4.0 Death Rattle explosion! Pic and Help plz!

[Dufussman]

Hey guys got a 2006 4.0 SOHC Ranger with 106k miles on it. Got the Death Rattle. I did tons of research and youtube and yes it was exactly the same and constantly pretty loud not intermittent. Should have trailered it but had my workplace mechanic drive it home and "it let go!" according to him. See picture. Apparently it still starts/runs/moves but I'm screwed.

I've done all the research and searching I can and could use some help because its my daily driver and I'm driving through giant thunderstorms on my motorcycle. Clearly the tensioner in the front failed. Two mechanics did the screwdriver trick and both were sure it was the front prior to this event. Would I be correct in thinking part or all of the tensioner got pressed between the chain and housing and thus this explosion with oil everywhere? And the bigger question is that I believe, depending on what we find, CAN THIS FRONT TENSIONER BE REPLACED WITHOUT PULLING THE ENGINE? Any thoughts, what else to expect to replace, or I'm just plain wrong. Mechanic is talking about replacing the engine so I have a lot at stake here and either way have no vehicle for probly severa

l weeks. Please help me out and thanks folks!!

 

[Vindictus]

You ever had one of those days you should have just stayed in bed. I was passing a transport and the pic below happened. Doing 140km (90mph) Not sure what other damage happened. It was running fine when i shut it off other than the death rattle. Not looking forward to the coming bill for repair I changed the tensoners about 6 weeks ago and yes I use OEM from the dealer but I guess at 275,000 km was to little to lateView attachment 76923

Same thing happened to me a couple months ago. cost me a create motor.
Drain the oil and see if there is any metal in it. Go from there.

 

[Uncle Gump]

You can replace the tensioner easy enough... but that is way past a bad tensioner. I'm gonna guess the guides are junk and most likely has bent valves too.

 

[Dufussman]

Thanks Vindictus. Its looking more and more like the same for me. Then I'm selling it

Actually I think that housing thats in the picture goes to the over head cam. Could the timing chain debris have shot that far or did the tensioner failure cause something in the top end to grenade itself?

 

[sgtsandman]

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000F5ED12/?tag=959media-20

 

[Dufussman]

ust an update in case this helps. So my mechanic really didn’t look that close the day The truck threw the tensioner (we think). Update is that it’s actually running fine, just has the rattle. It didn’t jump timing and do the usual bent valve thing. Given that a low mileage engine cost $2000 we’re going to look at what’s going on in the timing chain case and try to fix it. I’ll keep you posted. Any advice for that fix?

 

[Uncle Gump]

The oil pan comes off pretty easy. The first thing to do is remove that and see what's sitting in the bottom.

 

[Vindictus]

Mine was running with the death rattle. But when we drained the oil it was full of very small metal filings

 

[sgtsandman]

ust an update in case this helps. So my mechanic really didn’t look that close the day The truck threw the tensioner (we think). Update is that it’s actually running fine, just has the rattle. It didn’t jump timing and do the usual bent valve thing. Given that a low mileage engine cost $2000 we’re going to look at what’s going on in the timing chain case and try to fix it. I’ll keep you posted. Any advice for that fix?

See the videos I linked above. It will give you a very good idea what to expect and help you decide what direction you want to go.

 

[Dufussman]

My mechanic has had the Ranger for no less than 1 year and 3 months. I just got it back today. The death rattle is a little bit old news but wanted to post my experience.

To answer my own question regarding the rattle and maybe help others; I got about another 100 miles of use from the engine before the cassettes grenaded themselves and this happened even driving it very cautiously. I would consider my trucks rattle kinda loud. So for some of you that have a little chatter...maybe you can drive it for a while but its probably a ticking time bomb.

Further, my mechanic was adamant about pulling the engine and sure enough, the rear cassette was broken too. So my experience, is if the front goes as bad as this thread shows, you'll just want to do the whole thing. I was strongly encouraged to do just that by forum members and thank you for your insight. Below is just some of the chain guide salvage from my repair. I can tell you everything was broken and even metal parts were fractured.

Good news for me was my mechanic did this repair plus chains and gears, water pump, thermostat, seals, radiator, all pulleys, plugs, all new front brakes, oil pan gaskets, and I can't even remember all the other stuff for a little over $2200. Still a huge bummer if you get the death rattle but if you have a friend that knows engines I would definitely call in that favor.*

*Almost decided to replace the engine but as of year 2023 a low miles replacement engine for my truck was about $2500 delivered. My engine has 109,000. Now you still have to put all the hardware in to the 'new' engine and its not likely to be the most financially sound way to go if this is your journey. Unless you have high mileage and/or you know you've beat your engine, fixing what you have was cheaper for me.

Thanks so much to you all!

 

[Shran]

Thanks for the update. I think you got a great deal on that and now you're good to go for probably the remaining life of the truck.

Just for comparison's sake my old boss had the head gaskets replaced on his '03 F150 (5.4 2v truck.) That cost him about $3500... that was just the head gaskets... no timing chains, pan gasket, brakes, other stuff you had done. Lots of labor and it was pretty spendy.

 

[cbxer55]

Off topic, but sure glad I went with a 3.0. 192,000 and never lifted a valve cover. Purrs like a kitten.

I had a 4.0 Mustang. Sold it before it gave me much more trouble. It was a nightmare car. Lived up the meem, Focker Only Runs Downhill.

 

[gw33gp]

I rebuilt the cam timing chain system at 250K miles on my engine. I was not having any rattles or any king of issues. I just felt at 250K miles it was time to do it because I do a lot of multi-weeklong adventures in isolated wilderness.

I found the guides were still intact but getting brittle. I had replaced both the right and left side tensioners at 100K miles, and they were still good at 100K and 250K miles. What I was not expecting was the front mechanical main tensioner (for the chain from crank to jackshaft) was completely broken off. I was just sitting at the bottom of the timing chain cover. That could have caused some serious damage, but I got lucky.

At 292K miles it is still running strong. I was planning on getting a 2025 Ranger and still hope to do that but will probably keep my 02 because it is worth more to me than what I could get for it at over 300K miles on it. It will make a good vehicle for adventures that I am not ready to take the 2025 on yet.