Lets start with. My son and his wife bought an 2007 3.5 edge. 200k miles It did not run and they said they got a great deal. It only needs a water pump Yea right.... Besides its dinged up and trashed on the inside. Also the rack leaks.

Of course it does not run, the oil is full to the top of the dipstick. I drain the radiator (full of water) and pulled the oil drain plug. I got almost 6 gallons of oil antifreeze sludge out of the engine. It had to be full to the top of the valve covers.

Ok for the fun. I have worked on quite a few engines before. Kind of new to pulling a fwd engine. (out the bottom) Is there any good info on the engine as far as pictures?? How to set up the timing chain etc???

Any advice on what to replace?? My son's wife said she found an engine at a junk yard for $500. That sure sounds cheap to me. I haven't seen junk yard engines that cheap since the 90s.

Water pump?? Timing chain?? Oil pump?? Main bearings, rings??? Anyone done it before??

Or is this quiet time on this thread??

Now that they quit making the Chilton big books, my knowledge bank is limited.

 

I have the same engine in my Taurus, just did the water pump, timing chains, etc. I used the all data diy site, figured the cost of a subscription would be worth it in the savings of paying a shop. If it was full of antifreeze I'd be looking to replace the motor with a reman from ford (they have a decent warranty on parts).

The water pump on the 3.5 is ran off the timing chain, all sealed behind the front cover. While I had it opened up I changed all the seals for the valve covers, the seal to the crankshaft, the timing chain guides and tensioner, all 3 timing chains, and water pump. Recommend using all OEM parts so you don't have to do the job twice.

Its going to be a big project and plan on about 6-8 working days. Being you drained about 6 gallons of junk out of the motor, I would be very concerned about bearing damage from being ran for an extended period of time with water in the oil. I'd seriously consider finding a reputable machine shop to go through the motor or just plan on replacing it with a known good engine.

If you have any questions feel free to send me a pm, I'll do what I can to help.

 

Good luck with the job. My nephew had a rod break(!?) on a 3.0 Duratec in a 2002 Sable and was faced with the prospect of a rebuilt engine for $2k plus labor. Seemed to be a freak problem. I looked at junkyard engines and found him one for $600 or something. Out the door installed it was like $1600 but this was a few years ago. He has since put about 60k on the engine.

I have looked at Edges and Explorers with the 3.5 engine and the internal water pump makes me nervous although water pump failure is very rare. If you have mixed antifreeze with the oil, my instinct says you would do better to start with a different motor, and the low junkyard prices are due to these engines *usually* being very solid and reliable. I remember Chrysler 2.7's (sludge monster engines) costing almost $2 grand, with 3.0 Duratecs being 1/3 of the price.

I would find a different engine with the lowest mileage possible, and maybe replace the water pump on that before installing it. I keep looking at Edges and Explorers and would consider the Ecoboost 2.0 and 2.3 fours because the water pump is externally mounted....

Good luck,
George

 

Maybe I will look into the junk yard engines. I have not had a lot of time lately. But the engine is just about ready to come out. Maybe the water pump is shot with all the antifreeze in the oil. I have never seen that much water in the engine with a bad head gasket.

Any tricks on getting the engine out?? I have already figured out how to drop the engine on a cradle. But not quite sure how to lift the body up off of it. I have an engine lift. But most of the whole front end is all plastic.

A new water pump is not bad idea, but it looks like almost as much fun as pulling the engine. It is under the timing chain, so looks like pulling the valve covers too.

 

Yea, it is. Valve covers come off, than front cover, than timing secondary and primary timing chains, don't forget to replace the secondary timing chain tensionors, and than the water pump. Reverse it to reinstall, bit of a pita, but worth it for the piece of mind.

To raise the car enough I would be temted to use lots of cribbing and a floor jack. If not comfortable with that option you could try using a few nylon recovery straps like a tow truck would have through the rims with a spreader bar to keep them far enough apart to not put unnecessary pressure in the plastic parts....and a hoist.....

 

Sounds like you have been there. Replace the secondary tensioners... As in get new ones?? Is there a primary tensioner??? What about replacing the timing chains?? Anything else you can think of while I am there???

BTW do you need a timing chain holder set??? I know some cars require them.

Thanks...

 

Primary can be re-used if you want...but the secondary must be changed. I changed all the timing chains (3, two secondary and one primary) but it's a judgement call. There is two holdown tools needed,


I also changed the crankshaft sprocket. The camshaft sprockets are a pita to remove, and the bolts are torque to yield so the must be changed, 4. Bolts two for the exhaust and two for the intake cams.

 

I just stumbled across this thread in my bookmarks. I though I would post what I ended up doing. I got a junk yard engine and gave it a tune up. Mostly plugs and filters. I did replace the O2s because of the miles and the replacement engine did not come with them. We got a pretty good deal I thought. $900 for an engine with 25k miles. I did not even worry about the water pump or chains at that mileage. Yea we did get to check the dash before the engine was pulled to confirm the mileage. Thanks all for the help. I think that was a lot better than doing a rebuild. Fun taking it out the bottom, but it was a learning experience.

 

This was the same conclusion I came to with my nephew's Duratec 3.0 that I discussed above. His replacement engine is still running and he's put 70k on it in addition to what it had when he bought it.

These engines are inexpensive because they are basically solid and do NOT typically have problems. A lot of police departments are putting big miles and big hours on them in Tauruses and Explorers and they seem to be doing quite well.

I am afraid of the water pumps in theory but in reality, it has been many years since I've had a water pump failure in any engine. I've paid to have them replaced at 100k miles in timing belt engines (an Acura and a Subaru) because when the engine is apart for the belt, the pump is right there and EZ to get to.

Again, nephew got his replacement engine for $600, and Chrysler 2.7's which were oil sludge monsters were selling for $2-3k because SO many of them were dying.

Good luck for many trouble free miles,
George