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4.0 valve rebuild, need advice, im only 18


redneck_rainey

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OK, so my 2001 4x4 4L ohc has ****ed the valve terrain and got the 'ranger tick'. Its geting louder and more often/consistant. I've decided to take care of it. Im only 18 and the only motors i've done teardowns on are our 429 stockcar powerplant, and our old race motor which was a 350. My buddy Jake is by my side and we help eachother with all our work, shitty thing is he's a chevy guy and could rebuild a 350 blind folded, but can barely change sparkplugs on a ford, lol. Jake thinks we oughta just go a head and pull the motor to make it easier, yes or no? another thing is neither of us have worked on over head cams. how hard is it to pull the heads on this motor? Should i sea foam, drain and clean the passages and put it on a motor jig and clean it down? What all should i replace in the top end? i would greatly appreciate some advice and absolutely LOVE some assistance from someone who know the motor and has experience. thanks- Paul
 


Big Jim M

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Howdy Paul

OK, so my 2001 4x4 4L ohc has ****ed the valve terrain and got the 'ranger tick'. Its geting louder and more often/consistant. I've decided to take care of it. Im only 18 and the only motors i've done teardowns on are our 429 stockcar powerplant, and our old race motor which was a 350. My buddy Jake is by my side and we help eachother with all our work, shitty thing is he's a chevy guy and could rebuild a 350 blind folded, but can barely change sparkplugs on a ford, lol. Jake thinks we oughta just go a head and pull the motor to make it easier, yes or no? another thing is neither of us have worked on over head cams. how hard is it to pull the heads on this motor? Should i sea foam, drain and clean the passages and put it on a motor jig and clean it down? What all should i replace in the top end? i would greatly appreciate some advice and absolutely LOVE some assistance from someone who know the motor and has experience. thanks- Paul
All of us here are either 18 or remember when we were.. What you need to do is give us a better feel for what is going on with your engine.
There is a tick that can occur in the front timing chain ftom the device that keeps it tight. That just might be where your noise is coming from.
Do you have a tool that you use to listen to the internal noises in an engine? If so use it and locate the exact place the tick is coming from. Get back here and tell us as much about your noise as you can. When did it start? Is/was it intermittant? Is it now constant?
You may not need to pull as much as you think.. Also how many miles on that engine?
Big JIm :hottubfun::wub:
 

redneck_rainey

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jim- 130xxx on the truck. i got it at 109xxx. the noise started in mid january and was originally only when i was going up steep hills or stressing the motor hard, now it is horrible on startup, and is audible 90% of the time. i had a firestone mech listen to it when i had my tires mounted and he said he was almost positive it was in the valves somewhere, either a rocker or lifter. i pulled the valve cover of the problem side which is the right bank and the whole top end was covered in burnt oil gunk. any thing else i should give you for a rough diagnosis?
 

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Well it sounds like a rocker/pushrod to me.. from here anyway. By far that is the most common noise made by almost any engine. Some engines have adjustable rockers and it is a simple thing to simply give the adjusting nut a 1/2 turn and the noise goes away. If it is what we suspect it isn't terminal.. It is simply letting you know for sure that there are 130K miles on your engine and it is wearing. I'd leave it alone and wait till 3 or 4 were speaking to me and then I'd go about replaceing the noisey parts.
Big JIm
 

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If its a SOHC it doesnt have pushrods, and the rockers arnt prone to wear like the OHV engine. Most likely the timing chain guides are worn, or the chain tensioner itself. There are upgraded parts ford made to fix this problem which is documented on a TSB. If you search explorer forum, there are part numbers and a thread about the precedure.
 
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Big Jim M

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I didn't look at his year.. He wrote ohv.. He didn't write sohc. So the post above is correct.. if your intake has sohc written on it your noise might be the chain tensioner but little possibility of it being rockers
Big JIm
 

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He actually said OHC and over head cam in his first post.

Sound like he has the SOHC in it.
 

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it is sohc, i just missed the S on the ohc part, lol. i have also had people tell me it is a likely a floated lifter. anyway what do you suggest i do? should i pull the valve cover back off and look at the timing chain tensoner?( i dont even know what those look like and where on the chain theyre located.) And do you guys think pulling the motor to service it would be best?
 

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Oh WOW!

it is sohc, i just missed the S on the ohc part, lol. i have also had people tell me it is a likely a floated lifter. anyway what do you suggest i do? should i pull the valve cover back off and look at the timing chain tensoner?( i dont even know what those look like and where on the chain theyre located.) And do you guys think pulling the motor to service it would be best?
The tensioner isn't under there! It is behind the timing cover. Don't even think about simply "looking" at it. Either leave it alone till it gets worse or purchase a new one and a gasket kit and start taking stuff off! This will be a full days work out there under your tree! You will need to have everything "lined up" and be very careful about the reinstall.
Big JIm:hottubfun::wub:
 

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i forgot to mention that my neighbor works for Ford andhe told me a while back that if i ever need Ford specific parts that he can get ahold of them for me at production cost. (BIIIIGGGGG help)lol
 

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If you are removing the cylinder heads on the SOHC you will have to remove the engine. The timing chain in the front that goes to the passenger side head is easily accessible but there is also a chain that runs to a jackshaft that runs through the engine and the driver side cam is run from that and a chain on the back of the engine.

Back in 02/03 when Ford had the recalls on the tensioner, we were only replacing the front one...and to do that, you do not have to take the motor out.
 

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When i had the driver side cover off i could see the top of the chain, the driver side is on the front of the motor. i was asking if when i pull that cover would i be able to get an idea of if the chain wasnt being pulled tight on that side of the motor. so that i could confirm that as the issue.
 

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Pulling the valve cover will not tell you anything. Your going to have to pull the timing cover off of the front to see whats going on. Then most likely you'll find the chain guide worn.
 

redneck_rainey

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ok so what is the name of the kit to rebuild the tensioner? i been looking online and i can find it
 

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