Would anyone know the number of links between the bottom of the crank timing mark and the camshaft timing mark? 4.6 liter Romeo / w engine 1997.

 

Make sure the crankshaft keyway is at around the 11 o clock position. There is a timing mark on the crankshaft sprocket that holds the chains which will now be pointed straight down. Each camshaft sprocket has a dot on it used for timing. These should be pointed 90 degrees up from the top, flat surface of the head, like this...



Just put one of your marked chain links on the crank sprocket that points straight down and the other on the dot on the camshaft sprocket. Then install the pivot arm and chain tensioner.



Don't forget to then install the trigger wheel for the crank sensor before you put the timing cover back on. The engine won't start without it and it's easy to forget.

 

I'm loosing compression on cylinder one after a rebuild. I need to check the timing. The chain/marks will not line up unless I probably rotate it about 600 times. I have came to a point where they bottom and top do line up, but the crank is not pointing down and the cam is not point 90 degrees, but the marks are lining up. Can anyone tell me if this is right...Pics

 

We have an article on how to time that engine:

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...r-engines.html

 

Yeah thanks for the responses, but my question wasn't how do I set up the timing marks. My question was how many links are in between the top and bottom timing marks. After I posted the pictures I figured it out anyway. I'm having to go back in to engine after a rebuild. If the timing was bad then I would not need to take off the head. The timing is good so I have to take off the head. Couldn't just set up the timing marks again and hope for the best because redoing the timing and putting it back together only to figure out it is the head would have meant a lot more work. Anyway turns out after I rotated a couple of cogs round it lined up perfectly so now I have to figure out if the machine shop messed up or I did..... I have to remove head and investigate .

 

Before you pull the head, borescope that cylinder, pull the valve cover and check the followers on that cylinder.

 

I was thinking about getting a borescope, but wasn't exactly sure which one to get. Seems rather fiddly. At this point I have another rebuilt head ready to put on so should not take too long. In between my day job etc. I did a leak down test, but wasn't any the wiser. The original problem was it lost compression on 3 and 4. At the time I took it to a mechanic shop because I didn't have a compression tester and they said they tested all the cylinders and only 3 and 4 were coming up bad. So I pulled the engine in "pieces" and gave the block and two heads to the machine shop for rebuild. They did rebuild. Took them 2 months and I put it back together and I get misfire on cylinder 1. The funny thing is I looked at the original gasket and cylinder 1 look like it had been leaking; so I'm thinking the head is actually warped and machine shop didn't plane it right. I really hope that is all that is wrong with it. If they did the piston wrong or set it wrong I'm not even sure how I would check that other than put another cylinder head on. It could be a bent valve, but I'm fairly sure I did not do that. I'm usually quite meticulous.

 

Some parts stores rent/loan out borescopes and compression testers.

 

My replacement head cam shaft sprocket bolt is a different size. It did not come with sprocket or bolt. Any idea if there would be any other differences? It has the same casting # non PI.