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Timing chain noise

xjsport95

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Joined
November 20, 2012
Messages
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City, State
Blossburg, PA
Year, Model & Trim Level
06 Explorer Eddie Bauer
ok eddie is starting to rattle on acceleration... He dosnt rattle while idling or revving it a bit in park, but does occasionally for a second while starting up... Im told the timing chain is starting to fail... I have talked to a few people and have recieved three different answers:

1) The tensioners are bad causing the rattle, change those its not too bad of a procedure according to youtube lol... the motor dosnt have to be removed...

2) the guides went bad, pull the motor and have the guides and tensioners changed

or

3) pull the motor, have the guides, tensioners and the chains replaced...

This is my only vehicle right now, i really cant afford to have it down for a while... What do you think I should do? I could really use yalls input... btw its a 2006 eb w the 4.0 v6 w 131k

Thanks in advance
 



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I would put money on the timing chain tensioner/guides considering how many miles it has. They are a known issue that can pop up with the 4.0 and you really want to change them before one completely breaks. There may be no issue with the guides but you don't know until you get in there and see if there are any stress fractures on them.
 






I really dont have the extra money to pull to motor to do the guides... Do u mean just the tensioners?
 






The best solution is to replace both cassettes (front and back). Then you don't have to worry.
 






What Bobmbx is saying is what I was attempting to say. Ford calls the tensioner/guide assembly on the 4.0 a timing chain "cassette" which I believe are the jackshaft tensioner and guide. The Ford callout numbers are 6M289 and 6M290 for the left hand and right hand cassette. See here: http://www.fordparts.com/Commerce/C...&mo=Explorer&initSearch=1&partNo=6m289#Search . Quite a job to do it, but it is never a good thing when they start making noise and the best bet is to replace both cassettes like Bobmbx suggested.
 






What kind of oil are you using?

When I bought my 07 with the 4.0 it had 96k on the clock. I am sure the original owner ran the ford Motorcraft oil in it which there is nothing wrong with. When I bought it I started running Penzoil Platinum and an M1 filter. It took a few oil changes but while I had what I thought was a rattle on acceleration - that has disappeared as I've continued to run PP for the oil.

It is something to try that is cheaper than an engine pull. Looking back I don't really know if what I was hearing was anything bad or not, but it DOES run smoother and quieter now than it did when I bought it and THAT isn't a bad thing by any stretch. At present I have 140k and climbing.
 






I run motorcraft syn blend...
 






ok so I replaced the tensioners, well the two I cld get to... all has been good until this am... was on my way to work, it lost power, started missing and sputtering, the check engine light started blinking... I pulled the codes when I got to work and have 13 codes... I have cylinder 1-6 mis fire detected, multiple misfires detected, cylinder 1 and 4 fuel circuit open, two different cam sensor codes and one about the throttle body?? wtf is it now?????
 






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