faced with a dilemma

rockyracoon · Nov 27, 2012

Well ill preface the post with the fact that my GT has 138 k on the clock. So my car was knocking, definetly not a ticking noise, anyway I assumed it was a rod bearing and I pulled the motor and upon the beginning of the disassembly I found that the drivers side timing guide was broken (please see the picture) I did acquire a miced and polished crank but now im not sure if I should tear into the motor any further Also I did not see any metal in the oil. can I get a concensus ?

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/4014196/2003-ford-mustang/

Noobz347 · Nov 27, 2012

Rebuild it and run it for another 138,000 miles.

phatboy5015 · Nov 27, 2012

Personally, if its staying NA and you're not planning on making over 400 hp, I'd just put a new guide on it and call it a day. That is, of course, if compression is still good.

rockyracoon · Nov 27, 2012

well im going to replace all the timing components at the very least but I guess what I was mainly asking was could the broken guide cause the knocking noise ?

wmburns · Nov 27, 2012

This is very similar to how the old motor in my 2000 GT failed. In my case, the plastic from the guide was ground up into tiny fragments that clogged the oil pick up. This starved the top end of oil. The result were galled cam bearings. I replaced the entire motor with a salvage unit. Sold the good bottom end and other "odds and ends" to offset the cost of the project.

My vote, cut the oil filter open and look for metal. If the oil pick up is clean, then just fix what's broken.

As to how it could be making a knocking noise, is there any evidence of contact between the chain and the timing cover?

rockyracoon · Nov 27, 2012

not against the timing cover but rather scraping the oil pump. that chain is a little chewed up on the inside end of all the links as well.

That sounds like a good plan in regards to looking in the oil filter. tomorrow ill get the oil pan off as well. if the inside of the oil filter looks normal should I inspect the rod and main bearings ?

blacksheep-1 · Nov 27, 2012

Personally, IMO, you're already there, go for it

trinity_gt · Nov 27, 2012

You've got the engine out of the car already. Remove the pan (DON'T flip the engine over; pull the pan so that anything that's in it now stays in it...)

Now flip the engine and inspect the oil pickup. You might remove and disassemble the oil pump to check for damage or anything caught in it. You can then give the rods a wiggle and check for any excessive, knock-producing clearance. If you remove rod caps to go further in the inspection (a) number the caps to keep them with their rods and (b) keep in mind that the fasteners are TTY so you'll need new ones.

bhuff30 · Nov 27, 2012

As wmburns said, if there are no other signs of damage, just replace the timing chain, guides, and tensioner, and call it a day. It would just be a bunch of extra time and money to tear into the rest of the engine when it is fine (but check the filter as burns said).

These engines will go nearly forever. Taxi and police vehicles regularly see 400k miles without a rebuild, so with 138k, you could easily go another 138k, and possibly another 138k after that. My GT just ticked over 209k on the original engine. I replaced the chain guides around 180k, and it still runs strong.

rockyracoon · Nov 28, 2012

Ok thanks for all the good info fellas. ill let you guys know what the outcome is.

rockyracoon · Nov 28, 2012

got the pan off and there was a small amount of gold looking metal in the bottom but im not sure if that was from where the chain was scraping the oil pump. one of the rod ends did seem to have excessive play (up and down) but when I took the cap off the bearing was ok. at this point Im either gonna slap it back together (providing plastigauge reading is ok for that one journal) and replace the guide or buy new main and rod bolts and install my other crank with new bearings.

1996tripleblackgt · Nov 30, 2012

any results yet?

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