Knock, Knock. Who's there.....

I bought the car a little over a year ago and it did not have a motorcraft filter on it when i bought it and I didn't put motorcraft filters for the last two oil changes, I did not know about this issue, so it's well over a year that it has had off brand filters on it. And when I bought it it did have an annoying tick but from what I have read that's normal for these engines.

there is silicone around the cover so the cover has been off before for some reason, maybe they put cheap parts on when they fixed last time.

I have started tearing it down but I'm slow so it will take me awhile to get it opened up, I have the water crossover and alternator off, next I'll get the rocker covers off tomorrow.

I see the a timing kit from Melling is about the same price as the Ford performance kit, I wonder which is better? both have steal tensioners, of course Melling probably makes the ford part also
 
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Buy ford parts. Zack here has a list of tensioners guides and gaskets. Those are $231.30 shipped from tasca. You can save time by lifting the cam covers and not removing them. Reuse the chains, might run 5w20 and 10w30 mix on the future oil changes
 
I don't know with 130k on those chains, I think it would be smart to buy new ones. those are long chains and I"m sure they stretch over time.
Is there an issue with removing the cam covers? I have read in a mustang chassis the clutch/brake masters has to be removed is that a problem on the marauder?

Ok I'm reading the right side cam cover is a tight fit. I wonder if taking the plenum off would give enough clearance to remove it completely.
 
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Remove passenger engine mount 18mm nut located straight up through the engine cradle, jack up the engine. The cover will come off with ease.


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Im about ready to remove the timing cover, I had the left rocker cover off enough to see the tensioner it's plastic but looks in good shape the plastic tension pad also looks fine, I'm hoping the problem is on the right side, just got the rocker cover loose but can't lift it high enough to see anything, Im going to pull the balancer and pw steering pump pully then remove the timing cover. I"m slow I know, does anybody know if I have to remove the crank position sensor before removing the cover or will it come off ok with it in place, I don't want to damage it I guess best to just remove it either way. does anyone know of a reasonably priced tool to lock the cams if I change the secondary chains?
I may just leave them if they look good.

also I have a Steeda under drive pully set from my crown vic lx sport, will it fit the 2003 DOHC 4.6 if it's off a 2004 SOHC 4.6?

I removed the wiper motor trying to get the driver side cam cover off but it's still stuck, if I remove the upper plenum will it be free to come off or does the pw brake drum have to be moved?
any tips or advice would be appreciated
 
Yes you have to remove crank sensor or you will probably break it. Sounds like same issue I had. Passenger side tensioner was bad. Smashed up the chain guides and the broken pieces ended up in oil pan which is also bad because smaller pieces usually find their way into pick up screen partially blocking oil to the pump. I’m the curious type so pulled engine to check the pickup screen for trash and yup, broken guide pieces in there.
 
seanpatrick2000 said:
I take it the pan can't be removed in the chassis??? did you have to remove the power brake booster to remove the engine?
Click to expand...

Not unless you want to drop the K member.

And no, booster stays. Booster and hood installed, side exit with headers, blower, harness and all plucked out. Too easy on these cars.
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where is the best place to attach the lift chain, I have never pulled one of these before I guess they are not that heavy so I would assume any tapped holes
on the heads would hold the thing. are these cars aluminum blocks or steal?
 
Well dang I finally got the timing cover off, at first I was upset everything looked fine the chains were tight other then someone put cheap Chinese parts on it, it looked ok. Then I felt the tension on the driver side chain down around the crank sprocket the chain flops around +/- .250 looks like the chain was dragging on the crescent shaped land on the oil pump the damage does not look bad it just scratched off a small bit of the land. what a pain to get that cover off, now I have to get
the cam covers off to change out the chains/sprockets. I don't know if the chains stretched or just the tensioner went bad but something is not right...

it happened suddenly so I think the tensioner failed if the chain stretched it would have happened slowly not all at once. it has cheap plastic tensioners and the chains look like they are very low quality
 
Chains are normally just fine. Anal OCD guys like me just prefer to change everything, but normally not needed. As for the slack, depending on where the valves are at you could easily have that but the scratching you noticed is pretty much the answer to your question..

