I'm working on my 1996 F250HD 7.5L California Mass Air truck this weekend. I bought all of the parts, FRPP true roller chain with steel gears, all the gaskets, new water pump, hoses, Saginaw power steering pump, etc.

I've got the fan off, shroud, power steering pump (swapping out that noisy ******* with a new Saginaw), belts, etc. I put a socket on a 18" breaker bar and took the distributor cap off. I set the motor to TDC. I then moved the breaker bar forwards and backwards and watched the distributor. There seems to be about a 1/4" of play based on the timing indicator when I rock the motor backwards and forwards before the rotor starts to move. For example if I remove the play in one direction and stop at TDC, going back the other way ends up with the TDC mark on the balancer being about 1/4-3/8" from the timing indicator that bolts to the front cover. You can feel it in the breaker bar as it gets harder to move when the the cam starts to rotate. Is this worth tearing into the motor further? I'd guess in 3 years I'll probably put 6k miles on the truck - it's not a commuter. I have the parts already, I just don't want to replace anything that is not really that bad.

The issue I'm having is getting it timed where it runs good and turns over easily. If I set the timing to specs, it cranks over slowly. If I back the timing off, it will turn over much better, but runs like crap. The engine has 164k on it, and I don't know if it's been tore into before. The timing connector jumper is inserted in the harness. Does Ford use black RTV on the timing cover surfaces? I can see black RTV between the cover and the block, and the water pump and the cover. This was a fleet truck at some point, so the timing chain may have received some attention.

The other thing I noticed is the distributor is cranked more clockwise than it came from the factory, as the wire harness hold down tab will not reach the hole in the accessory bracket like it should. Now that is not the say the distributor was not yanked at some point and simply dropped in a tooth off, necessiating the base be rotated more to compensate. I thought the engine may have jumped time, causing some of my problems.

What would you do? I figured I'd call it a day and hope some forum members could chime in.

 

Only way your going to know for sure what's going on is to pull the timing cover off and see if the cam timing marks are aligned properly and how much stretch you have in the timing chain(s). If that all looks good then maybe you have a warn gear on your cam and/or distributer. 164k is enough miles to have some wear in any or all of those things. It would be a good time to reinstall the distributer to cam gear and assure yourself that that is correct also!

 

I'm going to pull it down all the way. It looks like I have to deal with the crankshaft position sensor as I have an OBD2 460. I'm not sure what impact that has on the front cover, or if it simply bolts on. I was just going to buy a new front cover so that everything is 'new' in the front, but that may change because of that sensor.

I removed the complete accessory drive and brackets, so tomorrow I'll remove the water pump, crank pulley, harmonic balancer, and then figure out how to deal with the CPS. Hopefully the front cover removal will be uneventful.

Did I mention working on a small Werner 2 step ladder is just a bunch of fun.

 

I'm not sure about the newer trucks, but I can have my radiator, grill and radiator support out in less than a half hour on my 86 F250 4X4. Now going back in takes a bit longer to get everything aligned properly. However, it sure makes repairs to the front of the engine a lot easier.

Good luck with getting your truck back on the road!

 

Are you sure that the harmonic balancer rubbers aren't bad causing the outside of the balancer to turn throwing your timing marks off? This is a common problem.

 

I got the motor tore the rest of the way down. Pulled the timing cover only to find a double roller timing chain already in there. It had a fair amount of slack in it though, so I'll replace it with the new FRPP set.

Any tricks to installing the new timing gears? Also how can I check if the balancer has slipped? I can use the money I get back when returning the new front cover I bought to buy a balancer if needed.

I'm wondering if this truck didn't get a new or rebuilt short block at some point. By looking at things, it would appear the engine had been removed from the truck previously. So maybe around the 100k mark, judging by the slack in the chain. Not sure, just guessing.

Also since the distributor seems to be one tooth off, is there any issues pulling it to back it off one tooth? I've seen some people mention the oil pump drive shaft. I figure now is the time to do it with the front cover removed as you can easily see the distributor drive gear.

 

I got the old chain and gears off and installed the new FRPP timing set. I made a press sleeve to use the harmonic balancer bolt to push the lower timing gear onto the crank. I pressed the top and bottom gears on a little at a time and everything went on perfectly.

Now I have to clean up the front cover of all that hard gasket material and get the new pump installed. Then during the week I'll start putting the truck back together. I did find part of my problem was that someone marked the balancer at 10 Degrees BTC, instead of 0 TDC. So when I was trying to time the truck, it was 10 degrees off. The balancer needs a good cleaning so it was hard to see the numbers with it on the truck. I have a new timing tape to install on it after I give it a quick cleaning and coat of paint.

