It appears the Ford 3.0L Vulcan engines are known for the camshaft synchronizers failing, which in the worst case can cause the oil pump to stop and damage the engine. I noticed a few other Ford engines use this camshaft synchronizer design so I was curious, is the camshaft synchronizer's shaft typically used to drive the oil pump? Does this problem affect other Ford engines in the same way?
Also, does anyone know what are the typical failure modes for this part? It appears that the bushings start going bad, which leads to play in the shaft and then causing the gear to slowly get chewed up. Would preventative maintenance be that owners should periodically lubricate the synchronizer? You can pop the cap and put a few drops of oil into the assembly, which lubricates the bushings.
I checked my synchronizer on my 2008 Ford Ranger for the first time @ 160,000 kms (owned since new) and everything looked good, but as preventative maintenance I'll be checking and lubricating this part more often.
Here's a good article on this failure:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/camshaft_position_sensor.shtml
Also, does anyone know what are the typical failure modes for this part? It appears that the bushings start going bad, which leads to play in the shaft and then causing the gear to slowly get chewed up. Would preventative maintenance be that owners should periodically lubricate the synchronizer? You can pop the cap and put a few drops of oil into the assembly, which lubricates the bushings.
I checked my synchronizer on my 2008 Ford Ranger for the first time @ 160,000 kms (owned since new) and everything looked good, but as preventative maintenance I'll be checking and lubricating this part more often.
Here's a good article on this failure:
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/camshaft_position_sensor.shtml