How bad can timing situation get before replacing?

[BIGGZ]

I have a few noises coming from the motor that all seem timing related so I'm planning on doing the whole timing kit. I just wanna know how bad it can get before I NEED to fix it as I'm on a very tight budget at the moment. Currently whenever I cold start the car every couple of minutes ill hear a pretty distinct metal click. Comes from the front right side of the motor. I also hear very slight metal ticking coming from the front portion of the left side valve cover which I suspect to be the cam phaser going out. Not to mention the car misfires every couple of seconds the idle raises 100 rpm then drops back down from 900-1000. While its doing this its also burbling at idle. There's also some belt squeak but nothing to loud on that front as of yet mainly on cold start.

 

[whitmanink]

well to be honest ,, the engine is a time bomb ,
question is how long?

the misfiring is odd, codes should be thrown , or temp ones at least?

the longer that clicking sound goes for , the more wear and closer to failure your engine is.
if the phaser is going out , that is bad and waiting to fail completely ,

id change the oil to see what it looks like,,
if something is wearing out , and you get metal in the oil , and run it like that ,,
you now created a bigger issue with rod bearings and so on ,,
so at that point its best not to drive til it fixed

ive beeen in situations where i could not, not drive my car, but it needed to be fixed ,,

so i drove as easy as i could and hoped it would make it til i could fix it,

but best thing is to save up or get a ford timing kit ,and do the water pump and oil pump while your in there

 

[Midlife Crises]

How bad can it get?
Well, you can drive it until it breaks and then replace most of the engine. OR, Fix it before it breaks. You didn’t say how many miles are on the clock but a timing set with lash adjusters and followers are often replaced around 100,000 miles.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

I have a few noises coming from the motor that all seem timing related so I'm planning on doing the whole timing kit. I just wanna know how bad it can get before I NEED to fix it as I'm on a very tight budget at the moment. Currently whenever I cold start the car every couple of minutes ill hear a pretty distinct metal click. Comes from the front right side of the motor. I also hear very slight metal ticking coming from the front portion of the left side valve cover which I suspect to be the cam phaser going out. Not to mention the car misfires every couple of seconds the idle raises 100 rpm then drops back down from 900-1000. While its doing this its also burbling at idle. There's also some belt squeak but nothing to loud on that front as of yet mainly on cold start.

Your engine has become a grenade with the pin pulled. It's only a question of when, not if, it'll have a major failure if you continue running it.
I'd wager that the misfire and uneven idle is being caused by the cam timing being thrown off on one cylinder bank. The biggest risk to your engine is the possibility of it having low oil pressure now because of a blown timing chain tensioner gasket and shards of timing chain guide blogging up the oil pump pickup screen. This will cause secondary damage to the cam followers, cylinder head cam towers, and rod/main bearings due to oil starvation and fine metal debris floating around in the oil.
Therefore I strongly recommend you avoid running the engine until you have the money to fix it properly. What might be a $2000 repair job now could end up being a much more expensive engine swap later if you do otherwise. If your engine has done over 150k miles, it's overdue for a timing job anyway.

 

[StockishS197]

As others have said, you may be fine, you might not. It’s fine until it’s not.

Replacing the timing components on these cars really isn’t too difficult if you have tired wrenches in the past and can follow instructions. It’s just a bit time consuming, but worth doing if you want to save money and not buy a new engine.

 

[BIGGZ]

Alright yall have made it clear it is a huge issue which is pretty much what I expected, but I’m going into negative to fix it is the only reason I’m pushing it back. Cars sitting around 135,000, and I’m pretty sure previous owner did nothing maintenance wise. As @whitmanink said it’s a position of I have to drive the car to fix the car, so I’ve been driving very easy. Nothing over 2500 rpm and that’s only going up hills and whatnot mainly keeping it at or under 1800. Here’s a link to me cold starting.

 

[BIGGZ]

Alright yall have made it clear it is a huge issue which is pretty much what I expected, but I’m going into negative to fix it is the only reason I’m pushing it back. Cars sitting around 135,000, and I’m pretty sure previous owner did nothing maintenance wise. As @whitmanink said it’s a position of I have to drive the car to fix the car, so I’ve been driving very easy. Nothing over 2500 rpm and that’s only going up hills and whatnot mainly keeping it at or under 1800. Here’s a link to me cold starting.

You can hear in the first clip that distinct click 3 times.

 

[BIGGZ]

As others have said, you may be fine, you might not. It’s fine until it’s not.

Replacing the timing components on these cars really isn’t too difficult if you have tired wrenches in the past and can follow instructions. It’s just a bit time consuming, but worth doing if you want to save money and not buy a new engine.

I think it would be worth doing but I would much rather the guarantee of having a mechanic do it. Too big of a job for my skillset.

