• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Is my timing chain tensioner the culprit???

H

his7orymak3r

New CEG'er
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Messages
14
First of all, thanks in advance for any help you guys can provide. I have searched both the new forums and the old forums. I suspect I know the issue, but I'll run it by you guys just to verify.

MY SVT Contour has 52,000 original miles. I don't know the history of it, as I just bought it a month ago. I noticed a pretty serious ticking sound coming from the passenger side of the engine about a week ago. The closest I can relate it to is someone shuffling a deck of cards. It only happens between 3-4000rpms. It is noticeably louder when I am driving the car, but I can reproduce the sound when I am at a stop as well. When I floor the throttle, it doesn't make the sound.

I have read up on all the threads, and these are my thoughts. I think it is the timing chain tensioner, simply because it only makes the sound at light to partial throttle. At WOT, it doesn't make any noise because the timing chain is under too much load to be loose and make any noise.

I really want to take care of this. I bought the car because it had such low miles, and I certainly don't want to get stranded on the highway somewhere because my timing chain broke or slipped. Can you guys offer any advice? I couldn't find any how-to's for a timing chain removal, and I would rather not take it to a dealer, as I really don't have that kind of money. If you need any more information, just ask, and I look forward to any insight you could offer. Thanks!!!!

Shaun Evans
 
Can you post a vid. Usually a tensioner is heard on start up. Stranger things have happened though.
 
I would also check to make sure it isn't one of the accessories that's causing the noise, since they're right next to the chains. My idler pulley made an awful racket at idle and I thought it was timing related. Pull the belt off and run the engine in the RPM range where you'd normally hear the noise. If you don't hear it start looking at the pulleys.
 
You sure it's not coming from the A/C compressor? They sound very similar to that. Hard to tell w/o seeing it in person. I'd say it's either a bad tensioner or a/c. You under load you can't really hear it but at idle you can. That is leading me to the compressor.
 
Well, I pulled off the drive belt and checked all the pulleys. The idler pulley had alot of play in it, so I replaced that and put on a new belt...started it u, and I can't hear the noise anymore!! It must have been the idler pulley. Thanks for all your help!
 
Weird Noise

Weird Noise

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I've seen and heard the Vid and the noise you have is the bottom end starting to fail. I have a Mondeo V6 that i bought to strip (now being used as an off road site vehicle) and it has the exact same noise. Basically, before the introduction of the Dual Mas Crank the Duractec was known for wear on the crank and the bottom end main bearings. My advice, if you have not already fixed this, is to strip off the sump ( or oil pan, sorry, im a Brit!) and investigate.

Alex
 
A1exward said:
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I've seen and heard the Vid and the noise you have is the bottom end starting to fail. I have a Mondeo V6 that i bought to strip (now being used as an off road site vehicle) and it has the exact same noise. Basically, before the introduction of the Dual Mas Crank the Duractec was known for wear on the crank and the bottom end main bearings. My advice, if you have not already fixed this, is to strip off the sump ( or oil pan, sorry, im a Brit!) and investigate.

Alex
Click to expand...


Thanks for responding. Actually, the noise in the last couple of days has gotten progressively louder, to the point where I try to keep the engine under 4,000 rpms at all times (4,000 is right around when the noise becomes loud enough to hear). When I take off the oil pan, what exactly am I looking for? Am I looking at a new engine? Is this problem even repairable? Thanks!

Shaun
 
Did the sound come back after changing the idler pulley?
I have a chain tensioner problem with my 99 SVT. The first sign for me on this problem was I hear a quick rattle on cold start up. It lasted only about 1 second. Another clue was an cam sensor error code.

While driving I start to hear a rattle about 2500 rpm. The sound varies with throttle input.
--no rattle at WOT
--It can be heard with foot off or on the throttle but the sound varies in intensity, can be loud off throttle.
--The rattle is not audible at idle

My sound is not lower end because it is not audible at all times. A lower end knock will be audible all the time.
 
The sound never really went away like I thought it did. I think I just wanted to believe that the pulley fixed the problem. I have the same rattle at start-up that only lasts a second or so. I wasn't at first, but am now getting the rattle at WOT as well. The noise changes in relation to throttle input and speed. The higher rev's, the faster the noise gets. Like you, I can't hear it at idle, although it has been getting progressively louder over the last few days. Any thoughts?
 
chain tensioners

chain tensioners

The rattling sound in your engine sounds quite similar to the sound my engine is making. I am going to replace the chain tensioners on my engine the first week in October.
A temporary fix was suggested to me. That fix is to add 1/2 bottle of STP oil treatment into your oil. This will increase the viscosity of the motor oil slightly and assist the tensioner in doing it's job. I tried it but it did not work for my car.
I will post pictures and take a stab at a 'how to' when I replace the tensioners unless it has already been done. I have not done it before but it appears to be an all day job with the engine in the car.
 
Rod Knock

Rod Knock

It turned out that the rattle coming from the motor was rod knock. Dropped the pan and all 6 bearings were damaged. Minor damage to the bearing near the oil pump but more severe on each bearing further from the pump. No bearing were spun or cracked. I don't know what happened to cause the bearing damage and subsequent rod knock. The car had 6qts of oil (mobil 1 5w-30) when it started knocking.

Polished the crank the best we could and put in new bearings. So far so good but I don't know how long the fix will last.
 
svt_fomoco said:
The rattling sound in your engine sounds quite similar to the sound my engine is making.

It turned out that the rattle coming from the motor was rod knock.
Click to expand...

Agreed. That sounds just like mine did when I had some mad rod knock :(

his7orymak3r said:
The sound never really went away like I thought it did. I think I just wanted to believe that the pulley fixed the problem. I have the same rattle at start-up that only lasts a second or so. I wasn't at first, but am now getting the rattle at WOT as well. The noise changes in relation to throttle input and speed. The higher rev's, the faster the noise gets. Like you, I can't hear it at idle, although it has been getting progressively louder over the last few days. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Any updates? I agree that it sounds like rod knock and you could have any amount of time left before the bottom end gives way and you find something like this in your trail....

EnginePieces.JPG
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top