3.0l cam sync permanent fix, never replace again

[MdntRanger50]

If you ever take a cam sync apart. There is a seal in the bottom half that has to be in there so it wont have a vacuum leak through the cam sync. This causes a problem because the top part of the cam sync has a bronze bushing that is lubricated with grease from the factory, the lower half gets lubed by engine oil. After a while and miles the grease in the top half dries out then the bushing starts wearing. With no way to regrease the bushing it eventually wears and causes failure. I install a grease fitting in all of my cam syncs. I have done the mod in 3.0l, 5.0l, 4.0l, and 4.2l engines. You only have to put a little squirt in there every 25k miles and it will last forever. The short of it. Remove the small welch plug in the housing boss on the side of the cam sync, clean any crud out, center punch the outside of the bushing, slowing drill a hole through the bushing till it barely breaks through )dont go too far because you will be drilling into the shaft), then install a hammer in zerk fitting, you can grease it forever after this, while it is installed.

 

[MdntRanger50]

 

[Craig0320]

Good job and good info. Thank you.

 

[MdntRanger50]

Thank you. I have been into rangers, Mustangs, explorers, and f150s for some 27 years now. I had a ton of little fix it articles like this over on Ranger Power Sports (RPS) was a member there since 2001, now that the site has been gone for a couple of years I lost all of them. Sad deal. I had a lot about my 2 v8 rangers on there, one was kenne bell supercharged at one time, the other i built the hot side for a turbo system on it then went back to NA.

 

[8thTon]

Interesting - if that is how they made them no wonder they fail. I've never seen a full distributor with a greased bearing, so I wonder why they would have done that?

I'll have to grab one from the junkyard and take a look - the mod looks pretty straightforward to do.

 

[cbxer55]

It's all good if you want to go to the trouble of doing this. I don't. My old 98 3.0, once a month or so, I remove the sensor off the doohickey, squirt some 20W-50 oil into it. Watch for the oil level to go down after squirting it in. maybe squirt a second one in there. Put the sensor back on and keep driving it. Has 162,000 miles on it right now. Going to go out in a little bit, and do it again. Takes me maybe five minutes to do. Usually outside anyways, smoking a big fat cigar and drinkun some beer.

I use a small syringe to do this, so it's not adding significantly to the crankcase oil. In any vent, it uses a small amount every 3000 miles, less than half a quart.

 

[MdntRanger50]

Its no trouble if you do it when replacing a cam sync or you have the engine out for some reason. I wouldnt do it just because, not the point of the post.

 

[MdntRanger50]

That hour of time you spend every year squirting oil in your doohickey could be spent putting a zerk in it one time then never have to worry about it again. 2 second grease squirt every 5 years while pulling you pud

 

[RonD]

Ford's idea of "lifetime" lubed parts is much different than ours,

Zerk fittings are no longer used on any parts so I guess its not just Ford, lol

 

[8thTon]

Which way does the zerk fitting end up being oriented when installed?

 

[Craig0320]

Its no trouble if you do it when replacing a cam sync or you have the engine out for some reason. I wouldnt do it just because, not the point of the post.

Was thinking along the same lines as you.

 

[MdntRanger50]

I agree, Ford's "lifetime" lubed is a few decades short of my standards lol.. I have even drilled and tapped balls joints and tie rod ends to install grease fittings.

The 3.0l zerk points towards the cam sync hold down bolt. The 4.2l and 5.0l syncs i actually tapped for a screw in zerks. The 4.2l has a 45 degree but the 5.0l boss is in a gay location, directly in the back toward the intake. Its the easiest one to get to though. It can be marked in postion then turn the housing around to grease then rotated back to the mark and secured back down without removing it.

 

[MdntRanger50]

 

[cbxer55]

I put all new front end parts on mine last July, specified grease fittings on the upper and lower control arms and the tie rod ends. Greased the hell out of them when done installing. Bought all parts from NAPA. Hopefully they last as long as the stock ones did. The roads out here are front suspension killers.

Far as the cam sync, if I ever have to replace it, I'll do as this thread suggests. Mean time, the five minutes every month is nothing to me. I'm outside smoking a cigar anyways, it's no trouble at all to do as I mentioned earlier. Costs less as well. Why fix it if it isn't broke? My front end was close to broke, so that got fixed. My cam sync shows no signs of being broke, so I'll roll with it. If it does break, the Ranger goes to the scrappers. I've had it 19 years. No love lost if it goes away. It's my beater so my Lightning doesn't get abused by Mother Nature.

 

[MdntRanger50]

Well your sync will probably last forever since you oil it regularly, good deal. Nice lightning too, its super awesone! Thanks