timing marks on 1994 F-150 4.9L?

I've owned my 1994 F-150 since new, and live in California with our biannual smog inspection.

Two years ago I took my truck (4.9L 6-cylinder 300hp) to a small one-man shop to be smogged. Everything passed, except he couldn't verify the timing was correct. He was looking at the marks stamped on the Engine Front Cover, driver's side, and he said the timing was WAY off, he couldn't even see the mark on the pulley. After fiddling around for awhile he finally found the Timing Pointer which was actually on the passenger's side, and there the mark on the pulley showed the timing correct.

He passed me, but now that I have to get it smogged again I looked at the engine myself. The marks on the Engine Front Cover are very visible and look to me like timing marks. The Timing Pointer on the passenger's side is very hard to see, almost hidden by the serpentine belt and doesn't look like my first choice as a place to check the timing.

What gives? Is the timing checked at the Timing Pointer on the passenger's side or at the stamped marks on the Engine Front Cover? Help!

- Fred

Reply to
Fred the Second
Loading thread data ...

I'm not clear on what you mean by 'front engine cover'. The timing gear cover is at the front of the engine and the timing marks are located about at 10 o'clock. There is a small gauge showing 0 and timing degrees both before and after top dead center. That is where initial timing is checked. The vehicles computer controls timing.

Hope this helps.......

Dave S(Texas)

Reply to
putt

Dave, thanks for the response.

When I referred to the "front engine cover" I was using Ford's shop manual nomenclature - I suppose it is also the timing gear cover. The timing gear cover has marks stamped into the metal at about the 2 o'clock position (lines marked 16, 12, 8, 4, 0), and those are what I would normally think were timing marks, easy to see and nothing in the way. At the 10 o'clock position, almost hidden from view behind the serpentine belt is a curved, notched piece of metal which follows the curve of the pulley (the shop manual calls it a timing pointer), and which has a large notch in the middle and 10 or so smaller notches on either side.

I just want to have some information in case I run into another smog shop which doesn't know where to check the timing.

Thanks!

- Fred

Reply to
Fred the Second

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.