Hi all..

Today I took my 98 XLT V6 4.0 SOHC in for the recall (cruise control).. While it was in there I figured I would have an annoying rattle fixed.. I was told the rattle was due to a loose heat shield about 1 1/2 years ago by a different dealer.

Well.. This dealer claims the rattle is becaue of a worn out timing chain tensioner??? He diagnosed this and performed the recall work in under 1/2 hour.. Does this sound kind of fishy to anhyone else or am I just paranoid??

Any one else experience this problem??

 

I just replaced the tensioner in my 2000 4.0 SOHC. My truck has 139K miles so it was not warranteed. The intake has to come off to do it. Granted, I am not a pro, but I cannot see how it can be done in less than 30 minutes.

 

They did not fix it.. They diagnosed this problem..

I am skeptical that what was suposed to be a loose heat shield is now a $100-$2000 timing chain tensioner. If if they spent a long time looking into it I might be a little bit more believing..

 

Aren't recalls performed for free no matter how old vehicle is and no matter how many miles are on it? I know TSB's are only free if under warranty.

 

Yes.. they are free..

Let me start over..


I brought in my truck to have the recall performed. The work took 1/2 hour.

While it was in there I wanted them to fix the loose heat shield. They came back and said that it was not the heat shield but rather a loose timing chain tensioner. They did NOT spend any more time to look at it other than the 1/2 hour spent on performing the recall work - hence my concern. How can one diagnose a bad timing chain tensioner in under 15 minutes (assuming they spent 15 minutes on the recall)??

 

Have you searched this site for the tensioner issue? It seems to be a common problem.

If you don't trust the dealer, take it somewhere for a second opinion.

Mike

 

I am searching.. a little bit. I have not gotten through this site yet..

I do have some distrust with this particular dealer from a bad experience several years ago but I am trying to not let that play in this (water under the bridge)..

The fact is I am not sure who to distrust here, the origional dealer that told me it was the heat shield (who BTW gave me the ford doc. describing what needed to be fixed - but I lost it ) or this one that with less than 15 minutes (and I feel I am being very generous in assuming they took 15 minutes to look at it after the recall work) of diagnosis tells me I have an almost $2000 repair job that needs to be done or my enginge will blow up..

 

There are two things the tech could have done, one is to pull up your vin number and see if the recall/TSB has been done, or he can see the tensioner under the intake. The revised version is alot taller the the OE version. If the original is still there, he may be assuming that the tensioner is bad. When you start the truck in the morning, does it "cladder" or make a lot of noise then quited down pretty quick?

The dealer refused to do mine under warranty since I have 139k miles. I did it my self, not a big deal. Part cost $65

 

It is pretty loud when the truck starts. but it does not always make the noise.. When I rev the engine (drive) it can get louder. At times it just stops..


What do you mean by "the revised version is alot taller"??

 

The tensioner screws into the driver side head. The original one looks like a very large bolt. The "revised" design has about a 1" tall extension added to it. As I understand it, this extension is to hold additional oil so the chain is kept taunt.That is why I said earlier that the tech could see if the recall had been done.

 

So there is a recall for the tensioner???
I asked them about other recalls and they told me there were none..

I had it in for the recall for the speed control..

 

You can search for TSBs and recalls with the link at the top of this page...

 

I also have the 98 xlt with 4.0 SOHC. As I remember, the cam chain tensioner tsb/recall covered up to 75K miles unless they changed it. I'd have to dig up my paperwork to confirm. How many miles do you have? As I understand it, if you have a rattle or dieseling sound from the tensioner that goes away within about 5 minutes after start, you're OK. I have 95K miles and do not have this problem ( knock on wood).

 

I have 108K but when I got was told it was a loose heat shield I only had about 65K (1-1 1/2 years ago)..

 

I looked through there but got a little confused and gave up..

I'll have to look again