So last night I was minding my own business, driving my car home, enjoying the last 2 days with her before she gets stores for the winter.

I go to pull away from the light and boom, feels like I dropped a muffler...car is all of a sudden loud, sounds like a rusty 1984 GMC pick up, runs like crap, slow and jerky. It stinks like off-road pipes and it's shaking so badly my chair feels like a massaging seat.

Luckily I was near home, and put the hazard lights on and limped her to the parking garage...I got out while it was running to see if I could hear the problem closer. The engine was making all kinds of awful ticking and clacking noises, and under the car near the headers it was SOOO loud...rattling. The shifter was shaking really badly too...RPMs all over the place. Also, it was a bit lopey sounding, but in a bad way.

I was freaking out obviously...my older neighbour kept trying to tell me it was water in the gas. I was trying to be polite but I knew we had gone WAY past bad gas at this point.

Went back to stock tune...a bit better but the idling level was horrible (as it should be) so I went back to the tune and the same thing. I thought for sure it would explode at any moment.

My Ford dealer came with a trailer last night and picked it up, which was awesome. Apparently word at the shop is that its the Variable Cam Timing Solenoid. They've ordered one and will install it in the morning, so hopefully that fixes it.

Anyone else have this problem or ever heard of it? It was so sudden, no warning. 13,322kms on the ODO.

K

 

Thats a new problem on me, haven't heard of that one yet. Best of luck to you, keep us updated on the diagnosis!!

 

I agree^^^ First I have heard of this issue. I am sure you will get your car fixed quickly. Let us know all about it so we can learn with you.
Scott

 

Wow, that's not something you would want to go out. Make sure if there are any future problems with the engine, that this is quoted.

 

Hopefully it didn't cause valves to be open when they shouldn't (as in with the piston at tdc). Might want them to o-scope it if they can, to look in the cylinders and see if there was any contact. I don't know how these cams and solenoids work together, and could be way off base, there might be no way even with the solenoid going bad that there would ever be any contact. I just think it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

Thanks guys. I'll be touching base with my dealer today before lunch to see if the part has come in and if that fixes the issue. I can't believe something that seems so small could make everything so messed up.

If you picture the engine and car, when normal, functioning like little soldiers marching in step to a beat, my car was like a bunch of football players running around in a gym every which way, flailing their arms around, smashing into each other...everything was just out of sync and tripping itself up...it was so weird.

K

 

Hope you get it fixed..........

 

Makes sense that something like this could be caused by that part. I also can't imagine they would've designed such a mass-produced engine with any chance of this part failure causing major engine damage. That's putting an awful lot of potential warranty money in the hands of such a small electrical part.

Anxious to hear the diagnosis/answer.

 

broken valve spring?

cam timing soleniod --oops. i missed that while reading the 1st post.

 

I'd have to do some research on how the VVT works but I have to agree with 97SVT. The cams are still mechanically linked to the crankshaft by the timing chain. I believe the solenoid just allows the valves to operate off of a different set of lobes.

 

Guys I'd love to give you an update but unfortuantely it dumped 60cms + of snow last night and the Ford Parts Truck didn't make its rounds of deliveries.

My dealer has a tech coming in super early so that should the part arrive, it'll be installed ASAP.

Will keep you updated. All I know is that it was horrible and I care to never see my car in that shape again. I felt like a mother with a really sick child!

K

 

I'm going to have to read up on this VVT as well. I can't see how a solinoid can provide anything variable as it is either on or off. I would rather expect a synchro servo type network to provide an electronic VVT. I am familiar with the mechanical VVT the Nissan used in their mid 90s 3L V6s where they had a dual sleeve cam sprocket where the inner sleeve bolted to the cam and the outer sleeve had the chain teeth. A spring connected the two sleeves and would flex under the inertia and centrifical force during acceleration. When one of these springs would break the only indication would be a louder than normal clicking from the valve train in the engine. Like when you back off on the rocker arms of the old 289 engines. There would be no noticeable difference in performance.

The worst that should happen is that the motor will be running at one end of the VVT offset or the other. I can't imagine it causing the problems that were described. I'm subscribing to see what the dealer finally replaces to fix this problem.

BB

 

OK, I was wrong about the lobes. Here's what the shop manual says:

"The VCT oil control solenoid is an electrically controlled hydraulic valve that directs engine oil to the variable camshaft. Once the PCM transmits a signal, the solenoid moves a valve spool, directing oil into the camshaft phaser cavity. This action changes valve timing by either inducing an advance or retard condition. The camshaft is thereby repositioned in relation to crankshaft timing and allows for optimum engine performance and lower emissions."

 

OK!

Car is fixed!

I spoke briefly to the tech and he said that it WAS the cam timing solenoid. He brought me the failed part to look at and I took a couple of pictures. There's a small shaft inside that moves up and down and I guess it wasn't doing it's job, so all the timing was off in the engine. Valves were opening when they weren't supposed to, which expalins why the engine was shaking so badly and my tailpipes are BLACK from unburned fuel. He couldn't explain why it would fail but it just did. Covered fully under warranty.

It makes me nervous that a part like that that's so critical could randomly fail but I guess that's what happens sometimes. He also said that the timing wasn't off bad enough that it caused any internal damage (i.e. valves vs. pistons etc) and the engine didn't need to be "re-timed" as he put it. I don't really know what that part means...by the way, he also said that little hole on the side of it, there's a screw that goes in to mount it to the engine and he was nervous about that part because if you drop the screw, it goes into the engine and you'd have to yank the whole thing and take it all apart. BOO!

Car runs like a champ again, just in time to put it away.

 

Cograts on getting it fixed!! Just out of curiosity, how much work was it to get to the solenoid? was it buried deep in the engine or was it accessible?

 

To be honest I didn't ask the tech - that's him holding the solenoid there in the picture. He said that the thing is buried in the engine about up to where his fingers are, with just the sensor plug sticking out. There's also a round dust cover not pictured that slides on to the solenoid just below the top, to act as a sealer. He said the solenoid is screwed in to the top of the engine just under the valve covers. Obviously I didn't see him do all the work so I can't give you first hand experience. I think it didn't take long to change out, just the hassle of it all and the part about being careful with that little screw.

All covered under warranty, thank goodness!

 

If you guys look at your cam covers you will see the top of the Solenoid sticking out with the electrical plug plugged in top. It is toward the front of the engine. Cam cover has to be removed and then I think it is just one small screw that holds it in place. and then it simply lifts out. Curious how much labor time under warranty did they bill for?

Richard

 

Hell, I'm just impressed they fixed it under warranty with your mods. Are they normally mod friendly? Good on ya...glad you got her fixed!!!

 

There is a VCT oil control solenoid on each cylinder head. The spool valve (controlled by the PCM) regulates the flow of oil to the phaser cavity which retards/advances the timing as needed. I doubt the phaser cavity would allow enough timing variance to cause catastrophic valvetrain failure (PTV contact) since the VCT system was designed primarily to improve emissions and fuel economy.

 

It was already determined it was the cam timing solenoid that failed ? It had nothing to do with the oil control solenoid