As you all know my 2000 Mustang GT started making a ticking noise, only when it was cold, and only on decel.. Then it slowly got worse and would tick all the time, the noise got more violent and the car was parked. I will include videos later in the thread to show the progression.The dealer was no help and didn't know what was wrong.. The internet told me it was bearings and the engine was shot.. After further research I found out that these cars are PRONE to timing chain tensioner failure.. I pulled the valve cover back a little and saw that the chain was really loose.. My car had 78k miles at the first sign of ticking... By no means a high mileage car.
First off this is how I repaired the car. These are my costs.. I cannot be held responsible if you damage your car, do all this at your own risk.... Sue someone else, I don't even have the money to take it to the dealer to fix it.... Or I would have..
Step 1- Remove your air cleaner assembly, coolant res.., power steering pump res., remove the PS pump (4 bolts) one is a huge bi-tch so use a open ended #10 wrench then set it to the side
Step 2- Remove the e-fan, and radiator hose that is in the way
Step 3- Remove the S-belt, the idler pulley and the waterpump pulley.
Step 4- Remove the harmonic Balancer (use the 3 screw puller and make sure the nut and washer are both out of the center....)
Step 5- Next I removed all 19 bolts that hold the front cover on.... Yes there are 19.
Step 6- LOOSEN all the oil pan bolts about 1/16th of an inch in order to gain clearance.. This is hard to do and you need an array of extensions to get the two that are over the steering rack.
Step 7- Loosen the first few bolts holding the valve covers on.. Just to gain clearance.
Step 8- Pull that sucker off gently..
At this point you will see exactly what failed and you will wonder how the hell this happened.....
Step 8- unbolt the tensioners and slide the guides off the mounting pins
Step 9- unbolt the upper guides and drink a coke... grab some lunch.. You are about 3 hours in at this point.
That is about all there is to it.. Do the reverse to re-install.. I am having to flush the oilpan, and am using a magnet to get all the metal shavings and what not from then oilpan, front cover and also the plastic chunks that are all over the place....... Hope this helps..
ON A DIFFICULTY SCALE FROM 1-10 (10 is a full rebuild) I would place this at a 6... You must have a general knowlage of your car and have a manual to do it.. Not for the novice but if you can replace a starter or fuel pump this should be obtainable for you.
Guides and Tensioners from autozone- $115 Gaskets- $60 Oil/filter- $30 TOTAL SERVICE COST- $205.. TOTAL TIME INVESTED- 6 HOURS
Tensioner failed, it ended up letting the chain slap up against the guides which ended in the total and upmost murder of the whole assembly.. check out the picture of the tensioner on that side, it is ground down about 1/8th of an inch...
I forgot to mention in the writeup that there are a few sensors that need to be unplugged, and the 4 front bolts on the oil pan need to be removed completely..
< Message edited by 2000GTFOOL -- 11/10/2007 5:10:55 PM >
**** im tempted to try this, my mechanic said the sound it coming from the top and the rear of the drivers side head....but it has the same sound as your videos...
I would get it taken care of quick.. There was only 5000miles between the two vids.. I consider myself very lucky that the car didn't jump time... I am still trying to figure out the best way to deal with the metal shavings from the guides.... luckily most of the shavings are large... But chances are this took some signifigant mileage off the life of my engine in the long run.. I am sure that the metal shavings will have scored the cylinder walls some.. I will probably run thicker oil and change my oil at about 2k miles from here forward to keep the lubrication as fresh as possible....
yeah thats what i had to do!!!! Same damn things.. all passenger side.. i think ford should have some sort of recal.. this was ****.... but made me feel better it wasnt berrings.. now i get to haul ass again!!!!!
Nice write up man. Have fun trying to put the timing cover back on with the valve covers all ready sitting there?
Just some advice anytime you have a problem like that it is more than likely a oil pressure problem that lead to the failure of the tenisioner (the opperate off of oil pressure) you should change out the oil pump while your in there.
Ouch! That's exactly what my guides looked like when I did mine. Sept I called Ford and they wanted 75 bucks for each side for the guides and they didn't have the tentioners in stock. So I put the old ones back on... Bad idea. Car is at the shop and I am waiting on a phone call to let me know what's up with it.
Well word to the wise... The guides you order from autozone will not work, well the left side will but the right side does not match up. The tensioners from Autozone are $40 each and they appear to be the same as OEM (stamped the same ect).. Autozone does offer the tensioner arms but I cannot attest to the quality or fitment.
I am returning the the guides to autozone and buying OEM at the dealer... I will also buy the tensioner arms at the dealer..
The parts list at about $20 each at the dealer
So my new total must be adjusted by about $40. So...
You really should have replaced the chains while you had it apart though. They stretch over time.
I've got 135K on mine and it's only making a very slight tick noise. Guess I'm lucky! I'm planning to replace the gears, chains, guides and tensioners (and pump I guess) all at the same time.
Do you really need to pull the intake manifold??? Dang.
OK YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PULL THE INTAKE MANIFOLD- I meant the air cleaner assembly.. If a MOD can change that in the writeup that would be great...
The chains were not damaged and it appears that they are good for approximately well over 150k miles.. It wouldn't matter if they stretch as the tensioners and arms would compensate..
As far as my car specifically goes.. The guides I ordered for the 2000GT do not fit at all.. The guides that will fit my car are from a 2002-2004. I need to figure out how to reference #'s to see if my engine has been swapped out... Has anyone with a 1999-2001GT have pictures of thier engine with the front covers off?? I am going to attach the schematics later.... This is crazy that OEM parts wouldn't bolt up.. I just wonder what the deal is with my car.. It is worlds faster then all the other same gen GT's I have driven.... WTF...
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HOW TO: Fix the 4.6L GT Ticking noise... - 
RE: HOW TO: Fix the 4.6L GT Ticking noise... - 
