I drive a 2000 ford explorer and the other day I took my car into a mechanic because it started acting funny. About 2-3 weeks ago my car died on me and when I started it up it wouldn't accelerate as fast. Then Sunday I started it up and it accelerated even slower. After dropping it off yesterday at the shop and calling today for an update, the guy told me that he thinks the timing chain jumped, and the camshaft timing was off or something. Asked how much it might cost and said it would be $1800 :'(. And for that, i dunno, rather buy another car :/. I don't have much knowledge about cars and was wondering if any of y'all could elaborate on this?

You might want to have him check the rotary girder and mass spectrometer.

 

Those could be your issue.

If thats not it, have him look at the flux capacitor. When that thing goes, your in trouble.

Check engine light come on? is it flashing?

 

Is it making any noises?

 

How long has it been since you serviced the fuel filter? some models may be incorporated in the tank unit.

 

Did you just stop and get gas from a station you normally dont use? fuel could be contaminated.

 

Could be your catalytic converter is damaged.

 

Wide open field of issues that it could be, on top of the timing chain issue.

If thats not it, have him look at the flux capacitor. When that thing goes, your in trouble.

 

You might want to have him check the rotary girder and mass spectrometer.

 

Those could be your issue.

 

I'm suprised you guys forgot how important the muffler bearings are in these cases !

I'm suprised you guys forgot how important the muffler bearings are in these cases !

http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=48

Flux capacitor, muffler bearings, and mass spectrometer notwithstanding, I would take it somewhere else and get something more than "I think it jumped time" before spending any serious money. It could be many things and a good mechanic should be able to diagnose it before spending a lot of time and money fixing things that may not be broken. How much money to put in old car is hard to know...good luck.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=237071

Shoulda bought a Shimano.....

The garage figured it out and they don't even want to fix it. Don't have the specialty tools to do it and it's about 15-20 hours of work. Called the ford dealership down the road and they said it would cost between $2000-5000 dollars depending on which chain or belt or whatever it was that needed to be fixed. My car only bluebooks for like 3500, and thats in good working order. Time for a new car.

 

He said specs on the inline for the roatary girder looked fine though. Don't think it was that.

If I had this car in my shop, I would advise against making the repair. If that is indeed the problem, it ain't worth fixing. Good luck car hunting!

I don't know that I'd make a decision based on an estimate made by someone who did not even look at the car.  Your mechanic "thinks" the timing chain jumped. Is he sure? Before you dump the car, I'd get another mechanic to look at it. It could be a lot simpler problem. It may be just me, but I don't trust dealerships. They always try to sell me work I don't need so they can hit the target dollars to get their bonus. 

Before I buy a new car though, I think I'm just going to get as much use out of it as possible. Drive this son of a gun into the ground!

Had a similar problem with my Jeep Liberty, turned out to be the crankshaft sensor was bad. Cost me like 45 for the part and about 10 minutes in labor.

Definitely get a second mechanic to look at it.