Cam tensioner shot...?

[TrueBlue]

As some of you may know, the car I bought had a bad tensioner on the rear bank. It never made a lot of noise, and the car ran strong for the short time period that I've owned it.

Well, last night, after a disappointining run to the alignment shop, I decided to take a back route to a movie store with my girlfreind, and wind the car up a little. Mind you, I can't go too fast with her inside, yet anyway.

As I pulled into the lot, I hear a "WHAM ***** ***** ***** *****", sounding a lot like metal scraping the ground. Popped the hood, and there was a definate racket *seeming* to come from the rear bank.

Nursed the injured SHO home, careful to short-shift at 2 grand, drove it back around 1.5 RPM. It sounded like a chain bouncing off metal - I would assume the cam chain hitting the valve cover. No loss of power, no missing, just one god-awful (and scary as ****) racket underhood.

Is the tensioner shot? Is it repairable? Since I still have power, I have to assume the chain is still on the sprockets in time. Since the car is not going to be driven, I have some time here (I don't wanna here no cracks about Vulcan motors ever again, that SOB is running hard with double the mileage!) but I need to know what I'm looking at.

Consider this my true initiation. And I never even got the damn thing aligned yet...

 

[gosho89]

As some of you may know, the car I bought had a bad tensioner on the rear bank. It never made a lot of noise, and the car ran strong for the short time period that I've owned it.

Well, last night, after a disappointining run to the alignment shop, I decided to take a back route to a movie store with my girlfreind, and wind the car up a little. Mind you, I can't go too fast with her inside, yet anyway.

As I pulled into the lot, I hear a "WHAM ***** ***** ***** *****", sounding a lot like metal scraping the ground. Popped the hood, and there was a definate racket *seeming* to come from the rear bank.

Nursed the injured SHO home, careful to short-shift at 2 grand, drove it back around 1.5 RPM. It sounded like a chain bouncing off metal - I would assume the cam chain hitting the valve cover. No loss of power, no missing, just one god-awful (and scary as ****) racket underhood.

Is the tensioner shot? Is it repairable? Since I still have power, I have to assume the chain is still on the sprockets in time. Since the car is not going to be driven, I have some time here (I don't wanna here no cracks about Vulcan motors ever again, that SOB is running hard with double the mileage!) but I need to know what I'm looking at.

Consider this my true initiation. And I never even got the damn thing aligned yet...

Sounds like your cam chain tensioner has lost its plastic wear pad allowing the chain to run across the metal tensioner (sounds like a diesel Cummins) You will need to purchase a new tensioner assembly from obsolete ford for about $85, also make sure to get a new cam chain / cost around $35. Its pretty easy to replace you will need to remove the exhaust cam supports to move the cam and sprocket out of the head. This will allow enough room to R&R the tensioner and chain. The sprockets and chain have alignment marks to line up and keep everything in time. Follow the Ford manual and you should have no problem. I would suggest you install a new cam seal while your there. Have fun.

 

[TrueBlue]

Pretty much exactly what I am looking for in a reply. Thanks.

Will a stealership be able to get this part, or only the obsolete supply? You're right, it sounded like I was short-shifting a Mack.

 

[gosho89]

Pretty much exactly what I am looking for in a reply. Thanks.

Will a stealership be able to get this part, or only the obsolete supply? You're right, it sounded like I was short-shifting a Mack.

I use my local Ford dealer to order from the obsolete supplier. They don't sell to the general public.

Make sure to look through out the cylinder head and gather up all the plastic material as possible. I've seen pieces collect on the oil pickup screen, were it starving the engine of oil wiping out the rod and main bearings. This was an extreme case were the car was driven for a month or so even though it was making that terrrible diesel type noise. By the time he asked me to look at it, the damage had been done and the car was only good for a flower planter after that.

 

[TrueBlue]

Yikes. That's pretty scary in itself. Are these plastic particles large enough to pick out by hand, or am I in need of a shop-vac?

I really appreciate your help, Kerry.

 

[gosho89]

Yikes. That's pretty scary in itself. Are these plastic particles large enough to pick out by hand, or am I in need of a shop-vac?

I really appreciate your help, Kerry.

You will need to fish them out by your fingers, they may be lying around your cams and cam buckets. Its hard to say what size they will be, hopeful they will still be in big pieces just lying in the tensioner/cam sprocket area of the head. Obvouisly the more the engine is ran the smaller the sizes become. The size of the plastic wear pad starts out 1" wide x 2" long and about 1/8" thick.

BTW this should be the rear tensioner Part # E9DZ-6K261-A

 

[ShadetreeSHOguy]

One problem there, Ford does not have this part anymore, you'll have to call ford, and there's a place in washington state that has em, and their $80 plus s&h. but before you do that take the valve cover off and inspect that the rubber piece is still good, i just had the exact same problem and i just had to clean the tenioner off (it was stuck shut) and it works perfectly now. hope i helped!

 

[gosho89]

One problem there, Ford does not have this part anymore, you'll have to call ford, and there's a place in washington state that has em, and their $80 plus s&h. but before you do that take the valve cover off and inspect that the rubber piece is still good, i just had the exact same problem and i just had to clean the tenioner off (it was stuck shut) and it works perfectly now. hope i helped!

