Hey guys,

My 03' Explorer XLT (4.0L V6) has an oil leak. I tracked it down to the passenger side, rear, bolt head on the valve cover (back by firewall). I took it to a guy who replaced the valve cover gaskets, but it is still leaking. He claimed when he had the cover off he looked for any cracks on it, but did not see any at the time.

Anyways, I was searching around and found several explorers leaking in or around the same area of the valve cover. And it turned out that there issue stemmed from bad timing chain guides, causing the valve cover to crack.

I do notice that on a cold start, I hear a rattling when I first start it up. It rattles for maybe that first 1-2 seconds when starting. Is this my timing chain rattling around? If that is the case, anyone know how much this could set a guy back on repairs?

I guess I don't know whether to just replace the valve cover, or if I should dig into it to see if the real issue is the timing chain guides/tensioner.

EDIT: Mileage is approximately 121,000

 

Update: Taking it in to have the valve cover replaced today. Mechanic is giving me a break on labor since he didn't resolve the issue the first time. Just paying for the parts this go around.

Pretty sure the guides will need replaced eventually, but just gonna hold off on that until it becomes necessary. Otherwise, it still runs fine for the time being.