Thumping clunking noise under front cover
 

Could I have reinstalled my timing chain in such a way that there should be an audible clunking noise coming from the front cover? When I took delivery of this junkyard 3.8 V6 the first thing beforehand was installing a new timing-chain and gears; oil-pump and water pump; crank-sensor and cam-phaser. I was so sure this’d give the engine new life. That was about 6yrs ago but it’s run with this clunking noise ever since. I truly doubt that a spun(or destroyed) bearing would have been as forgiving as to allow me to continue to drive this thing for as long—and I don’t drive sparingly all the time. I’ve broken the 100mph mark once or twice. I’ve driven it many miles—in fact we just completed a trip from NY to NC. I’m about to do a water pump on it soon and wonder if I should bother go into it as far as those items reside to see if I’d misplaced something when I first installed them. If I misaligned the timing gears out of sync with the balance shaft gear could this account for the clunking?
On top of that, could a misaligned balance shaft; timing-gears(crank or camshaft) account for an intermittent engine surge that’s causing me to keep cracking front and rear engine mounts? I unplugged the IAC valve and run without it to cure this problem, but this throws a check engine light. Then I worry I’m slowly ruining some other system driving it this way. Should the fuel system cause this surging? I’m going to change my fuel filter and see if that helps. Any recommendations for that procedure—could I invite another issue in doing so with the car in this stage? Wonder if my pressure regulator could be a culprit. It seems such a simple part I can hardly see it causing as large an issue as the surging. Shouldn’t I be able to do some quick check to diagnose a bad regulator?

While you are in there, suggest you check for crankshaft end ply. If the thrust bearings were allowed to wear and you had no idea at the time the engine was installed, that might be worth checking.
Check as much as you can and go over what you replaced, sometimes a step can be overlooked and nothing bad happens, but other times it lets us know.

So I had a guy check my charging system who noticed my battery wasn’t charging. I did need a jump subsequently. He recommended an alternator—I acquiesced. Have yet to recheck but still having the overrevving. When I remove the connector from the IAC it goes away. That IAC is only 2 months old.

Some imported "stuff"is a little short on quality. Where did you purchase the replacement IAC ?

Honestly I get all my parts from Autozone. This is because they offer a lifetime warranty on all their parts. Incidentally I went to a new local store and had them recheck the charging system. Everything checked out; battery, starter and charging(alternator). I must observe that at the time the first guy checked the charging system, he went positive to positive and negative alligator clip to ground screw. And I must add that the IAC was connected. Whenever that is connected the idle runs away/—when unplugged the idle and rpm’s go back to normal. I’m now wondering if that circuit isn’t shorting out and causing a drain on the battery enough to kill it; and the erratic rpms?

When the key is off, there should be no power available at the IAC. If there is then there is a problem with the PCM.

What year is the vehicle? Some charging systems are controlled by the PCM, important to know what year you have.

Do you know where the IAC you purchased was made? LOTS of imported "STUFF" is defective right out of the box.
There is a recommended procedure to be followed when replacing an IAC, did you follow that procedure?

If it is guaranteed, just get another one and see what you get.

This is an ‘03 Windstar. Y’know I can only tell that ou the part is a Duralast part from Autozone. I truly have not followed any specific method of swapping out that IAC. I’ve actually just swapped it out without care. I’d unplugged the IAC which does trigger a check engine lamp, but at least the idle is steady after reaching normal operating temperature

A lesson learned, when possible try stick with OEM parts, your choice..

Funny thing is there’re so few things Ford even carries for this vehicle. I replaced the oxygen sensor and guess what—the same one offered by Ford was the same offered at Autozone. I’m taking it one day at a time. I celebrated success changing a leaky power steering line. Tomorrow’s a lower radiator hose; just putting out fires as they pop up.Biggest concern now; keeping these batteries charging

Something you might consider,

You are going to drain the radiator to replace the upper hose, while it is empty, might be a good time to do the lower hose also. If one hose is bad the other cannot be far behind.
One trip for the both hoses instead of two trips plus doing the drain and fill and check for leaks all done at one time Cheaper to do both , what do you think?