Can anyone tell me how to trouble shoot a tensioner that is not tighting only on the passenger side of the motor? The driver side has no noise at all.

My '98 Expy has 200,000 and I was hearing some clattering going on under the front cover on the passenger side. The chain on the passenger side was indeed loose when I first pulled the cover. I replaced all of the timing chains, tensioners, cam gears, etc. I thought it was just a bad tensioner, however after about 2-3 days of driving with the new stuff installed, the noise is back. Someone on the F150 post said it could be the Cam ladder is clogged not letting the oil flow to the tenisioner.

Question 1: Can I remove the CAM ladder without having to lock down the crankshaft with the holding tool?

Qestion 2: If I pull the front cover and the valve cover, then remove the CAM ladder, can I force air from a compressor back from the tensioner location up through the CAM area to try and clean out the pathway.

Many thanks for any help anyone can give me.

 

Yes. You'll need to remove the rocker arms/followers to remove tension from the cam and ladders first though.
Probably. There's plugs on either side of the head, the driver's side is towards the rear of the engine, the passenger's side is towards the front, little allen pipe plugs that you can check oil pressure to the heads and tensioners at. I'd start there before taking anything apart. Might be able to try forcing some air through those plugs and seeing if that helps any.

 

Thanks Quintin.

How would I go about checking the pressure at the plug if I take the front cover off? I'm still a backyard mechanic and learned most everything I know from books and other people. I really appreciate the help on these forums.

 

I think you'd make a huge mess if you ran the engine with the timing cover off.