99 Ranger Squeak in Engine Bay

[RobbieD]

Can you kindly reply to my most recent post? It was the cam synchro and hoping for additional insight.

I'm sorry, but I have no experience with the cam synchro, as all of my trucks are older and don't use one.

I was only pointing out, that if you removed the belt for testing, that all trucks have a belt routing diagram in case of reinstallation confusion.

There'll be people coming along to try to help. Give it a little time.

 

[James Morse]

I never replaced the things you asked about, no.
Sounds like it's fixed, or, at east not squeaking now, if I read correctly.

 

[Curious Hound]

You probably prolonged its life. But I would plan on replacing it soon. There is no telling how long it will run like this. You could probably take the cap off (engine off, of course) and try to rotate the rotor and see how much play it has on the drive gear. That would give an indication of how worn the gear teeth are. But I don’t have a “spec” to give you to say “this is too much play”.
That’s the next issue. The squeaking tells you that the upper bearing got dry. It is lubricated by a felt pad in a cavity that was oiled when new. But the engine does not feed fresh oil to the upper bearing of the cam sync shaft. The other issue is that eventually the drive gear wears. When it wears bad enough, it stops turning the cam synchronizer. That stops the engine. It also stops the oil pump. Of course, if the engine stops, it doesn’t need the oil pump. Either way, it could leave you stranded somewhere inconvenient.

 

[stmitch]

The cam synchro can chirp for 10 miles or thousands. You might've bought yourself a bit of time by adding some lubrication, but it definitely needs to be replaced sooner rather than later.
I know that you said money is tight, but if it's possible you're much better off spending a bit more for a genuine motorcraft cam synchro instead of one from the cheaper brands. The cheap brands don't last long at all and you'll probably be right back where you are now.

 

[pjtoledo]

You probably prolonged its life. But I would plan on replacing it soon. There is no telling how long it will run like this. You could probably take the cap off (engine off, of course) and try to rotate the rotor and see how much play it has on the drive gear. That would give an indication of how worn the gear teeth are. But I don’t have a “spec” to give you to say “this is too much play”.
That’s the next issue. The squeaking tells you that the upper bearing got dry. It is lubricated by a felt pad in a cavity that was oiled when new. But the engine does not feed fresh oil to the upper bearing of the cam sync shaft. The other issue is that eventually the drive gear wears. When it wears bad enough, it stops turning the cam synchronizer. That stops the engine. It also stops the oil pump. Of course, if the engine stops, it doesn’t need the oil pump. Either way, it could leave you stranded somewhere inconvenient.

the cam sync is only use during startup to determine TDC on #1
once the engine is running the computer only uses the crank info for timing & injection

so, the engine can keep running when the cam sync fails,,,without oil.

 

[Curious Hound]

the cam sync is only use during startup to determine TDC on #1
once the engine is running the computer only uses the crank info for timing & injection

so, the engine can keep running when the cam sync fails,,,without oil.

Thank you.

 

[fanugi]

The cam synchro can chirp for 10 miles or thousands. You might've bought yourself a bit of time by adding some lubrication, but it definitely needs to be replaced sooner rather than later.
I know that you said money is tight, but if it's possible you're much better off spending a bit more for a genuine motorcraft cam synchro instead of one from the cheaper brands. The cheap brands don't last long at all and you'll probably be right back where you are now.

Sounds like outstanding advice. Thanks again.

 

[fanugi]

You probably prolonged its life. But I would plan on replacing it soon. There is no telling how long it will run like this. You could probably take the cap off (engine off, of course) and try to rotate the rotor and see how much play it has on the drive gear. That would give an indication of how worn the gear teeth are. But I don’t have a “spec” to give you to say “this is too much play”.
That’s the next issue. The squeaking tells you that the upper bearing got dry. It is lubricated by a felt pad in a cavity that was oiled when new. But the engine does not feed fresh oil to the upper bearing of the cam sync shaft. The other issue is that eventually the drive gear wears. When it wears bad enough, it stops turning the cam synchronizer. That stops the engine. It also stops the oil pump. Of course, if the engine stops, it doesn’t need the oil pump. Either way, it could leave you stranded somewhere inconvenient.

Thanks for elaborating. Are you saying that the life expectancy of the drive gear is often the same as the cam syncro?

 

[Curious Hound]

Thanks for elaborating. Are you saying that the life expectancy of the drive gear is often the same as the cam syncro?

No. I don't have any evidence to support that. But, if the bearing gets dry and starts wearing, that will start increasing the drag on the shaft that the gear is driving. Might not be much. This is just speculation. It's mostly due to age. The gear, itself gets lubricated, as far as I know. So, as long as it's good, clean engine oil, it should last a long time.

According to Wilipedia, the 3.0l Vulcan was last produced in 2008. So even the newest 3.0l's are roughly 15 years old. Stuff wears out, even with the most perfect maintenance. Mine is a 97. It got replaced in Nov 2020 with 160,000+ miles on it.

 

[Campbell]

This is a 6CYL 3L.

Just started noticing a squeak coming from the engine bay. Have been using Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant with every fill-up as of the last 6 months and the serpentine belt was replaced 5K miles ago.

Not sure if those two factors are related or not.

Could it be the camshaft synchronizer if it's not a belt? My biggest fear is that it's the chirp I've read about it just before the engine blows when it's not lubricated well enough. I'm not exactly sure what engines are susceptible to that as I've read conflicting information.

In any case, a link to the video is at:

ENGINE BAY SQUEAK

Watch "ENGINE BAY SQUEAK" on Streamable.

streamable.com

I couldn't attach it for whatever reason.

Any insight is appreciated as money is tight right now but I don't want to damage the truck by driving it like this if it's something critical. I'm always learning and maybe someone will know right away what it most likely is when they hear it.

Remove the belt and start it and listen for the chirp,if it is still there it might well be the synk if it is gone check the idler pully alt ps pump,rotate them and see if you can find what may be making the noise,good luck.