Adjust a single cam?

[Dennis J.]

Hello gentleman,

First time poster, but I've lurked for a little while.

My wife's 2014 Explorer has the 3.5 NA engine. It had the Infamous weep hole leak, and with 160k on the odometer, I went ahead and changed the timing chain and guides along with the water pump.

After reassembling everything I got a P0019 code (camshaft/crankshaft correlation bank 2 sensor 2). I had watched the Cloyes video on changing the timing chain and they said "you don't need the cam lock tool". I'm kicking myself in the butt for not getting one.

Well, I have a set now, and you can see in the picture that it looks like the exhaust camshaft is one tooth off from being matched up with the other 3 camshaft.

I couldn't find any info on it, so before I dive in any deeper, I wanted to see if anyone knows of a way to adjust that cam/sprocket without having to remove the timing cover?

It's raining out right now, so I figured I'd see if there was some way to save myself from emptying the fluids and breaking the seal, just to pull the phasers and reposition it.

Thanks guys for any info or tricks you may know!

 

[peterk9]

Welcome to the Forum Dennis.
Sorry, I can't help you. I have the dealership do all my work. Hopefully, someone will be able to assist you. Good luck.

Peter

 

[Crates]

I don’t see how you are going to be able to re-adjust the timing without pulling it all apart again. The tensioner needs to come off so you can get enough slack in the chain to allow that cam to be timed correctly.

Mike.

 

[Dennis J.]

Thanks for the reply guys. I realized when I couldn't push down the tensioner that it was a no go.

I'm assuming that it has to be fully extended before I can use the cam tool to push it all the way down to reassemble.

 

[Crates]

Thanks for the reply guys. I realized when I couldn't push down the tensioner that it was a no go.

I'm assuming that it has to be fully extended before I can use the cam tool to push it all the way down to reassemble.

Edit: I first gave you instructions for the primary tensioner but I believe based on your description that it is the secondary tensioner you will need to compress as well. Here’s info on the primary one first:

The primary chain tensioner has two components to it: a hydraulic side, which pushes it outward to apply pressure against the timing chain guide and keep the chain tensioned while the engine is running, and a mechanical side, which keeps it from collapsing when the engine is not running and there is no oil pressure. If you look at the tensioner closely you should be able to see how the mechanical ratchet mechanism works. Basically, there are two sets of teeth, one that is stationary and spring loaded inside the tensioner (generally has a small viewing window) and the other that travels with the hydraulic plunger which pushes against the chain guide. Before you can compress the tensioner all the way back into its installation position you need to push the stationary side of the ratchet mechanism up out of the way using a small pick. Then you can compress the plunger all the way back into the body of the tensioner and re-install the grenade pin. You can use a vise to do this but be extremely careful you do not over-compress the tensioner or you can damage it internally. If it fails you will know because the chain will be quite noisy. It’s pretty straight forward just take your time. There is probably a YouTube video of how to do it as well.

For the secondary tensioner I generally just use a screwdriver to push it down and hold it compressed, then you can pull the cam gears off, re-index the gears to the coloured links on the secondary chain, then compress the tensioner again and re-install the gears together with the chain over the tensioner and onto the nose of the cams. It helps to have one person holding the secondary tensioner fully compressed while the other person installs the timed gears & chain assembly onto the nose of the cams. That’s how I do it anyway.

Obviously before you start this whole process make sure you have the engine rotated to the correct position as per the manual so that everything is in the proper orientation to allow you to set the timing using the coloured links as a guide.

Hope that helps. It’s hard to explain in text but once you’ve done it the first time it’s really pretty straightforward.

Good luck.

 

[mguy13sport]

You can use a 22mm wrench to move that cam slightly so it aligns in the tool. At that point you will probably need to realign the chain however. Theres etching marks on the heads that should align with the gold marks on the secondary chains when everything is aligned properly

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