Imagine if you will, a 4.0 that has good oil pressure and runs great. No complains other than the typical loud ticking noise they make. This particular noise is loudest upon startup and quiets down after warmup. When warm, at idle it's loud but if you load the engine at all, it goes away. I have been told everything from a cracked flexplate(it isnt) to bad lifters but I've come to another conclusion. This particular engine has 250K miles on it and has the original timing chain! My belief at this point is that the stretched chain is entirely responsible for this noise. Anyone care to comment?

 

Sounds good timing chain shouldve been changed already.

 

That's my thought, and it sounds like a chain noise anyway