The Mach has to go back to the shop now, any idea what's going on

"03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST" (03mach1) 08/29/2014 at 20:27 • Filed to: None

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I'm not happy. A few days after I got it back the car sounded like it was knocking at idle and around 1-2K RPM's. My Dad went for a test drive it stalled on him. The clutch is also rattling, but I think that's just the new clutch cable not having enough tension on it, not a huge deal at the moment. Does anyone have any clue on what the issue might be? For some background, my car just had a lot done to it.

This includes a new idler pulley, tensioner, gaskets to plug some oil leaks, a timing chain cover and maybe some other things I'm missing. After some research, I've found the timing chain on these cars have been problematic. Keep in mind, this only started after I got the car back. I'm thinking they might have bumped something when replacing the timing cover, but just a guess. Either way I do feel like the shop caused this issue.

Thanks for any help, this has been frustrating.

wabbalosthiskey > 03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST 08/29/2014 at 21:43

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Replacing the actual timing cover would be very unusual, unless you had a bad idler pulley somewhere and kept driving it so long that it ground into/through the cover.

Still, there isn't anything you can "bump" in there that would cause any problems. The cover is just a cover and everything inside is under tension and not going anywhere without trying. What is it with the internet and the rise of "last person who touched it" syndrome anyway. Shit breaks, and usually when you start cracking open something that hasn't been touched before is when things snowball, but it's not anyone's fault. Welcome to the overly-complicated world of SN95 Mustangs..

The timing chains aren't problematic, but high mileage cars (typically 150k+), particularly ill-maintained ones, will often wear through the chain guides. There are 8 of them, two fixed, two under hydraulic pressure from tensioners (which can also go bad), and 4 small ones on the heads that get overlooked. If any of those were done on your car, then it's always possible that cam timing was not set right (although it's not hard if they know how to do it) and cause all sorts of problems.

Plug in your tuner and pull the codes and see what you find, even if there isn't a check engine light. Could point you in a direction if nothing else, but take it back to the shop and see what they can find.

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > wabbalosthiskey 08/29/2014 at 22:25

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A month ago we had replaced the idler, then it went bad again actually.

This happened the minute the car was put back together. It had never done this before. So for now I'm thinking something went wrong there. Apparently it's somewhat common for Mach's to have bad timing chains, though they went bad at a much lower mileage then mine (100K). After some more reading, people have had similar issues from an oil change. A few weeks ago I had the oil changed at Ford, no issues. When I got all of this work done at Firestone they had to drain the oil and obviously put more back in. I'm going to check to see what kind of oil they put in.

I'm taking the car in tomorrow morning though. Hopefully it's something small and easy to fix.

wabbalosthiskey > 03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST 08/29/2014 at 22:59

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If the car has weak tensioners (which again can be caused from poor maintenance by a past owner, wrong oil, or just mileage), then it can be very sensitive to oil type and weight. The pistons in them are basically a machined fit, and if they are worn, the thinner oils (like the 5-20 it calls for) will not provide enough pressure to keep tension on the guides. You might try a heavier viscosity, I bet it will make a difference. if that's a problem. I have seen it dozens of times with these tensioners where we put in 10w40 or 20w50 and suddently everything is perfect from nothing more than an oil change. If they are worn enough that the heavier oil helps, don't worry about it being too heavy for the bearings as they are likely opened up a bit too.

In the later cars with variable cam timing which are controlled by oil-pressurized cam phasers, this exact thing can cause all kinds of problems. Having some play in the chains can affect cam timing by a few degrees, but slop in the phasers can move them by 40-60 degrees!

03mach1 - Now has a Fiesta ST > wabbalosthiskey 08/29/2014 at 23:23

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The tensioner was just replaced. But using a different weight might not be a bad idea. I want to figure out what brand Firestone used, that might have something to do with it to. I had no issues after getting Ford's Motorcraft oil. Then again, the engine wasn't torn apart to get to all of those seals and gaskets. I appreciate the help! Many of the guys there have owned similar cars, so I hope they have a good idea of what's going on.