'01 Explorer - 4.0L 6 Cyl - Timing Issue?

Forgive the stunning details, I’m a few thousand miles away from the car.

Car is an '01 Explorer w/ the 4.0L 6 Cyl and about 83,000 miles.

As I understand, the car was brought in for a squeaky serp. belt. The belt and tensioner were replaced. A few days later while driving, the car suddenly got loud and had no power. Take it back to the same shop and there is “no compression” in 2 cyl’s.

Looking around the internet, it seems that timing chain issues on these engines is fairly common. I can’t tell whether or not it is likely that it just jumped timing and running like crap, or if this is an interference engine and we likely had pistons and valves that didn’t get along with each other.

Any info from anyone with experience w/ these would be great.

Thanks :grouphug:

I cant say that I had the experience that you did…i can say the 2 explorers I had with that motor currently have 240k and 170k on them with original chain.

Sorry that doesnt help you know more but I am surprised that its a common issue knowing the luck I have had with them.

Yes those motors have serious chain problems …

mainly because the driver side timing gear is in the front of the motor and the pass side is in the rear …

it is very common for the pass side chain tentioner (sp?) to take a shit … in order to replace it … you have to pull the motor … most people just let it go and sell or trade in the truck …

also … good luck finding a good used motor … they are few and far between

Timing chain for sure.

My brother had a 2000 with the 4.0 SOHC motor that started rattling like crazy until it got real warm…

We ended up loading it up with stereo equipment and selling to some punk kid…

I would never buy one of those things again…

I know there is a TSB for the rattle. The question is, to me it seems unlikely the chain would fail. If the tensioner goes to crap (which is what is happening with the rattle) then ultimately you’re likely to have the timing jump. Question is, is it the timing being off right now, or piston/valve slappage?

Most likely …