This was lovely. I was coming back from the deer lease Saturday night piloting my '96 F150 and had just passed through a little town where the speed limit drops to 35 mph. I started accelerating as the speed limit increased to 45 then 50 then 55 then 70 then 75 and set the cruise at ~76 mph. After about a minute something audibly breaks and the truck starts slowing. A quick glance at the gauge panel and the oil pressure is completely gone. Coast to the side of the road and cranked the starter - the sound tells me something is clearly not right.

Found on road dead roughly three hours from Dallas.

Luckily I had phone service and was able to summon a wrecker. Now there's good and bad people in all lines of business but T.J. from Mike's Towing in Wichita Falls is one of the very good ones. He stopped at a motel so I could get a room and drop off my dog, guns, luggage, etc. then we dropped the truck at the Ford dealership and brought me back to the motel afterwards. He wasn't asking for anything extra but I gave him a nice tip for going so far above and beyond the call of duty after midnight on a Saturday.

Anyway, I hope it was the timing gear that let go. The dealer service rep called me today and said $220 to remove the timing cover to confirm whether it's the gear or something worse.

To be continued...

 

Ugh, I'm sorry to hear it.
I hope it's something that is relatively easy to fix. Either way, nothing's cheap when it isn't safe and sound in your own driveway.

Keep us posted.

 

Sorry to hear that, BaronVonAutomatc!

 

Well, it was indeed the timing gear that broke. Best case scenario all things considered. The dealership wants $440 in labor to replace - that includes the $220 they wanted to pull the timing cover to confirm it was the timing gear so not too bad.

Ford doesn't make the gear set anymore so I'm going to order a Cloyes set from Summit and have it shipped to the dealership then have them install on the 4° advanced keyway.

 

Yes I also think advancing the timing with the new gears is a good thing.
But consider that if the timing set let go than what condition is the rest
of the engine. I have got several more years from a engine with just a
timing set and a few gaskets. I have also had them go completely in a short time.
I hope they pull the pan all the way off and clean it and the engine from
all the broken timing stuff.

 

Good call, I'll confirm but they are charging me for a new oil pan gasket and oil change on top of everything so that would indicate they're dropping the pan.

The engine has 196,xxx miles so it's already had a good run. It was running strong before the gear let go so hopefully will be okay for a few more thousand.

The 300 in the Bronco only has about 60,000 and I've got a rebuilt, stepped up engine that's finally going in this spring. I was going to sell the old one but now I'm going to wrap it up real good and hold on to it until I feel like it's time to freshen up the F150.

 

Before giving the gears to the dealer mark which keyway you want them to use with paint so there is no misunderstanding. Sometimes details get lost in the translation.

 

Another good call but as luck would have it the shop is two hours from home so I'm having the gear shipped to them directly. I will have to implore them to read the installation instructions carefully and depend on their good faith and wisdom.

 

Bravo to Summit, when they say overnight shipping they mean it - the gear set was delivered to the dealership before 10:00 a.m. today. I reiterated that I wanted it installed on the 4° advanced keyway. I'm going to have to assume they know what they're doing and get it the way I want it.

I also confirmed they will remove the oil pan to check for pieces of the gear and clean it out. I asked him to make sure they cleaned the oil pump pickup screen too while the pan was off.

So hopefully the next call I get from them will to let me know it's back up and running again with no worries.

 

I do not think that is a horrible price to pay for all that work. I hope they get it rightand you're happy with the way it runs.

 

Summit doesn't screw around when it comes to quick delivery. I normally have my stuff 2 days later, even on regular shipping.

Hope to hear you're up and running in no time. If nothing else, you'll never have to worry about the gears again.
I know I really need to pull the fiber gears off my '84 and replace them with steel. As you demonstrate, there's simply no telling when they're going to go. I don't imagine you had any warning, did you? Sounds? Performance?

Keep us posted and hope all goes well, buddy.

 

No warning at all, it had been running fine at ~75 mph except when passing through a couple of small town for about an hour when the gear broke. No odd sounds, no change in performance until I heard something break and the truck started slowing.

 

Same thing happened to me in my old 79 f250 with a 300. Drove fine and was cruisimg along at 55mph and the truck just died. I have no ideas how many miles were on it when it happened.

Best of luck to you and hope you get it back soon.

 

Well, this is delightful. The Ford dealer is apparently having trouble getting the new cam gear fully seated on the cam. They had to get a different gear installer but weren't able to have it ready for me to pick up this past weekend. Hopefully they can get their shirt together this week and finish the repairs.

The dealership is ~ 2 hours from my house so I'm stuck waiting for one of the other guys on the lease to head up and bum a ride. Not having it ready this past weekend was a total screw job.

 

Really? That's frustrating. I did that in my garage with a big bolt and a bunch of washers...



You think they'd be most competent.


Hopefully they have it done for you soon.