Timing chain replacement, I trust you guys

pwcracer · Jul 13, 2011

If you look at the pic of the left side of the engine, that is exactly how it was when I pulled the cover off.. The tensioner is gone and all I had were plastic parts everywhere

pwcracer · Jul 13, 2011

I think the kit I have only comes with 4 guides, but I will look again.

N8Dogg98 · Jul 13, 2011

yikes... dude I'd almost remove that engine, find a nice junkyard engine (could even go aluminum for some weighth savings out of an explorer or Mark VIII) and replace the entire thing. With all those chunks of plastic and aluminum shavings I wouldn't waste time putting any money into that engine.

Otherwise do what you can to get it running again, hope that it works, and just drive it. If nothing breaks you win, if something breaks then take the engine out and replace it.

wmburns · Jul 13, 2011

FWIIW, that is almost exactly how the motor in my 2000 GT failed. However in my case, they wore completely through and the chains broke the guides. Pieces of the guides wedged in between the chains and the crank stopping the motor.

However, the plastic in the oil pick up is a REAL issue. It turned out that my motor was oil starved due to ground up plastic blocking the oil pick up. The cam towers showed evidence of oil starvation.

So....While I don't think your motor is ruined, I would put some thought to cleaning the oil pickup. And yes it will be a PIA.

Perhaps pull a cam tower the furtherest away from the pump and look for evidence of oil starvation/galling. This will let you know if your motor has already been hurt.

pwcracer · Jul 13, 2011

I will prob have to pull the pan..
I checked and I have 4 tensioners, the 2 curved ones match perfectly, but then I have these 2. Is that for the wrong engine? I didn't get 6.

N8Dogg98 · Jul 14, 2011

no those look right to me

pwcracer · Jul 18, 2011

I got it all back together and it starts, but idles like it is missing.. I have these pending codes, p0355,0356,0357,0358 Coil circuit malfunction. Could I have messed up the timing or something to cause this?

wmburns · Jul 18, 2011

What the DTC codes have in common is they are all on the same bank (5,6,7,8 bank=2). After a timing chain repair, I would strongly look at the driver's side cam being 180 degrees out of phase with the crank.

If a bank is 180 degrees out of phase, what happens is the exhaust value is opening when the intake should be opening. The fuel injectors are spraying upon closed intake valves. If a compression test is done, the results are OK. Also there is no PTV contact because the values are closed as the piston comes up.

Do you have pictures of your work? Did you mark the mid points of the chains? How did you keep the motor from turning during the repair?

pwcracer · Jul 18, 2011

I remember checking that specifically from this persons link
ModularHeadShop article on cam installation

I made sure the marked link on my chain was lined up to the dot on the cam sprocket and not the raised mark. It looked close to what that site had when I was done. No pics tho since my stupid cell camera broke.

I set TDC and had the mark (DOT) on the crank gear at 6 o'clock. I then lined endpoint on the chain to the raised dot on the cam gear up like the site said. After that was done I completed the passenger side. When done, I had both chains endlink lined up at the 6 o'clock mark on the crank gear, and both cam gears dot was on the other endpoint.

Above 1500 Rpm the engine seems normal. This is more of an idle issue. It also starts great.
(I really hope the timing is ok...)

wmburns · Jul 18, 2011

Double check the cam sensor. Connected? No bent/pushed pins?

So have you confirmed spark pulse and fuel injector pulse on all cylinders?

Any other DTC's?

pwcracer · Jul 18, 2011

i'll check that.. I noticed I broke all the clips on the injectors when i removed them.. I think i read I should wire tie them so they stay connected.

I haven't checked the spark or fuel injector pulse yet. (Isn't one wire constant and then the other receives the pulse to spark?)

(I worked on this thing 10 hours straight yesterday, to get to the oil pan I had to drop the front axle @#*@(#*)

wmburns · Jul 18, 2011

Start first by confirming +12 volts to the VT/WH wire on each injector.

Confirm power on the WH/LB wire at each COP.

Fuel injectors and COP are ground start devices. The PCM fires by completing the return circuit wire to ground.

I can't spot an obvious common failure point for bank 2 except for splice points. Rare for a splice to fail unless you did some major F'ing with the wiring harness.

In any case, it would help to know if this is an injector problem, COP problem or cam problem.

Did you find anything in the oil pan or on the pick-up screen?

pwcracer · Jul 18, 2011

I'll check that when i get home. I found more plastic pieces in the pan. I cleaned them all out and flushed everything I could.

Here is a pic of the worn tensioner guide and tensioner.

The end of the tensioner is worn

pwcracer · Jul 18, 2011

I found it! I could hear a hissing noise under the hood but couldn't find it. It wasn't until I was checking a ground connection on the power steering pump that I noticed a hose disconnected. I found where in plugs into on the wheel well and the thing idles great! Thanks for all your help with this project!

(This was the hose that was disconnected, not the one with flex loom on it, the one below that)

bullitt 736 · Jul 22, 2011

Congrats on finding the problem. Smart move dropping the pan. Mine did the same thing at 145k (same as wmburns). The plastic clogged my oil pickup and starved the pump.

This is much more common than you think. I performed a google search and found plent of Explorers with this problem with less than 100k.

bullitt 736 · Jul 22, 2011

N8Dogg98 said:
yikes... dude I'd almost remove that engine, find a nice junkyard engine (could even go aluminum for some weighth savings out of an explorer or Mark VIII) and replace the entire thing.

IIRC his Explorer has the aluminum block.

N8Dogg98 · Jul 25, 2011

^ I forgot he had an explorer and you are correct. Explorers came with aluminum blocks.

pwcracer · Jul 25, 2011

We have put about 500 miles on it with no problems so far. No leaks or anything. I am going to change the oil tonight and see if there are any more pieces.

Have you noticed that the belt tensioner sits so close to the front cover that you can't get a belt behind it? I found that very odd, and wondering if it is supposed to have washers or a spacer behind it..

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