 

Not sure about 96, but your timing should be set at (about) 10 deg. BTDC when idling with the vacuum disconnected at the distributor...That's why it was marked.

 

Yeah. I know why they did it, I just didn't know 10 degrees was marked. I just finished sanding and cleaning up the balancer. I also installed a Summit Racing timing tape so it's easier to see. I got the front of the motor put back together today, along with the accessory brackets, A/C compressor, new Saginaw PS Pump, new PS pressure hose, PS system flushed of old fluid, and I'm about to go back out and finish what I can. I'll need to do an oil change before starting it, and I'll probably pick up 22 quarts of transmission fluid along with the oil tomorrow to flush the transmission at the same time. Then I'll just need to flush the brakes and differentials, and I'll have all new fluids.

The only thing that got me today was I had preassembled the timing cover and water pump ahead of time after scraping the gasket material. It caused me issues due to the oil cooler hose connection, so I had to loosen up the oil cooler quite a bit in order to get the small cooler to water pump hose in there. Not a big deal. So far it has went back together pretty easily and I should have it running tomorrow.

I also ordered a new negative battery cable and a new starter, those should be here next week.

 

I got the truck all put back together. She fired right up, and the only leak I had was at the water outlet on the intake. I installed a new thermostat and didn't get the bolts torqued down enough with the 1/4" ratchet I was using. I torqued those down a bit more, leak is gone.

I do have one problem that came about that is pissing me off. The A1 Cardone "NEW" waterpump I bought (I usually always buy OEM parts, but I did not pay much for this truck......) has a bent impeller shaft. So the pulley and fan wobble a bit. I may just shim the pulley and wait for it to leak as I only plan to put 1500 or so miles per year on the truck. I just don't feel like pulling it back off - it cools fine, and it's not leaking. Just ticks me off.

Anyhow, the truck runs great now. Wow, the motor gets up and revs. Still starts hard though, and I have a feeling the starter is weak. I have a new one on the way from PA Performance. I timed the truck at 10 BTC, and it purs like a kitten.

I need to flush the transmission (bought 5 gallons of transmission fluid this morning), and install my Flowmaster 70 Series Catback.

 

Glad to hear that it is running good. I would be real Leary of that bent pump shaft though. If that thing snaps off it can do some major damage.

Also, what kind of a tranny do you have in that truck? 5 gallons of tranny fluid is a lot of fluid.

 

Yeah - the pump I'm probably going to swap out in a month or two. It has a lifetime warranty, and I need to get the truck smogged, etc. I doubt the shaft (it's pretty sizable) would snap, most likely the seals and bearings in the pump won't last too long. It could be the flange is machined wrong as well and not the pump shaft, as the part where the pulley attaches is a press fit. To change the pump really isn't a huge ordeal now that I've done it once, it's just something I don't want to do again.

I just finished installing the Flowmaster 70 series catback. It's pretty quiet, more so than I thought it would be. However even with just the cat, it was not very loud. It sounds better than stock, and saves some weight too (not that it matters on this tank). I have probably 2500 pounds of stuff in the bed right now, and the truck felt good under load when I took it around the block. No abnormal noises, quiet power steering (WOOOOHOOOO), new exhaust, etc. I have not seen it leak a drop of anything, so I think I did good.

All told, the exhaust was the biggest PITA. Those hangers are a bear, thank you reciprocating saw. The slip joint at the cat, along with the U clamp was stuck, had the break the bolts off. Then I had to saw through the pipe, which my last Bi-metal blade broke, so I had to finish it off with a hack saw.. that was fun. Then I had to use a cutoff wheel to cut through the remaining sleeve so I could pop it off the cat. The new Flowmaster system went together in about 15 minutes - no joke. I was done in no time once the old system was out of the way and it fit PERFECTLY.

My truck has an E40D, and I plan to flush it completely. I think that takes between 16-18 quarts, I have a bit left over. It was cheaper to buy it by the gallon.

 

Took the truck in for it's California smog check today and man this thing passed like it was a brand new Honda Civic. The guys at the Smog station could not believe how clean my truck runs. It idles glass smooth, you can hardly tell the truck is running sitting at a light. After that, I took it out and gave it some nice WOT runs and boy does it run better now after replacing the chain. Smokes the tires off the line, and has that good old 4bbl sound. A good day for the F250, then I looked at my gas gauge. Son of a!

 

Glad to hear the good news. Mine runs clean as well It passes all of the emission well below the averages, but they won't pass it because of the Edelbrock carb. I solved the problem by changing my address to my Arizona residence.