The timing chain on my 2001 F250 went to slapping the timing cover and knocked a hole in the cover at 142,000 miles because the tensioners became weak. I took the truck to a mechanic shop that I've dealt with for the past 15 years and of course they said the truck needed a new timing chain and cover. I advised them to fix my truck. When I got my truck back everything seemed to be fine but after putting just 1300 miles on the truck it lost oil pressure and the motor locked up. I've been told by other mechanics that because the timing chain got as loose as it did that it damaged the oil pump and when the new timing chain was put on the truck the oil pump should have been replaced. The mechanic shop that replaced my timing chain didn't say anything about the oil pump possibly being damaged or needing to be changed so they are not excepting responsiblity for the motor locking up. I need some expert advice on wheather or not this is the case. Keep in mind that before the timing chain went bad I had no problem with my oil pressure at all and my oil was changed every 3000 to 5000 miles with Ford Motorcraft Oil 5W-20 semi synthetic oil.

 

..1300 miles is a long way to go on a bad oil pump..did the motor act up while running or refuse to turn over trying to start..?..a seized up air conditioner pump will not allow motor to turn ..check all accessories..good luck..

 

Thanks for the reply and all accessories have been checked. I know for sure that it is a locked up motor because there are metal shavings in the oil. The motor never acted up except twice right before it locked up, I switched it off and when I went to crank it back up it dragged like the battery was going dead but fired up. I then pulled out of the parking lot where I was at and drove about 3 to 5 miles and when I went to go up a hill the truck lost power as if it couldn't make it up the hill so I gave it some gas to get to the top of the hill and when I got to the top of the hill the motor shut off and wouldn't turn over again. At no time did the oil pressure guage drop to zero or oil light come on to alert me of a problem, nor did the engine go to knocking before it locked up. Agreed that 1300 miles is a long way to go on a damaged oil pump but the way a 25 year Ford Sevice Tech explained it to me is that the damage could be just a very small hole in the oil pump. One that isn't even visable to the naked eye which would allow the guage and oil light to work properly and to pump oil to the main bearings but not the correct amount of oil to the main bearings thus allowing it to take longer for the motor to lock up because there was some oil getting to the main bearings. He and several other mechanics explained that the loose timing chain could have caused this and because the timing chain and crank gears have to be removed when changing an oil pump in the 5.4L engine that it should always be recommended by the shop doing the job that the oil pump be changed at the same time because of the possible damage to the oil pump. I'm just trying to get some more info on the proper procedure and practice of this type of job.

 

I dunno where in GA you're at, but you will do yourself alot of good in getting away from that idiot "25 year ford tech", and finding someone that can post-mortem that engine and find out why it failed. I'd suspect that the shop that changed the timing chains reinstalled the chains in a manner that caused the nylon chain guides to wear excessively and clogged the oil pump pickup, thus killing the engine.
If you're close enough-you can trust these guys to take care of your truck:
Injected Engineering: Welcome to Injected Engineering
Aric and his crew are one of the beast shops in the country for work on modulars, and they're honest.
JL

 

I think it would be a hard case to win because he fixed what was broke when you brought it to him,unless you find something wrong with the timimg chain. goodluck hope you get it fixed

 

Sometimes there is no sign of a problem. I was replacing an oil pan gasket on my mom's caravan and when I pulled the pan I saw a chain hanging. Looked around, followed it and it was to the oil pump. The odd thing is the light functioned and the van drove normally. Just did have chunks of the sprocket and chain in the oil. To be safe I replaced the engine with a good used motor. I wonder how long it would have ran... LOL

 

It might of ran for a while or if you hadnt seen it you could have been blamed for it.