timing issues

[newbieMech]

Hey guys I recently bought a 1999 Ford Explorer XLT with the sohc engine. And at the time I thought it just had an exhaust leak. Alas I was mistaken and turns out it had the infamous timing rattle. Now the engine has like 225k miles on it. Where as I was gonna do a 5.0 V8 swap on it eventually I still need to fix it cause it us my daily driver.niw im thinking its the hydraulic tensioners so I was planing on swapping them out for new ones. Now taking them out us just like screwing out a bolt from what ive gathered. Now is it the same for installation? Just screw them in? I figure its like 40 buck each part and a pretty easy thing to replace since from what ive researched its the most likely cause. I know there's two of them and a third tensioner thats a leaf spring.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Only if you're lucky

With 225K miles and the original cassettes I doubt that replacing the cassette spring/hydraulic tensioners will eliminate the rattle. Especially since the latest cassette tensioner springs are frequently weaker than the originals.

I suggest that you save your money until you determine what's actually the source of the rattle:
Timing chain rattle resolution process - SOHC V6
SOHC V6 Timing Chain Inspection & Repair

I predict that your primary (crankshaft to jackshaft) chain tensioner has failed. If you have 4WD there's a good chance your balance shaft chain tensioner has failed. I suggest pulling your valve covers and checking for broken cassettes before spending time and money on any other timing related problem potential sources. If you find that the rear cassette is broken (which normally requires pulling the engine for replacement) then you'll know the worst before replacing things on an engine you may end up replacing.