Checked in again today - am planning on hitching a ride out to the lease on Friday - and they've finally got the gear pressed on all the way. Should be buttoned up ASAP and I asked them to go ahead and do fuel injection service (i.e. run high pressure solvent through the injectors) while it's there. Should be able to pick it up on Friday.

 

Oy, the saga continues. Went to pick up the truck Friday and it was ready but making some noise that sounded like it was coming from the timing cover. Possibly some interference between the new gears and timing cover? Whatever, after a month I was tired of waiting and took it. I also noted they replaced the oil after dropping the pan but didn't change the oil filter. Geez.

Service guy mentioned they tried to adjust the timing after the injector service but the timing marks were off, and maybe the balancer has slipped. Also duly noted.

Stopped about a mile up the road to get some things at Home Depot and noticed it was leaking oil from the front of the oil pan. Took it right back, they tightened up the pan bolts and the leak stopped.

So, put it on the highway and it sounded/ran fine. Until I stopped at a light in some little town and it there was some godawful noise coming from under the hood. Got it into the town near our lease and stopped to get gas. Still making an awful noise at idle but it's dark now and I really just want to get to the lease where I've got a ride back to town if needed. Filled up the truck and it doesn't want to start - like it's pushing back on the starter. It finally fires and I get to our campsite at the lease, at which time my buddy says, "I'm no mechanic but your truck sounds like s^!t." Yeah.

The next morning it starts right up and sounds about a thousand times better. I pop the hood and everything looks/sounds okay. Then I notice what looks like a small, loose hose. But it's not a hose, it's a piece of belt. So I look down, low and behold the balancer isn't seated fully and the serpentine belt had ridden up on part of it and started to shred. The awful racket the night before was the belt flailing the fan and whatever as it came apart. It had come apart enough it wasn't going to shred anymore on the balancer but only left maybe four of the original six ribs intact.

Needless to say I used a lot of profanities.

Later that day I caught a ride into town and picked up a spare belt with the intention of driving it back to the dealership to have them take another crack at it and changing he belt on the side of the road if it gave out. Luckily it held for two hours and I dropped the truck back where it was parked Friday when I picked it up.

I called them Monday and said since the balancer on there now seems to have slipped just go ahead and replace it rather than just seating it and replacing the belt. I'll know tomorrow if it's ready to pick up Saturday as I requested. What a beat down.

 

I am sorry for your troubles and hope that this time [when you pick it up] everything will be okay!

 

Ah, I'm just grousing. As far as troubles go this ain't too bad. I just assumed a Ford Dealership would knock it out of the park on service. The big pain in the **** is arranging for a lift 2 hours from town.

The shop called today and it's ready to pick up tomorrow. Also said the new balancer being fully seated quieted down all the noise coming from the timing cover.

 

Got the truck back to town, finally. They did get the new balancer fully seated and the new belt on - all good there.

The truck sounds good at start up but there's still a knocking noise coming from the timing cover area once it's good and hot. The noise is only there at idle though. So when I stop at a light or whatever after a highway run it's pretty noisy. Once the throttle opens there's no noise. Hopefully it won't lead to something terminal because for now I'm just going to live with it. It did seem to be getting less and less noticeable when I drove it around today, but didn't have the cruise control set at 78 mph for an hour. That really seems to warm up the engine and the clattering is worst when I come to a stop after highway driving.

I told them about the hot start problem but they apparently didn't reset the timing once the new balancer was installed - still struggled to start when hot. I also noticed when I lugged it around a sharp turn in third gear yesterday it was knocking badly. This morning I backed the timing down a good bit. Now the hot start problem is gone and it feels snappier.

So, not 100% happy with the work but at least the truck is highway functional and will get me back and forth to the deer lease again.

 

I have read in other threads of a knocking sound being caused by the metal gears. Some have reported that it gets better with mileage while others have just learned to live with it. Some have reported a whining sound.


Ever wonder why the Ford engineers went with fiber gears?

 

Postmortem on the knocking.

So remember how the shop said they had trouble getting the gear seated? Yeah, they apparently never did figure it out. I opened up the engine and the timing gear is 1/4+" shy of being seated.

Which means the cam walks back and forth 1/4+". The knocking was the #2 intake lifter hitting the fuel pump eccentric on the cam and the noise I thought was interference on the timing cover was the cam walking forward and spinning on the timing cover.

So, if your Ford vehicle happens to break down in Wichita Falls, TX I recommend you have it towed to Lawton, OK or Decatur or Ft Worth and any damn place but Wichita Falls Ford/Ford House.

 

A lot of people (me included) probably don't know how to work on these old engines.

 

Did you notice any damage on the cam or lifter?

 

Not that it's a guarantee, but take comfort in this. When I got my '84 Bronco, it had a bizarre growling sound coming from the timing cover. I finally pulled it all apart and found that the two bolts that hold the cam thrust plate down had backed out and the cam was walking back and forth for who knows how long. The growling was the timing gear running again the timing cover.

Pulled the pan and inspected everything and it all looked fine. Tightened it down and drove it another 25,000 miles before I sold it. Nothing wrong with it.

 

Amazingly the cam lobe and lifter both appear to be okay. There's a nasty looking gash.notch in the eccentric though.

All academic as it is now on a stand in my garage and is destined to be sold as a core.