2000GTFOOL

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 itwas 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 pulleyand 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

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micheal0484

Your the man, I have the same problem and will probably do it over thanksgiving. Thanks a lot.

Brute03

lol @ the pink scooter

great write- up man! so did the tensioner break?

2000GTFOOL

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..

cisurfer

**** 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...

2000GTFOOL

Here are the videos for reference to the sound.

When the noise first started in january 2007-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0tBoYw_Pow

The noise recently (about 5000 miles later)-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sthHW4QDD08

micheal0484

Mine sounds like your first video, and I have 150,xxx miles on mine

2000GTFOOL

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....

2000GTFOOL

As far as the ticking in the rear/upper sectionof the engine.. I am not sure what that might be.. Lash adjusters maybe?

micheal0484

Mine is in the front passenger head, just like yours. And you say take the intake off in your how to? Thats not right is it