Timing chain/ water pump slack?

[M.J]

Ok, anyone want to school me as to why there is slack here? What you’re seeing is the left bank front timing chain from the camshaft to water pump gear. I’ve always had the notorious chain slap on startup so knew my chain would be loose upon checking it but once I looked at where the water pump was I noticed this movement. Always thought the water pump pulley/gear was fixed so not sure what to make of this.

 

[SeanDev]

Timing chain slap, is not a good thing. Happened on my 3.5 F-150. Bad design, for the SHO I don't know your mileage, but a water pump failure may be in your future is my guess, or well a guide etc has failed. Personally ide go with a new water pump, and timing chain set. Before disaster strikes.

 

[SHOdded]

parts wear out over time. if you have timing chain slack, it will affect all other parts associated with it. water pump bearings or impeller could go. causality is hard to determine, but if one goes, the other one will go for sure.

in the meantime, you can try
a) heavier weight oil 10w30 for instance from say Redline, known to be higher viscosity in its spec. many oils run thin in this regard, and even an SP rating may not be enough.
b) parking with the pass side of the car lower than the driver side - it does seem to speed up oil delivery.
c) using a motorcraft filter, or preferably, a purolator BOSS filter. the Fram Ultra in its previous iteration was good, but the BOSS was clearly superior.

 

[shoblock]

That is way too much slack. A tensioner (there are 2) must have failed or less likely, the water pump bearing has a great deal of slack. I would do new timing chains, water pump, and tensioners right away. Tensioners at the minimum