Driving down the road happy as can be.......till wump, and the oil pressure light comes on..... pull over, engine turns over very quickly, has fuel but won't start.

Had it towed to my house, and checked around a bit. Still appears to be the timing chain as code reader says all is fine, and engine turns over with very little ease and much quicker then normal. I believe it's the timing chain, and from the mess that I see between the rad and the block, it looks like a big performance.

Has anyone out there attempted to change the timing chain, and what are some hints. How much of the front of the engine do I have to remove (pulleys etc.), how do I line up the gears, and how many gaskets do I have to purchase? (price?) Is it worth it for a 92 4.0l with 155k miles/245k kms, with the ever present aerostar rusted through running boards.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks, Fred

 

REMOVAL


Drain the cooling system and crankcase. Remove the oil pan and radiator.
Remove the cylinder front cover and water pump, drive belt and crankshaft damper.
Push timing chain tensioner into the retracted position and install retaining clip.
Remove the camshaft sprocket retaining bolt and the crankshaft sprocket key.
Remove the crankshaft and camshaft sprockets with the timing chain.
Timing Chain And Gears






Remove the timing chain tensioner and guide.
INSTALLATION


Install the timing chain guide to the cylinder block with the pin of the guide inserted into the oil hole in the block. Install the two retaining bolts, and tighten to 10-12 Nm (7-9 ft lb) .
Position the camshaft so the timing mark will align with the crankshaft. Position the crankshaft so the timing mark will align with the camshaft.
Install the crankshaft sprocket, camshaft sprocket and timing chain together.
Timing Chain And Gears






Install the crankshaft key and check the timing marks on the crankshaft sprocket and camshaft sprocket for correct alignment.
Install the camshaft sprocket retaining bolt, and tighten to 60-68 Nm (44-50 ft lb) .
Remove the clip from the tensioner assembly.
Check the camshaft end play.
Camshaft End Play




CAUTION: Prying against the camshaft gear with the valve train load on the camshaft can break or damage the gear. Therefore, the rocker arm adjusting nuts must be backed off, or the rocker arm and shaft assembly must be loosened sufficiently to free the camshaft. After checking the camshaft end play, adjust the valve clearance.



Push camshaft toward rear of engine. Install Dial Indicator TOOL-4201-C or equivalent so indicator point is on camshaft sprocket attaching screw.
Zero dial indicator. Pull camshaft forward and release it. Compare dial indicator reading with specifications. Camshaft end play specification is 0.0203-0.1016 mm (0.0008-0.004 in) and camshaft end play service limit is 0.2286 mm (0.009 in) . If end play is excessive, replace camshaft thrust plate.
Remove dial indicator.
After replacing thrust plate, check end play again. If it is still out of specified range, inspect camshaft and cylinder head/cylinder block for excessive wear.
Timing Cover And Bolts






Install the cylinder front cover. Tighten front cover attaching screws to 17-21 Nm (13-15 ft lb) . Install the oil pan and radiator.
Fill and bleed the cooling system.
Fill the crankcase with clean engine oil of the recommended grade and viscosity.
Start the engine and operate at fast idle. Check for coolant and oil leaks.

 

Eddie:

It's not that big a job. Just messy. You basically have to remove the fan & shroud, the water pump and everything else. Also, the vibration damper has to be pulled. On the 4.0L, that might be difficult since you'll need pretty long bolts to reach inside the pulley/damper combination. I'd say you are going to spend more time running back and forth between home and the local hardware store. While you are doing that, it might be a good idea to change the front oil seal on the timing cover. It's only a few bucks and you're already there. If this were the 3.0L I would also recommend replacing the water pump since some of the bolts do go through the timing cover. However, the 4.0L is not that way, so it's your call. If it were I, I'll do it. As far as gasket set is concerned, the timing cover gasket set is pretty cheap.

For me, twenty years ago it would have been a one-day job. Nowadays, it probably would be a one-week job.

Good luck

 

Changing the timing chain is just a matter of taking your time and being patient.
first i reccommend you pull out your distributor if there is a lump missing out of the cog at the bottom then this is your problem not the timing chain. youll need another dizzy or try to find a company that sell the cog. This has just happened to my 92 3.0 and someone else told me about it happening to there van too.

