heaviest oil for a Ford Explorer SOHC 4 liter?

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What is the heaviest oil I can use in a Ford Explorer SOHC 4 liter engine? Beleive 5w-30 is recomended. I have a timing change rattle at warm idle i want to reduce the noise. I do not want it to slap around so much (might slip time)and thought that thicker oil might help.

Fixing is not an option right now. Dealer wanted about $3,000 to fix front and rear timing chain issues.

Opinions?
 
You can try a 5W40 oil, or give Schaeffers #132 a try with the 5W30 oil you're presently using. It will thicken the oil slightly, and cause it to cling, which might quiet things down. It is a great product, we added it to a friends Chevy 250 I6 boat engine, and the sound of the engine and power improved. The product gets some great reviews here. I was able to buy as little or much as I want online without any minimum order hassle.
 
usually when the 4.0 SOHC's have the timing chain rattle its close to game over. replace all the chains, cassettes, tensioners and guides.

something in a thick 30wt or a 40wt might help for a while though.
 
Originally Posted By: Russell
What is the heaviest oil I can use in a Ford Explorer SOHC 4 liter engine? Beleive 5w-30 is recomended. I have a timing change rattle at warm idle i want to reduce the noise. I do not want it to slap around so much (might slip time)and thought that thicker oil might help.

Fixing is not an option right now. Dealer wanted about $3,000 to fix front and rear timing chain issues.

Opinions?

What year is that Explorer, and how many miles? What kind of oil did you use before?
 
Not sure whether a thicker oil is going to prevent the chain from slapping around if a tensioner is gone. I keep thinking of a motorcycle chain that's too loose. No lubricant in the world will keep it from dragging/slapping places it shouldn't be.

Speaking of which, I need to tighten the chain on my pit bike.
 
Originally Posted By: Superbuick96
Originally Posted By: Russell
What is the heaviest oil I can use in a Ford Explorer SOHC 4 liter engine? Beleive 5w-30 is recomended. I have a timing change rattle at warm idle i want to reduce the noise. I do not want it to slap around so much (might slip time)and thought that thicker oil might help.

Fixing is not an option right now. Dealer wanted about $3,000 to fix front and rear timing chain issues.

Opinions?

What year is that Explorer, and how many miles? What kind of oil did you use before?


Sorry. It is a 98 explorer eddie bauer with 130,000 miles. Currently has 5w30 conventional valvoline. Thought about adding lucas oil treatment. Heard it makes the oil cling better.
 
I had one of these. Are you on your first transmission? They tend to let go at 120k miles or so. If I had one of these still, I'd have an extra trans cooler and a magnefine.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
I had one of these. Are you on your first transmission? They tend to let go at 120k miles or so. If I had one of these still, I'd have an extra trans cooler and a magnefine.
What let go in the trans?
 
Not sure, never had one long enough. I had 2 of these actually, a '96 and then an 01.

The auto transmissions are known to go around 200k km's. I had two different friends who had to replace them at around these miles and the trans place said it was very common on the explorers for these to fail around those miles. Don't know what the issue is though.

unDummy could probably tell you.
 
STP oil treatment will quiet the rattle for about 1500 miles. This is only going to mask the problem you have, and no matter how thick the oil it is still going to rattle until it get fixed
 
Lucas will quiet it down too. None of these band-aids are going to help, but it might just quiet it down enough to get the cash together, or the time for the OP to tackle it himself. I wouldn't be riding around with it to long though, but that is a personality flaw I have.

AD
 
Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
If the noise is noisy and everyone can hear it and you are sure it is the timing chain replace it

This is a $5,000 to $6,000 vehicle at most. Not sure it justifies spending $3,000. Wife wants another car anyway. Looking at used Lexus RX330/350s.
 
Originally Posted By: ADFD1
Lucas will quiet it down too. None of these band-aids are going to help, but it might just quiet it down enough to get the cash together, or the time for the OP to tackle it himself. I wouldn't be riding around with it to long though, but that is a personality flaw I have. AD


Been driving it like this for 6 months at least. Only about 2,000 miles at most by wife round town. I sort of want to fix it and drive it another year or so. My wife really wants another vehicle see other post.
 
Originally Posted By: element_42
that 4.0L beast was made in Germany by Germans, so why not use a common German viscosity: 5w40?

A Ford engine made in Germany...why is it a piece of [censored] then.
 
If it is a hydraulic tensioner, then try a treatment like AutoRx to get the tensioners working. The last thing you want to do is blow the engine.

Having said that, I've put 15W-40 in one. The poor guy bought it new. at 1000 km they put an sc SAE 40 in it at the "authorized service shop" then again at 4000 km and 7000 km. When he came to me at 10,000 km, we put 5W-30 in it and quieted it down completely, but it was using a quart every 5000 km, so we uppped it to 15W-40 and reduced the consumption. The damage had already been done.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Bluestream
No heavy oil is going to do a thing for you here. Your vehicle is worth far less than $5000. Most dealers do not want these things on trade.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1508159&fpart=1

Go to the Explorer forum and search SOHC timing chain rattle.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=100

Be sitting down when you read the posts!


Read posts on the explorer forum. Did not like. I am also aware of the "potential" low trade in value. This is on ereason why we are still driving it.
 
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