I'm finally breaking down and going to do my secondary tensioners at 135,000 miles (Spring has arrived in Wisconsin). I've sourced all the appropriate Ford tensioners, bolts and gaskets and I was looking around for the tool kit and I found an OTC kit for a very reasonable $100 (multiple sites have it).

Interesting part is that it is only listed for the Lincoln LS 3.9L V8. The part number is OTC-6680. Has anyone had any experience with this kit? I know that the Lincoln 3.9L V8 is the same as the Jag, but I'm a little puzzled why none of the sites that carry it only list it for the Lincoln (Ford) and not the Jag.

Cheers,
Hamish
2001 MY XK8

 

Harish, I just looked up your number and it is a dead ringer for the Jag tool I have. This is only for the secondary as the primary requires a couple of plastic spacers. It even included the tension tool. Good fine I say.
I'll post a picture of what you found so others won't have to look it up, and they can give a second opinion.


OTC Tools OTC 6680 Ford 3.9l 4V Cam Tool Set


Wayne

 

Honestly, if ALL you are going to do is replace the secondary tensioners, the zip-tie method works great and is basically free

I and a lot of others have done that job just using a zip-tie (basically you put a zip tie through a hole in the sprocket and around the chain to LOCK the chain in position with the sprocket)... it is easy and works perfectly. There are plenty of threads around to describe the procedure...

Just my two cents...

 

Given that I am cursed by Sod's Law, I shied away from the zip tie method, as I'd heard of folks snapping the cam. That said, the kit worked, with a couple of issues; the center bolt on the locking tool is not long enough and the crank locking tool has to be inserted into the flywheel with the lug at the 9:00 position (took me an hour to figure that out - must be different on the Lincoln LS). It was $85 after all.....

Removing the left valve cover revealed the tensioner had lost the top "slipper". Chain marks were minimal, so I had caught it in time and I only heard a metallic rattle "slightly". The right tensioner was fine. I'd post pics, but we've all probably seen enough tensioner pics to last a lifetime. Mileage was 135,780 miles and both tensioners had cracks the length of the tensioner body. I bought the car as CPO in 2005 with 20,000 miles and it's been pretty well pampered for the last ten years.

I was prompted to do this due to a ticking noise from the center of the engine. I reckoned it might be due to a resonance from a dodgy tensioner, but after putting it all back, I still have the ticking....

At least I know it's not the tensioners! Overall cost for the parts (tensioners, bolts, gaskets and tools) came in around the $300 mark, so it was money well spent. Sun Ford Parts were VERY reasonable on the tensioner prices.

I just need to figure out the ticking source....

Cheers,
Hamish
2001 MY XK8

 

Congratulations Hamish,
You dodged the bullet. I would suggest dropping the oil pan to find the slipper. Plastic bits can block the oil pickup.

 

The S-Type 4.0 Crank Lock tool is Different from the X100/X308 4.0 tool.

I guess the Lincoln 3.9 uses the same tool as the AJ28 S-Type.

I purchased BOTH and have them in my toolbox from when I worked at the dealer and the 'special-tools' were always missing from the tool room.

bob gauff

 

I had previously found the build date associated with tensioner design. Can't find it now - help?


I understand some engines mfg'd before rest of car mfg'd but its a lot to examine when looking for a one to buy. I also noticed that build dates for an 2001 start as early as 1/2000 (duh??).


Current best knowledge I found is metal tensioner factory installed after 8/2001 on 4l DOHC. So is it safe to think a 2003 does not have this particular issue?


Lastly, my Lincoln Aviator timing chain system started acting up so I had to change it. It got noisy but did not catastrophically fail a ruin the engine. It was $1100.00 to repair which I though reasonable for the required effort. Youtube vid's show that the chain and tensioner design look very much like the 4.0l engine. That lowered my stress factor thinking I am working on a Ford engine design. Certainly DOHC designs have to be similar but I was wondering if Jag spec's their own tensioners which has caused so much concern.

 

03 model has the metal body, but recent posts indicate that they are beginning to fail also. In this case it will probably not cause a total engine failure, but the warning rattle must be heeded.

Both Lincoln and the Ford T Bird used the Jag engine, but note that it's a Jag design, not Ford.