Timing Chain guide material Clogged Oil pickup.. what caused it to fail?

[bigja01cobra]

Finally got around to pulling the motor out of my 2001 cobra.

Dropped it and pulled the pan and saw this.

Obviously, that was the culprit for the oil pressure issues I was having at idle. I popped off valve covers and and timing chain cover.

The drivers side stationary tensioner was worn and a few pieces where missing.

Also it appears the drivers side main chain was making contact on a bolt.

You can see the rounded off bolt and also a little bit of wear on the oil pump case.


I had the motor rebuilt 22k miles ago. At the time of rebuild, I had the builder buy a whole new set of timing components. Chains, sprockets, guides, tensioners, everything.


Also the passenger side chain is stupid loose.

is that normal? Motor is not a TDC because one of the dowels in the fly wheel is hitting my engine stand.


Any ideas on this. I didn't have time to look to see if it was a two piece or 1 piece crank sprocket....


Do I need to install a whole new timing kit?? If I buy a 4V cam holding kit from OTC, can I remove and replace without having to re- time the motor?

 

[01yellercobra]

If the engine is turned back a little the chain will go slack like that. Your chain guides look like they're on the right side. Are those the plastic or steel tensioners?

I've never used the cam tool when doing cams. And I've never had an issue. I'm wondering if you just had bad luck. We pulled the timing cover off our 06 and found a broken guide. The engine is 100% stock.

 

[bigja01cobra]

Plastic Tensioners...

Yeah I dont want to worry about the cam timing getting messed up. Since I dont have any of the tools required to retime the the cams.

 

[01yellercobra]

You don't need any special tools to set up the cams. Check the seals on the tensioners. Make sure they're not damaged.

 

[bigja01cobra]

Maybe I understand it wrong. But I thought you needed the cam holding and positioning tools, solid lifters, etc to properly time the cams? BTW it has comp stage 2 cams in it.

 

[01yellercobra]

You need the solid lifter and dial indicator if you want to degree the cams. If you're just setting it up per the factory you don't need any special tools.

 

[bigja01cobra]

Yeah I am thinking of just lining it up at TDC. And replacing the guides, and the main chain on drivers side.

If I am doing that I just need cam holding tool to hold cams while I replace those. If that is the case the currently degreed cams will not lose their timing right?

Sorry have no experience on these motors.

 

[99cobra09]

If you post a picture of the entire chains maybe we can find out the problem. I already see 2 problems.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Looks like a dowel pin has sheared on the pass side tensioner guide. Been there fixed that problem, search vitamin c over on mod fords in ther terminator section.

 

[Nightmare90gt]

Looks like there is a bolt instead of a guide pin on the loose chain. Also on 99-04 4v's aren't they suppose to have a guide sharing a bolt with the oil pump on the driver side.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...UQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNEe_oopycA_PQTmi4EkzFvWG9ZtBg

Look at this link this is how your timing set should look. Someone installed the improper guides for aluminum blocks you want M-6004-A464

 

[bigja01cobra]

If you post a picture of the entire chains maybe we can find out the problem. I already see 2 problems.

 

[bigja01cobra]

Looks like there is a bolt instead of a guide pin on the loose chain. Also on 99-04 4v's aren't they suppose to have a guide sharing a bolt with the oil pump on the driver side.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...UQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNEe_oopycA_PQTmi4EkzFvWG9ZtBg

Look at this link this is how your timing set should look. Someone installed the improper guides for aluminum blocks you want M-6004-A464

Great link Ill go through this and see. I does look like the guides are way different in what you send me versus what is on there.

Are only the stationary guides different?

 

[bigja01cobra]

So what all do you guys think I should replace. Just the guides, tensioners, and drivers side primary chain??

It does have a 1 piece crank timing gear.

Also if all I am replacing is the primary chains and tensioners, I do not need the camshaft holding tool right? I just line everything up at TDC and remove and replace right?

 

[Nightmare90gt]

I would buy the kit comes with all hardware for everything and judging by the slack in the passenger chain that chain is stretched and the tensioner isn't working properly.

 

[bigja01cobra]

What about the secondary chains and tensioners?

 

[Nightmare90gt]

Always a good idea to replace them if they haven't been but if you order the kit it comes with everything needed beside the tools.

 

[bigja01cobra]

Yeah only 20K miles on all these components..

So buy the M-6004-A464 kit and the cam timing kit from OTC. That will have everything I need to complete the install?

 

[Nightmare90gt]

I bought the tools from summit but amazon has them cheaper. Getting the tools is more if your like me don't feel comfortable timing the motor without them. But yes the otc 4v kit should have all the tools to time the motor.

 

[bigja01cobra]

Good deal.

The next question is, did the chain guide fail just because the wrong ones are put on. It looks like they are the 96-01 timing chain guides...the newer ones are 03-04 style. the 96-01 should work though without the failure I am seeing.

Would failure of the tensioners cause the excessive wear and broken guide on the drivers side?

 

[Nightmare90gt]

Hard to say could have been a bad guide. Could be many things like chains not aligned properly bolts in wrong places, it's all a big guessing game. But it should all be fixed with the new kit if installed properly.