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How to: Timing chain rattle resolution process - SOHC V6

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The front tensioner is longer than the rear tensioner and the spring is stronger when starting the threads. You have to push to compress the spring and start the tensioner by hand until it rotates at least 3 times. I suggest that you chase the threads with something before trying again. A tap may be difficult to find but probably worth the effort because once the bore is cross threaded too far you'll have a mess. Maybe you can extract the piston from the old tensioner and use it with some cutting oil to chase the threads.

I dont wanna have to pull the head off the motor to tap the whole is it possible to do it with it all intact just do a oil change after wards. also how do you cut the old tentioner Im a college student and I have limited utensils and cash. so the easier way i can do this the better
 






pull the piston?

I was thinking it might be possible to just pull the piston out of the tensioner bore. I don't know what prevents it from extending too far. I recall that the piston is hardened steel which would be difficult to drill or saw. A tap would be fairly expensive because of the large diameter, fine threads. It might be worth towing the vehicle to a machinist and having the threads chased professionally. There cuttings would be minimal - just enough to clean the started cross threads. If the valve cover is removed, the threads could probably be back flushed so they don't even enter the engine.
tensioner0.jpg
 






I was thinking it might be possible to just pull the piston out of the tensioner bore. I don't know what prevents it from extending too far. I recall that the piston is hardened steel which would be difficult to drill or saw. A tap would be fairly expensive because of the large diameter, fine threads. It might be worth towing the vehicle to a machinist and having the threads chased professionally. There cuttings would be minimal - just enough to clean the started cross threads. If the valve cover is removed, the threads could probably be back flushed so they don't even enter the engine.
View attachment 86778

How do i get it in the whole? i dont believe its cross threaded i just cant put it in. the tention is too tight, i see videos of it and it looks like people are just spinning it in and no problem. why wont mine just spin in? what can i do to releave some of the pressure. ive tried oil and having on person apply presser and one spin no matter what we do it wont go in straight.
 












Slowly compress the piston by hand first to make sure it isn't full of oil and can compress far enough. If you still can't get it to go in, chances are that the guide broke apart and dislodged when you removed the old tensioner, and the mis-located parts are blocking the new tensioner. You could verify that by removing the valve cover. If that has happened there is no alternative to doing a full timing replacement. Whatever you do, don't let those threads strip out or you will be looking for another head.
 






Compressed valve springs create tension on the chain. You might rotate the crankshaft by hand with a socket and drive attached to the harmonic balancer retaining bolt to relieve some of the tension.

Where do i find the harmonic balancer and where can i rotate the crankshaft? i have no clue how to do these the videos showed it looking extreamly easy and now its not. Is it possable for the chain to skip time is i do this method? i dont want to mess anything else up. Do you have pictures or videos on how its done? Thanks!
 






Slowly compress the piston by hand first to make sure it isn't full of oil and can compress far enough. If you still can't get it to go in, chances are that the guide broke apart and dislodged when you removed the old tensioner, and the mis-located parts are blocking the new tensioner. You could verify that by removing the valve cover. If that has happened there is no alternative to doing a full timing replacement. Whatever you do, don't let those threads strip out or you will be looking for another head.


I dont have the tools to Open the valve cover due to me being in school. I dont beleve it is broken due to the noise just occurred and the truck does have a rebuilt motor in it approximately 30,000 freeway miles ago. i do beleve the threads do need to be chased and i have ordered a bolt that fits it. I hope Something works or eles im going to be forced to take it to the dealer and spend more tuition money on this truck....
 






The fun begins

Hello folks.
I've been reading the posts about the timing chain issues for a couple of weeks trying to get my arms around all this. I haven't seen any references to 2004 engines. I have an 04, the engine was sounding horrible and finally quit. I've torn it down and found the Primary, left, and right cassettes in pieces. Preparing to take the engine out. Are there any specific threads relating to the 2004 4.0 SOHC that I may have missed? From what I've read, it doesn't sound like this engine is one that the valves get damaged (non interference). Can anyone confirm?
 






I dont have the tools to Open the valve cover due to me being in school. I dont believe it is broken due to the noise just occurred and the truck does have a rebuilt motor in it approximately 30,000 freeway miles ago. i do beleve the threads do need to be chased and i have ordered a bolt that fits it. I hope Something works or eles im going to be forced to take it to the dealer and spend more tuition money on this truck....
Mingram97, I just did my tensioner {twice , new one was bad so i put the old back in , {go figure , tiawan parts being bad rattled like a diesel motor} last weekend , its a pain getting it to go in straight with the limited room you have for your fingers for sure , dab just alittle grease around the threads first , you can look inside where the cassette is with just a flashlight and push on the cassette with your finger to see if its broken or not {sure a sure thing buy you can get an idea} going in you will have to press hard to compress the piston just try alittle at a time so it doesnt cross thread, it'll spin with just your fingers for afew turns if you get it right .. go slow and dont get frusterated , save that tuition $$ try this guy on youtube hes pretty good has alot of how too videos
https://youtu.be/-5mI-ah4qRQ
 






all interference engines

. . .From what I've read, it doesn't sound like this engine is one that the valves get damaged (non interference). Can anyone confirm?

All of the Ford 4.0L V6 SOHC engines (from 1997 to 2010) are interference engines.
 






