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1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Early Eighties Bullnose Ford Truck

Timing chain slack?

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Old Oct 12, 2018 | 05:27 PM
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Timing chain slack?

I tore down my 302 today to see why it wasn't right and i got to my timing chain and it had a lot of slack on the left side of the chain and a little bit on the right?

is there a way to tell if its in time? I got the 2 white dots line up but idk if thats the right way to tell.
I wanted to make sure before i go further.
thanks in advance
 
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Old Oct 12, 2018 | 06:21 PM
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It's time. That slack will eventually allow the chain to jump a tooth or two. I bet the cam sprocket was a nylon coated job, and looks very worn as well. Unless you have a roller chain.

Did your idle kind of "wander"? The engine slowing down from a smooth idle, into a low rough idle, almost die, then snap back to a normal, smooth idle?
 
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Old Oct 12, 2018 | 07:21 PM
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It use to run pretty bad without a scanner on but it i tune the idle up it would run ok but the idle would fluctuate and it seem like it wasnt catching on all cylinders when it would start up, but now i can't get it to fire at all.

i used to run it with a obd1 scanner and it ran good for about 10 minutes and it would shut down. But now it wont run and i did a compression test and got near the 100- 110 on 6 cylinders cold and the cylinders 4 and 8 got about 80 so im thinking it needs a new block but i was going to try to get a little more life out of this one if i could.

im thinking my luck ran out with this motor lol
 
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Old Oct 12, 2018 | 08:25 PM
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When I took my 302 apart last winter, the original timing chain was really loose and sloppy...but the engine seemed to be running fine. It had 150 lbs compression on all cylinders though.
 
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Old Oct 12, 2018 | 10:18 PM
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Your compression issues are probably valve issues. Your block and maybe even pistons may be serviceable. Main and rod bearings will tell you more.
 
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Old Oct 13, 2018 | 02:19 PM
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Wouldn't a worn timing chain cause the timing mark to jump around when checking with a timing light?
 
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Old Oct 13, 2018 | 08:44 PM
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My experience was a wandering idle, and thus the timing was slowly changing as the slack allowed it to move around. It certainly could jump all over in some cases. Mine jumped which led to towing and an all-nighter in a gas station taking it apart and waiting for the parts store to open in the morning. "Golly" I said to myself several times.
 
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Old Oct 13, 2018 | 09:19 PM
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My 86 has a hard time starting and you would have to feather it to get it to run long enough to have a scanner test it. After the scanner shuts down it wont start at all until it cools down.

i played with the idle turn up to try to time it and if i advance it shuts off and when i pulled the plugs out a few days ago they seem like their fuel fouled so that why i tore it down to the timing chain to see if it jumped a tooth but it looks like its in time.

it does have some blowby but idk if that part of the issue. It put up a good fight with me so far lol.
Im stumped on why it runs odd i havent figure it out in the few months i owned it lol. I almost went and bought a new motor for it but since this one is low mileage i thought ill try to fix it first lol
 
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Old Oct 13, 2018 | 11:31 PM
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Have you rebuilt the carb? Sounds like you have a carb problem, too much fuel, no idle etc. What carb do you have?
 
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Old Oct 14, 2018 | 01:51 PM
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It has a efi system on it, it gave me alot of problems since i owned it. I think the fuel injection is shot on it since it cant control how it runs i thought of putting a carb on it and see if that helps but im not sure.

 
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Old Oct 14, 2018 | 05:33 PM
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With EFI it should have OBD 1 I think. Look for a port and get some codes. Vacuum leaks would be a major issue, along with disconnected sensors.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/34996350/...-and-Procedure
 
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Old Oct 16, 2018 | 03:07 PM
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I had codes pulled awhile back it didn't fix the the issue, i also had tried for vacuum leaks it had a few but it didnt fix it,

i did notice it didnt have a ton of vacuum going to everything and i never figure out why but yesterday i took the upper intake off and it turns out someone half *** it and just used silicone for the intake gasket so i think i found my vacuum problem lol.

i did take the rest of the intake off and i found a tone of sludge i dont know if i should clean it or not would it be ok to clean the sludge out or should i leave it?
 
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