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Need an expert here. Best to my knowledge this is not right at all. I have a 99 Explorer with the 4.0 SOHC. Lemme start with I knew this motor was going to give me trouble. I started with a corroded out ECT. It broke thermostat housing too. I bought a new one and both new sensors. Repaired the damaged CKPS wires. Drove great for a month. Coming down a backroad I hit a bump and boom....engine dies. No bad noises or anything. Just died. I found the repaired wire had come apart and grounded. It also blew my starter. Replaced the starter. Except it won't start. So I removed the upper and lower intake to repair the wire in a greater length underneath the intake. I looked down into the intake holes into the head and noticed them full of oil. Its in every single hole. This is not right is it? I will post the pics. I hope to get a fast response so I can get this repaired and back on the road.
Update: I just found out this is gas just sitting down in there. Just dirty from sitting on the carbon buildup so it looked like oil. Just tried to start the motor with the intake off and the intake valves are not moving during the cranking process. What would keep this from happening in this 4.0?
It's port injection so the injector is above the valve. The circumstances of the shut down probably kept gas flowing as the engine came to a stop. Thus, unburned fuel on top of the valves.
With this engine you should replace the cam chain tensioners and guides. The guides on this and up to '03 are weak and may have already been replaced. ALL years of this engine suffer tensioners that get "tired" and let the chains flop around.
I've already figured out why the fuel is there. But thank you. I just didn't know it was fuel before. What I'm wondering, which you kind of answered, did the tensioner **** out and let the chain go slack? From what I can see of my valves from removing the valve cover, they look fine. I just don't see either of them moving when cranking the engine. So that usually means a broken timing chain issue yes? I do not see on Auto zone the tensioners for the timing chain, but I see two different ones on RockAuto. Is there two tensioners or one?
Holy reading failure--I missed that "....... the intake valves are not moving during the cranking process. What would keep this from happening in this 4.0......"
Does the cam turn when you crank? What about the other side?
I hesitate to suggest cranking it any more.....
There are three chains. Crank to jack shaft, where the original cam was, one in the front driver side for the driver side cam, one in back on the passenger side for that cam.
You have to pull the motor to deal with that rear chain. I can be done in the truck if you pull the trans and like to suffer.
Note just about any 4.0 SOHC will swap in there, including Mustang motors. One feller posted here after a rebuild that the 4.0 SOHC is a "hateful engine".
Holy sweet mother of god....three chains? What a pain in my tookus! I did stop cranking on it when it just wouldn't start. Personally I've never wanted to own a 4.0, but it was a better option than my 7.5 as a DD. If I'm gonna pull the motor, I'm gonna just swap it out to a 5.0. I know those inside and out. Only 1 chain in those. Lol. I guess I will need to check and make sure for transmission matching to the 5.0. Other than that, I'm pretty sure its a simple swap. I just don't wanna dump too much time or money into a pain of a motor. I just did the starter and they put that in the stupidest place. Had to let the differential hang down to be able to reach the starter top bolt.
Trans doesn't fit. But wait! That's not all bad. The 5 speed auto has some issues. The 4R70 behind the 302 is a marvel of reliability by comparison.
The swap would require the ECU as well. I think the 2 speed transfer case will bolt up the V8 trans, but you'll have to double check that. The OEM TC for the V8 is single speed AWD--not a bad thing if you want that.
I will blow the front end apart this weekend to try and pinpoint which chain. I've had a rattling noise going on for a bit, but it sounded like exhaust vibration. I could be wrong in that is what it was. If the rattle was indeed a floppy chain then it makes sense hitting the bump and it just killed the motor. It was just coincidence that a short happened upon trying to start it back up and it fried the starter solenoid.
I will blow the front end apart this weekend to try and pinpoint which chain. I've had a rattling noise going on for a bit, but it sounded like exhaust vibration. I could be wrong in that is what it was. If the rattle was indeed a floppy chain then it makes sense hitting the bump and it just killed the motor. It was just coincidence that a short happened upon trying to start it back up and it fried the starter solenoid.
85e150six4mtod : Thanks for that! There are actually quite a few rear end damaged or titleless donors that would work around where I live. 5.0 at least. The 4.0 is a lot harder to find here, at least in working condition. Everyone I know hates them. I've come to the same feelings. Every other starter I've done on a vehicle was a maximum 20 minute job. This one was spread out over two days(between rain). I know the ecu will have to come over and stuff. The current trans will not bolt due to bell housing or what? If its harness related, I can fix that. As long as it can bolt up, I can handle the rest. Lol.
Well diddly darn. I have stumbled across a rear end wrecked 90xxx mile 98 5.0 though, so it's not all bad. It's even 4wd. I still am gonna pop open the front end on the 4.0 to see if it can still be saved. I'd rather save it since I just dumped a $150 starter in it. Lol
I just swapped engines in my moutaineer AWD and I will say that the starter was the worst. To add to that, the torque converter nuts are accessed through the starter hole and there is no good way to see up in there with the front axle in the way. It took three of us to fiddle with the tc and line it up to the flywheel. Royal pain. But as stated above, just about any 4.0 SOHC long block will swap right up to the 2011 ranger engine. (Some have 4 chains if they have a balance shaft). And, I found a place in Dallas that rebuilds them for 1400 bucks. The guy sounded like he knew his stuff on the phone. These engines can be a pain if they go all the way south, but I have an 04 explorer in the family with 300k on it, so with good tensioner/guides of the later years and regular mx, they are good. On the plus side, your trans if working properly shouldn't be hard to sell if you do a full on swap and you would recoup some cash.
I just swapped engines in my moutaineer AWD and I will say that the starter was the worst. To add to that, the torque converter nuts are accessed through the starter hole and there is no good way to see up in there with the front axle in the way. It took three of us to fiddle with the tc and line it up to the flywheel. Royal pain. But as stated above, just about any 4.0 SOHC long block will swap right up to the 2011 ranger engine. (Some have 4 chains if they have a balance shaft). And, I found a place in Dallas that rebuilds them for 1400 bucks. The guy sounded like he knew his stuff on the phone. These engines can be a pain if they go all the way south, but I have an 04 explorer in the family with 300k on it, so with good tensioner/guides of the later years and regular mx, they are good. On the plus side, your trans if working properly shouldn't be hard to sell if you do a full on swap and you would recoup some cash.
Well when I did my starter, I undid a few bolts and let the differential lower down with the jack while the car was on stands. It made for a buttload of room and totally made it worth it. I did discover between the Haynes, Chilton, here, and the dealership that there are indeed 4 chains. 2 cam chains, 1 jackshaft, and 1 balance shaft(4wd). I have not been able to start pulling the motor as my bar for the top of the hoist that I let my friend borrow was stolen out of the back of my truck. I need to stay out of the city. Scrappers be getting into peoples trucks. As well as my 3 1/2 floor jack. So I need to replenish my tools before I can remove anything. Unfortunately. But I can guarantee you I will not be doing this lightly. I am definitely replacing all suspension in the front(needed) as well as performing a FULL rebuild. Which means I am going to go ahead and drop the diff all the way out. I will go ahead and start a little build thread to keep track of everything I do. Thanks for all the help!
08-11-2015, 03:55 PM
I just didn't know it was fuel before. What I'm wondering, which you kind of answered, did the tensioner **** out and let the chain go slack? From what I can see of my valves from removing the valve cover, they look fine. I just don't see either of them moving when cranking the engine. So that usually means a broken timing chain issue yes? I do not see on Auto zone the tensioners for the timing chain, but I see two different ones on RockAuto. Is there two tensioners or one?
