the fan from the shaft. Didn't seem to hurt the water pump.

 

[drdoom]

Mountaineer I failed my first attempt at pulling the balancer off. There is a beefy washer that hides in the bolt hole, get that out first, I am not the only one who has made this error.

My engine runs great now, no more rattling.

 

[mountaineer2004]

Thanks all for your responses and help, it's appreciated.

 

[IPcamper]

Go ahead and replace all of the timing components, Guides, tensioners, chains, sprockets, oil seal --- everything. No point in having to go back in later. this will be far cheaper than a replacement engine. I have done it on both my 2003 Explorer v8 and my 2002 Mountaineer V8. First one took me about 16 hours working slowly, the second one only took about 12 hours. It is a big job, but take your time, many Youtube videos are available to walk you through it. I also replaced the valve cover gaskets and the timing cover gaskets, since the old ones were bit stiff.

 

[Drewmcg]

You guys make me feel less foolish owning a 4.0 SOHC (rear timing cassette blew up @179k miles on former owner)! Then again, I had to pull the engine and spent a LOT more than 18 hours fixing it....