Does the 5.8L have an issue with the timing chain or related components to stretch upon wearing to cause the timing to be way off over time? Do you need to ever change this chain as a normal wear item? I have 110k miles on my truck, it probably never has been changed and my mechanic says my stumbling bumbling problem was because timing was 15 degrees retarded. How would you determine if chain is bad?

93 XLT 5.8L Stock 110k miles

 

One way is to use a breaker bar on the crankshaft bolt.
Take the distributor cap off and watch for movement of the rotor and the degrees of the breaker bar while you turn the crankshaft one way.
Then move the breaker bar the opposite direction until the rotor starts to move again.
Measure the degrees of SLACK of the timing gears & chain with the distance in degrees of travel of the breaker bar and get back here with the results.


[font color=red]Dennis
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I took the Ford stock Silent Chain out and put in a double row roller chain by TRW when I upgraded the engine. This forces you to get rid of the Ford plastic gear (cam) for metallic sprockets. The double roller chain is much stronger than the silent chain and should have a longer life w/o stretching. BTW. it's just slightly more noise, but not noticeable at higher speeds.
Before I changed the S-chain it was stretched and I did loose performance (loss of torque going up a hill) and economy (mpg). I suspect it would get poor numbers in a smog test as well.

Dennis has a good method of checking the chain however, removal of the timing chain cover and doing a visual inspection directly on the chain is going to be the most assured and accurate.

Ron

 

bmark: I replaced the timing chain set on my '88 Bronco / 5.8L at 135,000 miles, mainly because I was planning a long road trip and that was one thing less to worry about. Found the original chain (double steel gears) was stretch badly. Replaced it with a high performance double roller set, purchased online from Doug Herbert(sp?). I noticed a smoother idle and better engine performance right away. However, replacing the timing set turned out to be a major two day project. In part, because I snapped off two of the longer bolts that go through the water pump housing, which I hear is common.
I had also experienced an earlier problem with rough idle, stumbling and stalling. That turned out to be the IAC valve, which is located on the side of the intake manifold. A thorough cleaning of the carbon on the IAC valve and its chamber, corrected the problem.

 

I'd probably drive it a bit, just to make sure it wasn't just a loose distributor hold down bolt that caused the timing to drift.
If you do want to change it out though, like was said, plan on a couple days if you've never done it before. You have to pull the radiator and water pump, alt. and power steering pump, crank pully and harmonic dampener and plan on new water pump since you have to take it off anyway. You'll need a harmonic dampener puller and probably 1/2" socket set for the crank bolts.
It takes as long to clean everything up as it does to pull.
Once the cover's off, line up the dimples on the two sprockets,(you might have to loosen the bolts on a little for final removal before, just be careful here.) Look in the Chiltens book.
Just a couple hints- On water pump bolt, or all tough bolts for that matter, I've found that when you break them free, try giving the wrench a slap with your hand or a tap with the hammer till they start to turn works better than a long steady pull. I haven't broken one off in years doing this,(knock on wood!) And make sure to clean all mating surfaces. Not just wipe them off, but clean with a little Acetone. You only want to do this job once and your sealing both water and oil.
Good luck, new timing chains do make your engine run smoother, but I'm still guessing it's the timings drifted. I've done it lots of times. Set the timing, tighten down the bolt, but forget to final check the timing. The tightening of the bolt moves the dizzy a bit.

Scott