This is in my '87 F-250. It's got 157,000 on it and has been well maintained. Last night on my way to work, I noticed that it seemed to have a lot more power than it normally did. Other than that everything seemed fine, no other abnormal sounds or behavior. I parked the truck all night and this morning when I started it to go home, I couldn't believe what I heard. I believe it was the loudest lifter clack in history, almost sounded like a rod bearing gone bad. Oil pressure came up though. I shut it off right away and went back into the shop to get a long prybar to listen to the engine. I started it back up and starting probing around. The loudest banging I could hear was just above the driver side motor mount. I could actually feel it in the prybar. I figured this was bad and was about to shut it off, when it decided to turn itself off. I tried cranking it again just to see if it seized, but it spun really free, no compression. So what I'm thinking here, is that the cam broke. I have no idea how and I've never heard of this happening before. Can anyone confirm/deny. The engine did have some light lifter clack for the last 80,000 miles, but I've been told that it is "normal" for the 300. Also, is the 300 an interference engine? That is, if the cam or timing gear fails, can the pistons whack the valves? Sure hope not.... But, if anyone can offer any insight, that would be appreciated. Just want to know what I can be expecting when I tear into it.

 

I have heard that the timing Gears have had a tendancy to strip. Its possible that the gears were stripping and grinding on eachother, then they finally jumped to cause the engine to die.

Sorry to hear about all that, hope you get it fixed without incident

 

'Forget exactly where I read this, but there was something to the effect that an engine being dyno'd, suddenly started making "too much power". Fortunately (for THAT engine) , an older, wiser participant ordered an immediate shutdown - and the "power spike" was traced to a head gasket leak. The water ingestion was the culprit of the power surge.

Your subsequent problems MIGHT be the result of hydro-lock damage.

'Just a guess. 'Hope I'm wrong!

 

It's definately not hydrolock damage. I had a chance to get into a little bit today. I pulled the side cover and the cam is not rotating when the crank is turned. Have to pull the timing cover tomorrow...

 

'Glad to hear THAT! Keep us posted...

 

Somewhere along the line (don't know exactly when) ford went to a fiber timing gear instead of the steel one. They are notorious for breaking, however, they are much smoother & quiter.
Edwin

 

hey, i am finishing up a timing gear swap on an '85, and there's a great thread on here about the whole deal, including bolt threads for all the ones i lost (dumb dumb dumb). We're all willing to make your job go easier than ours did, so ask any questions! be very careful pulling the cam gear off, breaking it really lengthens the job. however, its not the end of the world. some say to pull the cam; if you do, you can press the gear off and therefore not break it. However, you do have to horse with the valvetrain.

 

This has happened to me too, re: timing gear failure. Not to worry about the valves issue; I had mine (timing gears) replaced and it ran fine after that. It broke down on a trip so I had to surrender it to a local mechanic. I assisted on the job by removing the radiator etc so that the cam can be pulled out the front, in order to have the gear replaced.