I pointed out the availabilty issue earlier in the thread............... Personally I would have replaced it anyway. $80+ frt is a small price to pay because next time it sticks you may not be able to find one. I guess thats why I keep new ones in my inventory for future issues. To each his own........................

EDIT: Once I checked I have four brand new tensionser two of each and four chains.

 

[TrueBlue]

Thanks to both of you - I'm going to give Ford a shout on lunch today and see if I can't get a hold of the parts. Thanks for the part number, Kerry, that really helps big!

 

[TrueBlue]

Hmmm

Oooooookay...

Dealership tells me they "are not sure" if they have an account with the obsolete supplier or not, they will check and call me tomorrow. However, the obsolete store tells me they have 27 of those in stock, for "whatever the dealer wants to sell the part for."

Kerry, if you want to make some money, let me know. I'd love to have this in my hands by Saturday afternoon to begin a teardown, but I don't know if the dealership is gonna play ball or not.

 

[gosho89]

Oooooookay...

Dealership tells me they "are not sure" if they have an account with the obsolete supplier or not, they will check and call me tomorrow. However, the obsolete store tells me they have 27 of those in stock, for "whatever the dealer wants to sell the part for."

Kerry, if you want to make some money, let me know. I'd love to have this in my hands by Saturday afternoon to begin a teardown, but I don't know if the dealership is gonna play ball or not.

PM sent

 

[gosho89]

PM sent

DID you get my message? I need to know ASAP, I will be traveling most of the day so I need to now if I'm shipping this morning. right now its 7:30am pacific time. SHipping cut off will be 9:00am Pacific time

 

[TrueBlue]

PM sent! Hope you get it in time!

 

[TrueBlue]

Update, and a question...

Okay - got the parts from Kerry Tuck. Jeremy came by and we yanked the intake and rear valve cover. Tensioner pad is still intact, but the "piston" portion of the tensioner only goes in after a pretty good squeeze. New tensioner barely needs any pressure to compress. I believe I found what I'm looking for.

Bolts are removed from tensioner, tensioner is free. I'll have some photos up in a bit to compare too.

Now, my question is this: Does the exhaust cam journals and the exhaust cam need to come free of the car to remove the chain and tensioner, or can I simply remove the two bolts that hold the sprocket to the cam? This way I don't have to remove the entire camshaft to free the tensioner and chain, and I don't have to realign the timing marks, correct?

Also, does the sprocket have a locating-tab, so it can only go on one way?

I'll get pics up soon!

 

[SilSho95]

I would like to see pics of this too. I have some tapping noise coming from the front side tensioner.

 

[gosho89]

Okay - got the parts from Kerry Tuck. Jeremy came by and we yanked the intake and rear valve cover. Tensioner pad is still intact, but the "piston" portion of the tensioner only goes in after a pretty good squeeze. New tensioner barely needs any pressure to compress. I believe I found what I'm looking for.

Bolts are removed from tensioner, tensioner is free. I'll have some photos up in a bit to compare too.

Now, my question is this: Does the exhaust cam journals and the exhaust cam need to come free of the car to remove the chain and tensioner, or can I simply remove the two bolts that hold the sprocket to the cam? This way I don't have to remove the entire camshaft to free the tensioner and chain, and I don't have to realign the timing marks, correct?

Also, does the sprocket have a locating-tab, so it can only go on one way?

I'll get pics up soon!

1) If I remember correctly I tried to remove just the exhaust cam sprocket but it didn't allow enough clearance for the chain and tensioner past the end of the camshaft.

2) There are marks on each of the sprockets to align the chain on and there is a mark on the end of the cam to align the sprocket to during reassembly. Refer to the SHO engine manual for further instructions, no special Ford tools needed. Make sure to double check all your work and don't over torque the cam journal bolts.

 

[TrueBlue]

Pics

I would like to see pics of this too. I have some tapping noise coming from the front side tensioner.

Pictures. The tensioner is highlighted in blue after each shot:

Here is the break-down of my dilema. Kerry, the Service CD says you can remove the sprocket and take off the chain and tensioner...?

 

[gosho89]

Pictures. The tensioner is highlighted in blue after each shot:


Here is the break-down of my dilema. Kerry, the Service CD says you can remove the sprocket and take off the chain and tensioner...?

That is the intake cam not the exhaust cam. Did it work? If not try removing the exhaust sprocket also. After review your photo I believe I removed both sprockets to install the new chain and tensioner but only one needs to be removed to replace just the tensioner.

Make sure to use the service manual to referance all the alignment marks during reassembly.

 

[TrueBlue]

That is the intake cam not the exhaust cam. Did it work? If not try removing the exhaust sprocket also. After review your photo I believe I removed both sprockets to install the new chain and tensioner but only one needs to be removed to replace just the tensioner.

Make sure to use the service manual to referance all the alignment marks during reassembly.

Haven't gotten to try it yet - wanted to make sure I wasn't about to pull an entire cam and not know how to index it! Busy week here as well.

Also, if the cam comes out, does that mean there isn't anything holding the shims in the buckets?

Okay, so just the sprockets need to come out? I have no problem yanking both sprockets, I have the timing marks and the Service CD. Update in a day or so...

 

[SilSho95]

Thanks, these pics are a huge help. You can hear the timing chain tapping the front valve cover on mine.