I have a 99 explorer with the 4.0 SOHC engine with 150K Miles. The last 15K mikes or so I've been hearing the timing chain noise. I'm finally ready to tear into the motor to fix this but I needed to know what special tools are necissary for the repair. I plan on changing the front and rear chains, tensioners, guides and gears. Anything else I should change while the motor is out? Do you think it's time for bearings and rings @ 150k? Thanks for looking

-Justin

Since the engine has to be removed and the heads taken off I would have the valves ground and replace the rings and bearings. With new rings and bearings you couild expect a lot more service out of your engine. If it's not using any oil and you don't expect to keep it much longer I would just do the chains and sprockets.

Thanks, but do you know what special tools are required?

To my knowledge, you'll need a special torx drive socket to take the sprockets off. If you go to Autozone they may have the tool you need. They will sell you the tool needed and then refund your money when you bring it back. I don't know the size you need so if you have to purchase it maybe it would be best to wait until you know what size you need. Ask at the parts counter. I'm sure they would be able to help you out. Escpecially if you are buying parts there.

you need the crank shaft holder and the cam shaft line up tool and cam shaft holder. These tools are not at Autozone.. Dealer may loan you these tools. I just did my second timing repair on a sohc motor explorer. have you thought about just replacing the hyd tensioners and nylon guides? this can be done without pulling the motor.

Thanks for the replies. I've done many repairs and overhauls, but this is a different type of engine than i'm used to, and on top of that the chilton manual that i have isn't very clear on this procedure. so the questions I have are: Will changing tensioners & guides fix the problem? I changed the passenger side tensioner in the past because when I asked the dealer about the chain rattle they recomended a recall repair kit that included: one tensioner, and oil flow reduction insert, & upper intake gaskets. I instaled the tensioner and gaskets, but I couldn't install the oil flow reducer thing because the plug that needed to be removed stipped out. The guy at the dealer told me that this should fix the noise, but no luck. That was about a year ago and I figured that this time i should change everything to be sure. what did you change to fix yours? how much time does it take to change tensioners and guides only? Isn't one of the chains in the rear? are there any manuals that are clearer on this procedure? Thanks

Sorry to bring this old thread back but my 99 4.0 sohc is now at 165,000 and I never found time to fix it. so now the cam rattle is worse than ever and it is starting to idle rough. we are just fixing it so that I can sell it (Wife wants a Mustang conv.), so I was just going to pull the front cover and change the guides and tensioners on the front side, but after pulling the radiator, fan, water pump, ps pump, ac pump, alternator, acc. brackets, intake man, and all the other misc junk out of the way to get at the front cover i'm wondering if changing the stuff on the front side is gonna solve the problem. how often do the back ones go out? I don't want to have to tear into the engine again right after I get it back together, especially when there isn't much more to do to pull out the motor now. I was considering pulling the motor and taking it to ford and let them fix it, but since i'm selling it anyway I kind of want to do the minimum possible to make it sound good and run good (it has a loud magnaflow so if the motor has a little cam noise you prob wouldn't hear it). So my question is, if it were your vehicle and you were gonna sell it what would you replace? anyways any input would be helpful, thanks in advance.

Go to the explorer rusted axle thread a link for OTC tools pictures is posted.
OTC 6024 and OTC 6487 you will probably need.
http://www.autopart.com/tools/toolsmain/tool/T_9605.htm This is a torx plus set. 9680 is torx plus tamper. 9560 and 9500 are regular torx and torx tamper.
These are good quality for the price and have a warranty. If you are working on newer vehicles you need the 9605 and 9680 set. You can use search type in what you want and it will give you a lot of references.
http://www.ntxtools.com/ has the best price on OTC but if you want them in a hurry buy from somebody who stocks the tool. I found my Mac torx plus tamper set was Taiwan and I bought a set of SK torx plus tamper bits some took almost 3 months. For the price it was worth it as I didn't really need them.
OTC are fairly expensive check Lisle and KD and Cal Van.

so would you go all out and change it all, or just the bare minimum (specify what the bare minimum is please)?

I checked the price at http://www.racepages.com/ The chains, guides,sprocket was $112.00 for Cloyes I have used their products and was satisfied. The labor is probably going to take you one day. If you value your time I would do the complete job.
The inverted torx set is 9640 which is more what I think you will need for this job. Look before you start as where I live the parts stores tool supply is close to non existent. Sears is high compared to internet sales but be careful on shipping.
I noticed the vehicle is for sale so this accounts for something but if a part is broke it is a selling point to have a new chain if selling it yourself. Aftermarket chains usually are marked so if the sprockets and chain marks line up you should be allright. After the job is done roll over by hand and double check marks.

Hey just wanted to give you guys an update. For all that don't know these engines are a major pain to do timing work on, they have a total of 4 chains (3 on front 1 on back), 8 guides, 2 hyd. tensioners, 2 mech. tensioners, the sprockets are not keyed, there are no timing marks, and there are 8 special ford tools necisary to set the proper timing. This is why I was hesitant to undertake this project, I have done numerous other timing jobs before on conventional engines (10-12 belts, 3 chains, and one geared) but this is a different story. well I talked to a tech at ford and he said ussually you can get away with just changing the guides in the front to quiet it down, but with my milage it might be better to change everything. so I decided to pull the motor and inspect everything. I got the motor out and inspected the rear chain, the chain, tensioner, and one guide looked good but the chain was riding on a half worn thru bolt. upon closer inspection the bolt used to hold the other guide but the guide was broken off and floating about in the chain cavity. so the rear will be an easy fix; just replace the guide and its all good. so I tore into the front of the engine and as luck would have it my 3 jaw puller won't work on the crank pully so I called autozone and they say that they have the correct puller for the pulley, my wife was in the area so I tell the counter guys she will come get it. guess what? it won't work either:banghead: . so I take it back and they don't have a tool that will work so now I get to search for a puller tomarrow! Wish me luck that the damage on the front side is as simple to fix as the rear.

Ask to look at an aftermarket chain and see if the chain and sprockets are marked.

Look at 8065 and 8060 you can use these with a puller. According to my Mitchell their are holes in the pulleys that you can insert pins or drill bits in for setting the timing. Buy a Haynes manual before you have problems.
The manual says the crank sprocket will come off by prying with two scdrivers. You will need a manual with the pictures of the timing marks. Pay attention to vin no. and 4x4 balance shaft.