Three days of hell on a 2015 F-150 timing chain job

Had a 2015 F-150 come in two weeks ago with a rattling timing chain on the 3.5 EcoBoost. Thought it would be a straightforward 6 hour job but the timing chain tensioner bolt snapped off flush in the block. Spent three days drilling and extracting that stupid bolt, had to pull the whole front cover again after I messed up the alignment marks. Has anyone else had issues with those bolts seizing up on higher mileage 3.5s?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_tessa25d ago

Dude that sounds like an absolute nightmare. Its honestly just how everything is going these days. Nothing is simple anymore. You try to fix one small thing and suddenly you're three days deep, your knuckles are bleeding, and you've lost all faith in humanity. I swear the universe is just laughing at us all the time. Every single plan I make gets hit with some stupid unexpected bolt or broken part.

the_linda24d ago

Honestly that line about "lost all faith in humanity" hit me hard because that's exactly where I was staring at that broken bolt. Ngl, I feel like the universe is out to get me sometimes too, like I'm cursed to spend half my life just staring at engine blocks and questioning my career choices. I know people swear by heat and penetrating oil, but every time I try it I just end up burning my knuckles on a hot engine and getting nothing done. At this point I'm convinced those tensioner bolts are forged from pure spite and hate. Tbh, if my grandkids ask what I did with my life, I'll just show them a picture of a timing chain and say "here's where my soul went to die.

riley4325d ago

Did you try heat on the bolt before you started drilling? I've had good luck with a propane torch on those aluminum blocks. Get it hot, hit it with some PB Blaster, and the expansion usually lets it break free. On these high mileage EcoBoosts I always blast the bolts with penetrating oil the night before and hit them with an impact gun while the block is still warm from running. Saves you from having to extract anything.