How many miles on your SOHC 4.0 without having to touch the chain guides?

[ekrampitzjr]

Those of you who went a lot of miles on the original set of chain guides (cartridges), how many miles do you have (or did you get before they failed)? How often did you change the tensioners? It seems that some people run well over 200,000 miles before having to pull the engine because of guide failure.

Just curious. My Ranger has gone 126,000 miles so far on the original guides and runs great (knock on wood), and I had the tensioners changed last year.

Thanks.

 

[CrabGuy]

I'm still rattle free @ 220K but changed tensioners at 214K. I still hear a little rattle at start up but not very often. I think late 2003-04+ all had the improved cassette design.

 

[gw33gp]

I changed mine at around 250K miles. They were still good, but I plan to keep it a long time and didn't want to wait for a failure. I did find they were getting brittle, and failure was probably not too far away. I did find the main mechanical tensioner for the main drive chain between the crank and the jackshaft was completely broken off. That for sure needed to be replaced.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

My 2011 is at 172k and still normal. Cloyes tensioners at 115k or so. Been doing fine. Planning overhaul at 250k if it makes it without blowing up. We will see.

If it sits a few days, it'll make some noise at startup. Doing the clear flooded engine thing seems to help a lot to prime the oil system.

 

[RonD]

Can't say the the guides or chains ever wear out, so 400+K should be doable
The two long chain tensioners were always the issue with the 4.0l SOHC
They should be changed every 100k miles or so

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Can't say the the guides or chains ever wear out, so 400+K should be doable
The two long chain tensioners were always the issue with the 4.0l SOHC
They should be changed every 100k miles or so

Internal or external ones?

I always get them confused...

 

[CamTheHedgehog]

I have a 2003 4.0l w/ 250k and I’m starting to get rattle… only noticeable when warmed up, and I too do the clear flooded engine thing to limp it along to the fall when I can tear apart the engine. Although I don’t know if a PO has done anything to the timing, as I don’t have every record.

 

[North Idaho 5.oh]

I’ve got about 160k and rattle free. Haven’t done tensioners yet but haven’t had issues. It also depends on your maintenance.

 

[JohnnyO]

I got my old 2008 4.0 Sport Trac new, synthetic oil and filter religiously every 5000 miles. I traded it in when it blew a head gasket at 212,000 miles but the timing chains were fine. TBH it ran like new until the head gasket let go.
2003 and newer 4.0's have an improved timing chain tensioner that holds up a little better than the earlier ones. It basically boils down to maintenance and frequent oil changes.
My system:
Every 5000 miles oil and filter, usually Pennzoil Platinum and Motorcraft filter.
Annually clean K&N air filter.
Every 30,000 change fuel filter.
Every 50,000 change spark plugs and coolant. NGK Iridium.
Every 100,000 change plug wires.

 

[Roert42]

My brother had the truck now, but it’s probably got around 265k miles. Original guides. Changed the tensioners when I bought the truck at 200k or so.

 

[DILLARD000]

Primary suspect is Gum+Grit buildup inside those two OilPressurized TimingTensioners.
Preference here is Oil+Filter change every 4kMiles\6Mths, Tensioners renewed every 67kMiles\8Yrs.
Probably overkill, but want to keep this vehicle+engin for a few more years.