Also when you test rotate it by hand you will notice the timing marks will pretty much never line up again and you will get a nasty chain slap I “think” on the drivers chain. Been seven years or so for me and my mind is slowly going south the older I get.. Anyways that is normal. Just follow the procedure from Ford Racing and you’ll be fine.

https://performanceparts.ford.com/download/instructionsheets/FORDINSTSHTM-6004-A464.PDF

It sounds like the tensioner has failed to hold oil pressure or the ratcheting mechanism has failed from the plastic cracking.

Those cheap parts are probably factory as some cars had plastic, some steel.

Also make sure you change out the spark plug well seals when you do the cam covers as they are prone to leak.


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Oh and dang your slow. I had my cover off and drivers head w/long tube header still attached removed in under 2 hours! [emoji12]
You could say I went ballistic on it..

I had 3 hours to get the head to the head shop to repair my booboo before they closed but at least I had three days after work to reinstall before heading to Louisville for a meet. [emoji1303]

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Same thing happened to me when I did this job. Chains were tight when I removed cover but when I turned engine over by hand using a 12 point 1 1/4” socket on crank snout the passenger side tensioner flopped around like crazy. The plastic or composite primary tensioners have an internal spring inside that keep the chains tight when engine is not running. After I replaced those 2 tensioners and turned engine over by hand chains stayed tight. I ended up buying 2 primary chains and 2 composite tensioners from ford dealer. Threw it back together and it worked fine... for a year. Then it developed the annoying head tick. Lol. It’s all apart again but slowly getting car back together. Not terribly inspiring I know but I still love this beast.
 
should the tensioners hold the chains tight with no oil pressure???? don't they have a ratchet or something that locks them extended? I need to investigate further, if I remember correctly looking at the front of the engine facing the rear of the car the crank rotates clockwise??? am I right or just remembering wrong?

this thing had gobs of silicone everywhere so I know it's been off before if they did replace the chains with aftermarket chains are they good enough to keep and just replace the tensioners?

there is a sending unit down by the oil filter Im assuming that is the oil pressure sending unit, I want to put an autometer guage in is that the sending unit I need to change out?
 
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The steel tensioners have the ratcheting mechanism. I have my old composite tensioners on a bench in my garage and they are spring loaded. Hard to push in and spring back to fully extended when released. Definitely enough tension to keep chains tight when not pumped up with oil pressure as would be the case with engine running. Engine rotates counterclockwise when standing in front facing engine. Whether you decide to reuse primary chains is gonna have to be your call. There are 6 spots on timing cover that require some type of oil resistant silicone so there should be some visible but not huge gobs of it if a pro did the work. The sending unit you speak of is the sender for the interior oil pressure gauge
 
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There were gobs of silicone everywhere, this was not a professional repair.
Here is the driver side tensioner guide, it has no part number cast into it and is worn pretty excessively, not a ford part obviously
it looks like the side of the chain was actually rubbing on the oil pump slightly as well as rubbing on that crescent land on the pump.
the down side of the chain was flopping before I removed the tensioner so it was not holding the chain very tight.
my composition tensioner doesn't look cracked or anything, I can push the plunger down about 1/3 to 1/2 the way then it gets hard to push in further.
 
How do you get the driver side cam cover off, the passenger side I'm told you unbolt the mount and lift the engine it comes off, is that the same for the driver side?
I took off the wiper motor module and the throttle body but it's still not clearing , if I take off the upper plenum will that give enough room to get it off
?
 
Well my opinion for what it’s worth (not much)is bare minimum get new tensioners of your choice and chain guides. Things can get carried away and expensive after that. Your situation seems similar to mine when I first got my car. Previous owner cheaped out and got his farmer brother-in-law who was pretty handy to do it because dealer wanted a small fortune to do the job. They used aftermarket chains and guides and left old tensioners in there. Didn’t work but I got it cheap. I agree that having a real oil pressure gauge is a great idea so you can monitor that after it’s buttoned up.
 
When I did mine I removed both motor mount bolts, wiper cowl assembly and upper intake and that was enough but it’s still ugly. Didn’t have a clue what I was doing either but the people on here helped me through it. Take your time. Getting in a rush can lead to mistakes
 
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