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Yup.
Last October, this was me:
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I was merging on to the express lanes of Hwy 401 in Toronto, and all the sudden I heard a quiet noise that was hard to describe, and the car started losing power.
I safely made it to the shoulder of this busy highway and tried starting my car a time or two. It sounded oh so wrong as I was cranking it. I called CAA (think AAA, but in Canada). When asked what the problem might be with my car, I told the lady on the phone, “my motor is acting just like it broke a timing belt.”
But I had just replaced it 50,000km ago. (that’s 30,000mi).
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It turns out a little plate that was sandwiched in between my crankshaft pulley and the crankshaft timing gear got bent the last time I did my timing belt. That plate must be a dust shield? It interfered with the timing belt and slowly shredded away at it. After that little mileage, it was approximately half it’s original width.
Well I had already watched your video on “what to do when your timing belt breaks.” And it worked for you on a Civic, and it also worked for briansmobile1 on a Mitsubishi Lancer. I did try putting a new timing belt on it before pulling the head. But, long story short, the valves in my engine really ended up like this:
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I’m thankful that it happened in October of last year and not July, because I drove this car to last year’s meetup! All the while I was unaware my timing belt was slowly being shredded away! This happened in the city I live in, and all was well.
The ironic thing is I was on my way to my parents’ house to work on my other, older car; an old reliable 97 Ford Escort, which was also registered and insured. I just switched cars and tinkered away at my Kia’s motor in my spare time!
I actually put all new valves in the head, and decided that the pistons still looked okay. All 16 new valves, one headgasket kit, a new head bolt set later, this motor’s running again.
I put more care into my 2003 Kia Spectra with 250,000kms than most people would. I had thought about scrapping it. But, after eight years of doing mostly oil changes in the dealerships I worked at, I had actually never done this type of job on a car before. I’m glad I chose to get this experience!
Thank you!
Matt, (Flintiron), when you said a Venture with a 3.4 the first thing I thought of were the lower intake manifold gaskets and also head gaskets. You could certainly categorize those under “pattern failures!” I worked at a Chevy dealership for 3½ months, and saw many of those come through. One technician described to me they were doing those jobs, one after another after another, during the years before I started. When I was in college (auto tech. program) I had heard GM was facing a class action lawsuit over those engines. My parents have done very well however with their GMs, they seemed to avoid the problem years. They had a 1995 Chevy Lumina minivan, with a 3.1 (which also became problematic in later years), and now have a 2007 Chevy Uplander with a 3.9L. They’ve done very well with them! It’s neat to meet another Matt who’s also into Fords for sure! 🙂 And I hope you’re able to keep that Ranger in good shape; they’re handly little trucks! And perhaps, learning something from EricTheCarGuy, maybe some day you could fix your coolant leak yourself after all.
sin491, ofcourse everything has problems. Some people go so far as to say to completely avoid anything with the 5.4 engine; I disagree with them, but I do know of some issues. Always remove the spark plugs extremely carefully, as they have a funny design with a ceramic sleeve that likes to get stuck and left behind inside the cylinder head. If this happens (and it sometimes can’t be avoided), the ceramic sleeves need to be extracted using special equipment. I’ve never done one myself though. Also the exhaust manifold gaskets would be a “pattern failure” on the 5.4, apparently the reason some people avoid these trucks entirely. (again I disagree.)
I got into Fords from working at the dealerships. I started in 2007; right before the downturn, and shortly after Ford seriously stepped up their game quality wise. And it did them well! I bought one of my own, a 1997 Ford Escort that I bought in 2007. (LINK) It’s still driving, but it isn’t my daily driver any more. It lives at my parents’ house.
Thanks again for the welcome!
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