3.9L Timing off, Possible to re-align?

[ecarlincoln]

I have a Lincoln ls 3.9L and its been verified that the timing is off on one cam gear causing a lean condition and a low idle missfire, Sadly its not worth it to pay to have the chains done for what the cars worth so ive decided to trade my baby in after the winter. My question is, Is it possible to re-align the chain and change the faulty tensioner just to get me through the winter? And for the sake of looking does anyone know of any timing chain write ups? Ive searched but to no avail. Thanks!

 

[RigsLS]

... My question is ...

should really include the year of your LS when you look for input from others!

search for timing chain and tentioners and you'll have more luck related to exhaust cam skip.

plenty of articles on here with pics.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TuxQxwL2WA

^ talks about the flats needing to be aligned while at TDC @1:45


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrde82D-rc0#t=79

^ note 1:19 into the vid "cause and affect" of secondary split tentioners.




GLWR

 

[ecarlincoln]

should really include the year of your LS when you look for input from others!

search for timing chain and tentioners and you'll have more luck related to exhaust cam skip.

plenty of articles on here with pics.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TuxQxwL2WA

^ talks about the flats needing to be aligned while at TDC @1:45


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrde82D-rc0#t=79

^ note 1:19 into the vid "cause and affect" of secondary split tentioners.




GLWR

2001 Lincoln LS. 3.9L V8

 

[RigsLS]

Same as the above vids.

 

[ecarlincoln]

What if im not doing the whole chain and just trying to re-align? Ive yet to see what these cams look like but if i remove the tensoner is there enough play to rotate one cam to re align it?

 

[joegr]

What if im not doing the whole chain and just trying to re-align? Ive yet to see what these cams look like but if i remove the tensoner is there enough play to rotate one cam to re align it?

You can just loosen the bolt on the end of the sprocket and re-tighten it after you turn it. However, there is only disaster in doing just this. It'll jump again, and that may be it for the engine.

I would say fix it right, or sell it now (disclosing the problem instead of hiding it from the next guy).

 

[RigsLS]

Joe, just out of curiosity, when the exhaust cam has skipped a tooth, or one is trying to align the flats, which direction does it require to be turned, towards the right as in clock wise or opposite? My thinking is, if it's skipped, the forward momentum, would leave the exhaust cam one notch behind, so one would have to turn it to the right to get it to catch up, does that make sense?

Standing in front of the motor, turn clockwise?

<shrugs> ... I've never torn into a motor. (took a Honda CJ360T motor apart but it wasn't for the pleasures of fixing so it never went back together.)

 

[joegr]

... does that make sense?

Makes sense, but I've never actually dealt with this problem.

 

[RigsLS]

same here neither.

 

[ecarlincoln]

You can just loosen the bolt on the end of the sprocket and re-tighten it after you turn it. However, there is only disaster in doing just this. It'll jump again, and that may be it for the engine.

I would say fix it right, or sell it now (disclosing the problem instead of hiding it from the next guy).

In all honesty, How much of a nightmare are these engines to do a chain in? Ive done 4cyls before but never tore into a v8 especially one like this

 

[FDR]

should really include the year of your LS when you look for input from others!

search for timing chain and tentioners and you'll have more luck related to exhaust cam skip.

plenty of articles on here with pics.





^ talks about the flats needing to be aligned while at TDC @1:45



^ note 1:19 into the vid "cause and affect" of secondary split tentioners.




GLWR

^&%(@&*$)#*&%

I was hoping my 02 squeaked by with the upgraded tensioners. The car was built 7/02 IIRC, but I looked back at pictures I took when I dropped a valve cover bolt down the chain opening, and...









That looks a lot like a red plastic tensioner... I think the car's gonna be down for the count for a while

 

[FDR]

Looks like September was the [fuzzy] cutoff for the updated parts

 

[joegr]

In all honesty, How much of a nightmare are these engines to do a chain in? Ive done 4cyls before but never tore into a v8 especially one like this

I don't think that the exhaust chains and tensioners are that bad, but I haven't done it.

 

[cammerfe]

I seem to remember that there's a thread from several years ago that details a chain and accoutrements job. I think it was said to take most of a weekend.

KS

 

[chris2523]

weekend sounds about right.
its not an impossible job, but you should take your time.

if it did jump time, be sure to do both tensioners and chains.

 

[RigsLS]

^ This,

ecarlincoln should understand that if it has already jumped time it's because there is slack in the whole thing, stretched chains and all. Replacing only the secondary tentioners and backing up the exhaust cam is not good enough, as stated, the whole thing needs to be done.

 

[ecarlincoln]

^ This,

ecarlincoln should understand that if it has already jumped time it's because there is slack in the whole thing, stretched chains and all. Replacing only the secondary tentioners and backing up the exhaust cam is not good enough, as stated, the whole thing needs to be done.

Has anyone seen any writeups or diy's on the timing job? I haven't been able to find any

 

[joegr]

Has anyone seen any writeups or diy's on the timing job? I haven't been able to find any

Yes, there are a few good ones on here. They should be somewhere in these results: https://www.google.ca/search?as_q=L...mages&tbs=&as_filetype=&as_rights=&gws_rd=ssl