I bought this last year for my daughters graduation present. When I got it it was not running. After troubleshooting I figured out what had happened. The previous owner must have never changed the oil and it eventually ran low loosing oil pressure to the drivers side cam tensioner resulting in a jumped timing chain. After resetting the timing and changing the oil a couple times and putting in mobil , I turned it over to my daughter. After driving it for about a year it has been killing her on gas, she is going to college and working part time. She had told me it was clicking but I didn't get a chance to really check it out...until now. I bought a Neon for her to drive temporarily until we sell the ST and get her something better. Anyway the first thing I did was clean it up, I hate a dirty vehicle... Next I got into the clicking, I originally thought it was a lifter so I changed the oil, I wasn't that lucky. I am not the type of person to pass the buck on by selling to someone else to deal with so check it out.












Should have the motor out this weekend...

 

thats an awful lot of slack in the chain, and that pic is part of the tensioner? wow.

 

Yeah I fished it out

 

Thats pretty wild. How many miles are on it?

 

So whats the plan for the engine?

 

Oh wow, well if you get a new engine in it or do a full rebuild count me in as a buyer!! HAHA

Thats a good locking truck, regardless of the engine problems. Can't believe it was running with that in there O.o

130k+ I believe

 

It's got 147,000 on it. I am going to pull it out and replace the guide and chain in the back. I'm not going to do all the chains since they were not making any noise.

 

That's crazy ...

 

wow , that is wild

 

Wow thats crazy and cool at the same time! Glad you found the problem.

 

Yeah I know. I picked up the parts today...

 

so forgive my ignorance. i dont no alot about engine work. is the engine toast or rebuild able? whats typical mileage to get out of one of those engines?

 

No it is fixable and it's a common problem with these engines. I'm not sure about the mileage but some have gone over 200,000. The motor actually ran pretty good especially considering the chain problem.

 

its pretty cool that you're able to do that.

 

Thanks I have been working on motors for years, its just like a big puzzle.

 

Looks like your having some fun this weekend.
Can't believe it ran with that broke.

 

Looks like some good ol fun goin on down there. Pretty lucky it didnt end up getting nasty with that broke in there but looks nice since you got it cleaned up. Have fun and if ya need an extra hand let me know just dont let me near any electrical connections. haha

 

Yeah she was still driving it when I bought the neon for her to drive, it was just sucking gas...and rattling worse than she told me lol. Well I am working on it but it's going to go a little slow. I hurt my back at work yesterday and I'm not quit 100% I just started underneath. They just don't give you any room to work under there. If you need something to do Kevin come on down but your going to get dirty...lol

 

Progress! I got it pulled out, set on TDC and pulled all the pieces out...pics...

 

wow thats some pretty good wear

 

WOAH

 

Yeah it pretty much done for lol I thought it was going to be worse pulling the motor, it wasn't as bad as my 04 Ranger.

 

any bad rust issues or did everything come out relatively easy

 

No problems, even the exhaust came off without getting the heat out. Probably the hardest part was the bell housing bolts. Any I only bleed once...lol

 

snap, crackle, pop eh?