The 4.9 has gears.

Its fairly rare for an engine with a broken timing chain/gears to have compression in any cylinder. In order for that to happen the cylinder you are testing would have to be at the bottom of its stroke when you screw in the gauge (no air in, no compression), and the valves would have to be closed on that cylinder, and the rings would have to be in good enough shape to seal well cold.

On the rare occasion all these things come together you might get one bump on the guage. If you release that pressure it won't come back.

 

Gotcha thank you for the insight.

 

dude big big help man and yeah I had like one good reading then tried it agian and it was there ima start tearing into it tomorrow most likely

 

Honestly unless you need this thing on the road tomorrow, I'd just look for a used engine. I see them on CL around here for $300-400 quite often with low miles (supposedly). You could likely swap engines quicker and for about the same amount of money as fiddling around with the cam change. That would get you back on the road, then pick up an engine stand and you could rebuild your original as time/money allows, then swap back when ready. Whatever you choose, good luck.

 

yeah I plan on doing that later on down the road but I'm not doing the cam I'm just gonna do the gears cause I need it on the road but yea I plan on getting another 4.9l motor and building it over time

 

Does anyone know how to get the clutch fan off of the water pump so it's outta the way so I can start taking the timing cover off? If someone Could help me out with this it would be awesome cause I already have the radiator out and I wanna continue with this and get it done ASAP

 

They make a large relatively thin wrench you can put on and then hit with a hammer to loosen it.

Its much easier with the belt still on, but a small (6") pipe wrench can be used from the back side of the pulley to hold it still so you can hit the wrench.

Its also possible to use a long chisel on the outer edge of the large nut holding the fan on instead of the wrench.

I forget what year your truck is, but my fan comes off in the normal right handed manner, and I think yours probably does as well. There are other ford engines that have a left handed fan clutch thread.

Edit: I see yours in an 87, it will be right handed.

 

If your fiber cam gear has lost it's teeth, how do you plan to get the pieces out of the pan? If left in there they will suck up to the strainer on the oil pump, and if there are enough of them they can cause engine damage from oil starvation...

 

Yeah I got it off I just put a long flat head between the bolts on the pulley side and put a adjustable wrench on the clutch side and I know I gotta get the pieces out of the pan I'm gonna drop the pan and clean it out and do the oil pump anyway but now I can't get the crank pulley off cause it just keeps spinning the crank and I even put it in gear to keep it from spinning but it still spins

 

I'm assuming you mean the crank bolt doesn't want to break loose.

The easiest way is to use an impact. I'm further assuming you don't have an air compressor and impact available.

They make electric impacts, and even battery operated ones now. Not sure if the battery powered ones have enough power to pull a crank bolt or not though, they are pretty expensive for a good one so I haven't bought one. Perhaps you could find an electric one to borrow? Possibly find one cheap on Craigslist?

There is a trick I've used in a pinch before, but its not especially safe, or good for the engine and don't know if I should even mention it. We'll wait on that one I think.


I am guessing you have an automatic transmission? If so then putting it in gear won't hold the crank, it would with a manual trans though.

In any case, if you can get to the flexplate you can have somebody hold a large screwdriver wedged in the ring gear and get the bolt to break loose.

You will probably have to pull the starter to get at it, although the spacer plate might have an access door on the bottom, I can't recall right off - drawing a blank on that. You may end up bending the plate a bit, but you can straighten it out with a hammer and/or channel locks.

 

Hahah that kinda makes sense bout it being a manual I was just drawing a complete blank on everything yesterday after I was pulling radiator out I dumped coolant all over my face it got in my ear eye and mouth hahaha wasn't fun but yea I do have air tools I have a impact too but it won't fit in there so just go ahead and tell the idea that doesn't sound safe cause

 

So to update everyone I finally got the crank pulley off got the timing cover off and it is the cam pulley teeth sheared right off so thanks everyone who helped me figure this out and I'll keep y'all updated on everything after this