 

[BIGGZ]

Fortunately I have a vehicle I can drive for the next week and have got the full timing kit in the mail now arriving 23rd/24th. Spent $615 on the kit from LateModelRestoration and got a quote from my mechanic for $1250 to do the job. Seems like a good price to me, what do yall think?

 

[whitmanink]

Fortunately I have a vehicle I can drive for the next week and have got the full timing kit in the mail now arriving 23rd/24th. Spent $615 on the kit from LateModelRestoration and got a quote from my mechanic for $1250 to do the job. Seems like a good price to me, what do yall think?

heck yea , that should get you going again.
if you lived near me i would have done it with ya to help save you some cash,, but youre in good hands

 

[86GT351]

I have a few noises coming from the motor that all seem timing related so I'm planning on doing the whole timing kit. I just wanna know how bad it can get before I NEED to fix it as I'm on a very tight budget at the moment. Currently whenever I cold start the car every couple of minutes ill hear a pretty distinct metal click. Comes from the front right side of the motor. I also hear very slight metal ticking coming from the front portion of the left side valve cover which I suspect to be the cam phaser going out. Not to mention the car misfires every couple of seconds the idle raises 100 rpm then drops back down from 900-1000. While its doing this its also burbling at idle. There's also some belt squeak but nothing to loud on that front as of yet mainly on cold start.

You NEED to fix ASAP. The longer you wait, the more possibility of additional damage being done.

 

[BIGGZ]

heck yea , that should get you going again.
if you lived near me i would have done it with ya to help save you some cash,, but youre in good hands

Yeah I was reaaaaaaaaly thinking about doing it that 1250 would be nice but ive never messed with timing stuff or head stuff so Im just playin it safe.

 

[BIGGZ]

You NEED to fix ASAP. The longer you wait, the more possibility of additional damage being done.

Well the distinct metal clicking hasn't been going on too long so I'm hoping I caught it before any damage was done. I do drive the car very lightly as well so I'm decently confident nothing internal should be damaged. Excited as hell though because outside of one or two pulls I haven't driven the car hard at all because I was consistently worried there was something wrong. With this fixed nothing should be wrong and I can fully enjoy the car, and start modding instead of just maintenance.

 

[Kev555]

Chances are at 135,000 your bores could be in pretty good shape. Mine was near perfect last year at 105K after a bent conrod caused me to rebuild it. YOU don't want it blowing up as engineering prices can be colossal. Your engine sounds pretty smooth running, that metal sound could be the timing chain or a cam roller. As other guys more experienced than me have said get the timing kit & oil pump at the very least replaced ASAP. Get the cams and rollers checked out too while doing the chain. Other non crucial parts can be replaced later.

 

[Midlife Crises]

You have the right idea now. The timing kit will take care of a Lot of grief. Painful as it may be, this would be a good time to install new lash adjusters and cam followers. The only thing left is a new oil pump and you should be all set.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

@BIGGZ It would be wise to replace the oil pump while you already have the timing cover off to save you having to do it all over again later on. The 13-14 GT500 pump DR3Z-6600-A is a good upgrade and a direct OEM replacement. A standard 4.6 3V oil pump pickup will match up to it. If yours is clogged you'll need to replace it. Therefore I recommend you pull the oil pan when you do the timing job to check. You may regret it later if you don't.

 

[86GT351]

@BIGGZ It would be wise to replace the oil pump while you already have the timing cover off to save you having to do it all over again later on. The 13-14 GT500 pump DR3Z-6600-A is a good upgrade and a direct OEM replacement. A standard 4.6 3V oil pump pickup will match up to it. If yours is clogged you'll need to replace it. Therefore I recommend you pull the oil pan when you do the timing job to check. You may regret it later if you don't.

Very good point

 

[MasterofDisaster]

Your engine has become a grenade with the pin pulled. ****

Once the pin is pulled, Mr Grenade is no longer our friend.

 

[BIGGZ]

Just got the car back from the mechanic timing kit installed, I do think the car runs smoother but the cold start metal clicking that I recorded in that video is still there. It lasts until I drive the car for about 10 minutes then stops. Happens periodically maybe once every 2 or 3 minutes and comes from the right bank. Not quite sure what it could be with full timing kit replaced, he said the internals on both sides looked great though so I have no idea.

 

[BIGGZ]

Just got the car back from the mechanic timing kit installed, I do think the car runs smoother but the cold start metal clicking that I recorded in that video is still there. It lasts until I drive the car for about 10 minutes then stops. Happens periodically maybe once every 2 or 3 minutes and comes from the right bank. Not quite sure what it could be with full timing kit replaced, he said the internals on both sides looked great though so I have no idea.

To the point where I’m not gonna fix it and I’m just gonna let it break, all the timing stuff is new so i don’t know what else I could do. No codes either.