Hey Fellas.

Going to look at an NF 5.0 in a few days.

Apparently has not alot of power. The bloke reckons a mechanic diagnosed it as needing a timing chain. Apparently goes smooth though.

He says he has played with the timing to no avail.

I'm thinking its unlikely that the chain is worn or has slipped, car has done 220K or so AFAIK.

I thought it would be more likely that:

1. The balancer has slipped
2. Cam timing has been set wrong when chain has been off
3. They just don't know how to set the timing
4. MAF is dirty/stuffed
5. Blocked cats
6. Worn throttle cable


For those here experienced in these, what are your thoughts? Obviously MAF and throttle cable are easy to check when I drive it, is a slipped balancer visually obvious?

1 = OEM balancers have a little bit of history in failure.
2 = possible.
3 = unless they put the engine into test mode to set base timing then that's possible too.
4 = easy to clean, easy to swap with a mate's working one.
5 = possible.
6 = if TB opens fully when pedal is opened all the way then no.

Things to also bear in mind; fuel filter may need to be replaced. Leads and plugs should be an automatic replacement as you can never be sure of them when buying S/H car.

Last edited by Vic on Wed Apr 13, 2011 10:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My balancer was obvious once we looked at it was nearly 180 degrees out, but it seemed like a real bad miss at first!

Ok Vic, thanks for that.

No idea on whether you can visually assess the condition of the balancer? I do hear about them going.

You hit the nail on the head regarding how I'll check the cable too.

The normal service items are a given, I'm just trying to find out what else will kill the power while still allowing it to run smoothly.

Thanks for that too. So safe to say it wont run very smoothly with the timing 180 degrees out?

With the engine off ( obviously! ) place your fingers on the balancer and try to move it back and forth. If it wiggles at all then the balancer requires replacement.

Will do. Thanks.

how would you guys recomend to clean the maf?

Well if you have a very delicate touch then you can take some Contact Cleaner or similar, spray it onto the hotwire and then very very gently, clean it with a cotton bud or like. Breaking the hotwire accidentally will set you back $$$'s.