 

Ahh - no distributor in the 4.0

 

It's a lot of work. MWKobe's writeup didn't mention the PS pump or alternator, but I'm pretty sure one of those has to be moved. IIRC, there's an A/C line in the way too. And dropping/replacing the oil pan is not a lot of fun, even on the 2WD version (I had to unbolt one motor mount and jack up the engine 1" to get mine off, and it's the lowly 3.0l ).

Mine's got a load of slop in it, enough that replacing it has been on my "to-do" list for over two years, but . . . five point five hours flat rate. I'm just too lazy, and there always seems to be something better to do.

With mine, since I'm using one quart in 750 miles and now have to run premium due to carbon buildup, a fairly good knocking in No. 2 wrist pin in the morning (not a bearing, because I've replaced them with no effect on the noise) until it warms up, and the sloppy timing chaing, and a spare decent-running engine on a stand in the garage, I'm thinking about doing a valve-job, re-seal, and engine swap on mine . . . but the sun is shining and I don't really want to work on cars today.

Regards,
Al S.

 

LOL That happens a lot at this address, too.

 

It isn't necessary to remove the oil pan just loosen the front bolts near the timing cover. Removing the oil pan requires removal of the tranny I tried the jack up the engine thing on my 3.0 when I was doing a gasket change I was getting to the point where I was going to start splitting the heater core hoses.
And there was no way I was going to mess with those quick change fittings.

The job isn't that difficult the only special tools I think you'll need is a damper puller. You may think you need the tool to remove the fan clutch but if you remove the radiator as suggested previously you can simply loosen the bolts securing the blades to the clutch assembly. If you had a 3.0 you could simply remove the pulley from the damper and you would have more clearance for the puller. But the 4.0 has the pulley/damper in one so if you find a puller odds are it won't have long enough bolts so off to the hardware store you go .

Also if the damper is like some of the small engine flywheels I have removed the holes may not be threaded (be sure to check before you start forcing bolts in there) if you can't find self tapping bolts in the proper length use the ones that came with the puller to cut the threads then you can use ordinary longer bolts.

 

My '89 3.0l A4LD, I pulled the pan and replaced all rod & main bearings 29 months ago (I didn't need to, but I was in there anyway to investigate a small knocking sound, and there is a TSB about No. 1 main bearing on the older 3.0l engines in Rangers/Aerostars with dual-belt accessory drives). I had to remove at least one motor mount nut to the frame and jacked against the bottom of the harmonic balancer. I had to raise the engine about 1.5", but then the pan slid out fairly easily. It wanted to hang up on the oil pump pickup, of course, but I didn't even have to cheat and unbolt the oil pump with the pan just dropped, the pan came out.

What year is your 3.0l that you couldn't get the pan off -- I want to avoid that one!

ISTR that you really do have to pull the oil pan on the 4.0l to remove the timing chain cover. But my memory could be faulty.

Regards,
Al S.

 

Woa! Why do you think that the timming chain went?


From the sounds of it you lost the oil pump. I believe (if my memory of the 4.0L drivetrain is still intact) that the oil pump on the 4.0L is ran off of the crank shaft, not the cam like older engines. I would drain the oil and look for metal shavings/pieces before digging to the chain and finding out that was not the issue. Chains usually last 200kmi+ before going out.

I would defintely KISS this issue because usually the red oil light means that you already toasted the engine.


Also you mentioned that it had fuel, but does it have spark?

 

"Turns over very quickly"

Sounds like a timing chain to me.

Also, if it uses a cam position sensor, it probably won't have spark when cranking, if the timing chain is broken.

 

The 4.0L does use a CPS along with a DIS instead of a distributer, that is why I suggested checking spark before digging in the front end, just in case the chain is not the issue.

 

Asavage:

The Aero is a 96 RWD 3.0l luckily it doesn't have the dual belt accessory drive but I always wondered when I replaced the crankshaft pulley why the new one had a place for a second belt when the factory one didn't know I know I guess it drove the water pump. Probably making the serpentine layout less of a pain too I still can't install a new belt without the diagram .