Thanks I email him and ask. I always wondered how anyone could bend a crank by hitting something with the blade well now I'm one of them. I was in a rush, mowing as fast as that thing would go. I knew there is a stump at the tree line but on that unfortunate day, whamm. I did a bone head maneuver. Wide open and it stopped instantly! Talk about a sick feeling. So bought a crank $39 and two seals $10 and got to work. Just need to figure out where that mark is on the crank. For those of you wondering what I think of the mower(4 yrs old now). It has run excellent everytime, every year I've owned it. Starts first pull everytime, even after being winterized. It does surge a little if the temps are down in the 40's but goes away after 30-45 seconds when it warms up. No oil leaks, no burning oil. I never have had to add oil even after the whole summer has past. So I give it a thumbs up.

The only information that I've got is for the 1992, 2.3 L engine in the Ford Topaz. (It's probably the same basic layout as for the pickup truck.) So, with this warning, here's the information for the car engine. There should be two timing marks: one on the crank grear and one on the cam gear. These are punch or drill point marks. Both gears are keyed to their shafts. There is an inside and outside face for the gears. The timing marks face to the outside. The chain will have to be placed on the gears before sliding the gears onto the shafts. This may not be easy since one or both of these gears may be press fits. If you encounter a press fit, just take it easy and press each part a little at time while keeping the chain aligned. The object is to avoid damage to the chain. The keyway on the cam shaft points toward the crank. The key on the crank points straight up (and not toward the cam shaft). After the chain and sprockets are in place, the timing marks (on the sprockets) should point toward each other and be in-line with the center-line of the cam shaft and crank. (The crank key will not be on this line.) Slowly rotate the engine by hand to check for interference with a valve. If all seems ok, then check the rotor position in the distributor. It should be ok since it was not removed, but here's the check anyway. With piston no.1 at top-dead-center (TDC) and on the compression stroke (both intake and exahust valves closed), the rotor in the distriburor should point toward the electrode (in the cap) for No. 1 sparkplug. Hopefully, none of the pistons hit a valve when the chain broke. While the timing chain cover is off, it might be a good idea to flush out the oil pan to remove any debris therein, like broken chain parts. Tiny pieces probably won't cause a problem so long as these are too large to pass by the oil pump intake screen. However, larger pieces may get bounced about and caught between close passing moving parts. You can use used engine oil as a flush fluid, or a mild cleaner such as kerosene.

Replace the timing belt - Don't gamble on this. If you decide to trade the vehicle at 100,000 miles, it will be worth more with a replaced belt than trying to sell it with a trashed engine. [A few overhead cam engines are free turning - pistons won't hit the valves if the belt breaks. I don't take a chance on this until I know for sure; Always assume the pistons will hit the valves until proven otherwise.]

If you're getting timing chain noise at startup, try using a different oil filter. Some filters just don't have a very good anti-drainback valve design and this results in the timing chain noise because the hydraulic tensioner isn't getting oil fast enough because the anti-drainback valve didn't do what it's name says it does. Ford had issued a TSB about timing chain startup noise on the '95 Contour/Mystique--they went so far as to redesign their FL-820 oil filter with a silicone anti-drainback valve to fix the problem, and it did.