Hello folks.
I've been reading the posts about the timing chain issues for a couple of weeks trying to get my arms around all this. I haven't seen any references to 2004 engines. I have an 04, the engine was sounding horrible and finally quit. I've torn it down and found the Primary, left, and right cassettes in pieces. Preparing to take the engine out. Are there any specific threads relating to the 2004 4.0 SOHC that I may have missed? From what I've read, it doesn't sound like this engine is one that the valves get damaged (non interference). Can anyone confirm?

Everything written for the earlier 4.0SOHC motors applies the same to yours. It is definitely an interference engine, so if it quit while running then you DO have valve/piston damage. Fixing it now is a big job, but can be done if you have the money, tools, skills, and determination. Otherwise your choices are a motor swap or scrapping it.
 






2005 Explorer Sport Trac here, 116K miles. I just bought it last month. I can't help but notice a noise between 2K and 3K RPM that I'm worried is this timing chain issue being discussed here. When I test drove the truck I heard it but I mistook it for a tachometer head kind of noise. Hard to describe it, really, a light rattling almost a buzzing. Not very loud (my wife can't hear it) but it concerns me.

Having read how difficult it is to replace (i.e. pulling the engine = expensive, and I'm not mechanical so I'll have to shop it out) I am wondering if there are any stop-gap measures that can be taken to keep the noise (and subsequent damage) minimal.

As it is now, I try to keep it below 2,000 RPMs.

Really disappointed in my gas mileage - thought keeping it below 2K would really help there, but still only getting 11 mpg. Is that normal?
 






thats still low for mileage. I would be very selective of the shop if you are planning to have the cassettes replaced. Its quite a job, not to be trusted to anyone without experience.
 






My explorer started to rattle on start up. I replaced the timing chain tensioners an it still rattled. I researched preoilers on this forum an they pump up the tensioners before you start the engine an much more. The kit I decided to buy was called instalube. It came with everything down to the lock tight an zipties the kit is also made in America. Here is a link to the site, it fixed the tensioner rattle.http://www.engineprelube.com/
 






went out to start my car this morning and it is snowing/sleeting an 20 degrees and it started like a champ an oil gauge went to full when I turned the key.NO rattles thanks to
http://www.engineprelube.com/
 






My wifes 2008 Explorer Eddie Bauer edition has the 4.0 V-6 engine and we have a similar noise to what CA stated up above in post 53. The engine is quiet when we start it up but when we give it gas, we notice the noise that sounds like marbles in a metal coffee can being shaken. The noise is only present between 2000-3000 rpms. The noise is more noticeable when giving it gas at more rpms when the engine is cold but after the engine warms up, it seems to completely disappear sometimes. Most of the time it likes that 2500-3000 rpm range to have the noise when under light throttle, even under a load going up a hill.

Does this sound something like what a guide / tensioner issues would be? From what I have read up on, it is primarily noisy when it first starts up and at idle which ours does not do. Our car now has 106,000 miles on it and of course is out of warranty. We are taking it tomorrow on a long trip and I'd like to have a piece of mind that the engine isn't going to give out on us a long ways away from home.

On a side note, the top plastic tank on the radiator I noticed is starting to crack outward. Almost like there is too much pressure inside the radiator. The cracks are straight across where the reinforcing ribbing is too, in two spots. (one spot on each reinforcing rib in the center of the rad.)
 






My wifes 2008 Explorer Eddie Bauer edition has the 4.0 V-6 engine and we have a similar noise to what CA stated up above in post 53. The engine is quiet when we start it up but when we give it gas, we notice the noise that sounds like marbles in a metal coffee can being shaken. The noise is only present between 2000-3000 rpms. The noise is more noticeable when giving it gas at more rpms when the engine is cold but after the engine warms up, it seems to completely disappear sometimes. Most of the time it likes that 2500-3000 rpm range to have the noise when under light throttle, even under a load going up a hill.

Does this sound something like what a guide / tensioner issues would be? From what I have read up on, it is primarily noisy when it first starts up and at idle which ours does not do. Our car now has 106,000 miles on it and of course is out of warranty. We are taking it tomorrow on a long trip and I'd like to have a piece of mind that the engine isn't going to give out on us a long ways away from home.

On a side note, the top plastic tank on the radiator I noticed is starting to crack outward. Almost like there is too much pressure inside the radiator. The cracks are straight across where the reinforcing ribbing is too, in two spots. (one spot on each reinforcing rib in the center of the rad.)
A filed primary (crankshaft to jackshaft) chain tensioner often creates a rattle at that engine range. However, the tensioner was significantly ruggedized in the 2002 and later models and shouldn't have failed at your mileage. Does your vehicle have all wheel or 4 wheel drive? If so, then your engine probably has the balance shaft and the tensioner for the balance shaft chain is pretty flimsy.
 






Yes, her car has the automatic 4wd system (which I hate!). I wish it had a constant 2wd selector that you could put it in to disengage the front drive shaft and axle from spinning. Certainly would increase the mpgs that the car would get.

Where would the balance shaft be and is it something simple or easy to fix? At this point, we are even considering looking for another vehicle for my wife as we have kind of out grown the Explorer. It used to be a good car with young kids but now that they are getting older, more luggage is needed and the space in the back gets smaller and smaller. We rarely can use the third row seating anymore. lol.
 



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also, what is the purpose of the balance shaft chain / tensioner?
 






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