Wait, are you referring to the drive belt tensioner, or the cam idler pulley? Been looking up parts this morning, and am a bit confused....

It's gotten pretty loud, and I'd like to change whatever it is asap. A bit embarrassing pulling into the neighborhood this morning.

Drove Jay's truck today and it's a bit of a road slug, not a bunch of power on tap like it should be and it feels like it's downshifting when you try to maintain speed (especially at 40mph). It really feels underpowered and the trans isn't doing all the things it should be. It might just need a good tune up and a decarb but it's hard to tell.

Looks like it needs more than that I'm afraid fellas. Had a nice long chat with Toasty while walking the rest of the way home.

Here's the events for today:

Started the truck this morning around 10am to try to find out where the front engine whine was coming from and pulled the IAC to test it. Put IAC back in and put air intake tube back on. Yes, the black hose was hooked back up.

Left the house around 12:30 to go meet Toasty, pick his brain and show off my new toy. Toasty drove my truck. I drove his wife's rig to compare power levels. Her truck with 35's has significantly more get up and go than mine. Especially now.

After leaving Toasty's place, I headed home, since I was brain dead enough to leave my shop keys at my house, and couldn't get Lloyds tires out of there. Decided, what the heck. Might as well see if it passes emissions. It did.

There is a long section of road from the emissions station to my area. Typically everyone does 65. So was I. Was shifting in and out of OD thinking maybe this engine sat for a while and just needed the ol' Sun City tune up. That's a retirement community out here for those who don't know. Basically hot rod the engine a bit to "burn the gunk out". Revs at 65 in OD about 3K. Revs out of OD 4K. Nothing excessive in my opinion.

Had the air cranked and the tunes blasting but noticed a ticking sound at 4k that I hadn't noticed before. Kept it in OD at 3k and it quieted down. Made the turn onto a side road and my ticking became a loud knocking and a big loss of power. Tried limping it home but knocking became louder and engine died. Will turn over but will not start. I'm not much of an engine guy, but I've never heard an engine sound like that. So, I'm waiting for my Dad to show up with his truck and a tow strap to at least get the rig home and go from there. Any ideas on where I should start looking?

Called the guy who sold me the Montero. A few insincere "I'm sorry"'s but claims he has no history of the engine prior to getting it. Fair enough, that's understandable, but I don't think he's going to help in any way. He says he resealed the engine. Put a new head on the drivers side due to the intake butterfly ruining it. Reman intake and that was it. Never checked the bottom end, or pulled the oil pan he said.

Pretty frickin' bummed right now for sure. Hopefully it won't be catastrophic, but knowing my luck with vehicles the past few years, I can see where this is headed.

Wow, sorry to hear this. Unfortunately, I am not a good judge of power since it has been awhile since I had a 3.5. But had the engine made any noises other then a idler pulley noise, I would have reccomended a lower price. It ran fine on a highway test drive as well. And you got it home.....And oil or temp issues?

I am still wondering about injectors. You can get them rebuilt on the cheap. Maybe starved for fuel? A dieing fuel pump can create similar results as well. Also easy to change on a Montero. Start with fuel pressure. I have an EXTREMELY hard time believing the engine is lunched, only because you just passed emissions. An engine that close to dieing a horrible death should be blasting out some emissions.

Yep, got it home and ran around in it today. No oil or temp issues. Pressure seemed normal on the gauge, and the temp gauge never made it past half way.

Another addition to help our "web troubleshooting":

After it died, with the key off I noticed a humming sound coming from the rear of the truck. Got out and opened the back, and stuck my head down by the drivers side rear tire and heard it coming from around the tank. Opened the filler to see if I could hear noise in the tank and a big "whoosh" of air came out. Not the normal bit of pressure you would expect, but a big rush of pressurized air. Now at the emissions station they hooked up a contraption to the filler, and had the cap on the end of a long tube. I'm assuming they pressurized the fuel system to check the cap integrity. I can't imagine any air being left in the system before putting my cap back on, as it would have rushed out already. This one confuses me, but I wonder if the noise I was hearing was from the fuel pump? Would a completely blocked fuel filter allow the tank to pressurized by the fuel pump? Not sure... Just throwing darts at a board to see what sticks at this point.

Wowa. The fuel pump is only supposed to run for a brief moment when you turn the key to on. And then of course while the engine is running. In no way should that fuel pump be running with the key off. I hate to throw parts at the thing, but the fuel pump is sure suspect. There is a hatch in the floor to change it. My thought is vapor lock, but for a fuel injected vehicle there has to be a cause, ie: a fuel delivery issue.

I can't say with 100% certainty it was the fuel pump making noise. I was in a bit of a panic at the moment, and we all know what the mind can do. Is there a way to check fuel pressure on this engine? Would that much noise be made by a lean/detonation condition? It sounded pretty bad.

Just to start looking into it, I took off the inspection cover on the timing belt to check for slack. Here are a few photos of that. After of course the truck ate my 10mm socket and I spent 10 minutes looking. Still can't find that darn thing...







Doesn't seem to be an excessive amount of play. Doesn't answer many questions at this point since I'm new to this engine, but maybe you guys will see something.

It's hard to tell if that is too much slack, i remember the timing belt being pretty firm though. put a socket on the crank and turn it by hand and see if the belt loses tension on the side leading to the cams.

Am i the only one here that can see the timing marks AREN'T lined up!!! BAD BAD BAD!!!

I see that too. But belt tension looks good. Do you suppose that yahoo put the top end back together wrong? Maybe it was close enough to run, but run poorly? But finally being off something bad happened? In which case the heads will have to come off again to inspect/ repair any valve damage.