Lohki

Looking to see if anyone can help. I have a stock 2011 mustang gt. A month ago it snapped an intake valve and threw codes for all 4 vvt solenoids. I fixed the valve problem and put the motor back together. I also replaced all 4 solenoids but on startup I get a check engine light and codes show for all 4 the solenoids again. I can clear them and drive around with out the light coming on. But after I shut the car off and go back to start it they come back again. If anyone has experience with this issue I'd appreciate some help. If it helps I can send a scan log from my hp tuner. I'm kinda thinking the cams may be advanced and the stock tune is looking for the reg setting. I have the hp tuners vcm suite with scanner and editor but have not learned enough to mess with the cams advance or retard settings.

houtex

Welcome to the forums!

Ok, so most things that might come up in here as possible fixes/things are going to have to be taken with a grain of salt for this reason:
[quote]I'm kinda thinking the cams may be advanced and the stock tune is looking for the reg setting. I have the hp tuners vcm suite with scanner and editor but have not learned enough to mess with the cams advance or retard settings.[quote]

A non-stock car can invalidate a lot of known fixes for stock situations. Every modified car winds up being different and having different issues that makes them... uh, different. Point being we can say "IT'S THIS!" and for a stock car, yep it is. But yours? Not so much. So keep that in mind.

Now then... is this advancement on purpose and you played with the mechanical timing, put locks on the sprockets, or...? This is important. If you don't have base timing right, if you don't have the engine set up stock on the stock tune, all other things go out the window and you fix that first. If this was done on purpose because race car, this is not that kind of forum, for the most part, and you need a speed shop instead. Oh, we'll throw answers at you, but that's the real deal, IMO.

If it's stock mechanically, but you have a tune in the thing that advanced the timing, go put the stock tune in it and get it back to running on that. Then go messing with things. As you state, you don't know how to mess with it, and if you've got a tune in there from a previous set up, no, it's not going to be happy. The conditions of things have changed with your reset of the timing and such, most likely, and it's trying to get back there... and can't.

Also... snapping a valve in the 4v 5.0? Um... That doesn't sound so great for whatever cylinder that was in... if not the entire engine... so now, not knowing the full and complete history from valve snap to current situation, what all has been done to the motor... Not saying you didn't get it right, but... yeah. Be curious to know what happened to the valve, where it went/what it did/what the damage all was...

Anyway. Stock everything. Get that happy. Then go build back up from there.

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All the things involved, maybe they point you in a direction that helps:

Grounds for wiring.
Wiring to/from ECU and solenoids, and all connectors thereto.
Solenoids
Cam Position Sensors
Crank Position Sensors
Cam Sprockets
Main timing and timing of the cams at the heads.
Oil pressure
Oil type/weight/condition
Cams themselves.
Valvetrain. (followers and lash adjusters)
Head (pedestals for all things, was it shaved, were the heads cc'd to compensate)
Pistons (if replaced/fixed/?)

And with that lengthy list of possibles, I'd suggest you get the Ford Mustang Shop Manual for the diagnostics, wiring diagram, etc. And then also get the Forscan software and the cable (if you don't have one it likes) so you can properly ask/monitor/test things directly on the car before you start throwing parts at the thing. The car will almost directly tell you what it needs, but you have to have the right tools to hear it. Or, if you're not inclined to do that, go take the car to a mechanic who can do this and has the knowhow and tools.

Finally... if you didn't use Ford parts... might be it. Go look up FordTechMakuloco on them Metoos. He works mostly on trucks, but whether 5.0 or 4.6 or 5.4, a lot of the same things happen on all of them. And one thing he is particular because he keeps running into it is this: Buy OEM. Coils, sensors, solenoids... aftermarket typically is a problem. So if you replaced all the solenoids and they weren't Ford... well... yeah.

That's not to say aftermarket doesn't work, as I've got a replacement TiVCT solenoid on my left bank on my car. Cheap parts cannon shot that was due to circumstances of 'can't wait', works, leavin' it for now. If they go out I'll put OEM on it next time because I should have the 'can't wait' not be applicable at that point... one would hope anyway. But then I also tried an aftermarket throttle motor for my OEM one that was toast, and that was a disaster Thing fit, but locked the butterflies. What the heck. So I hadda get the entire OEM throttle body, and fixed. Hit or miss on them aftermarkets for stuff, especially electrically speaking. If you can get the OEM, you should if possible.

I hope that somehow maybe possibly helps. Good luck, let us know!

Lohki

Thanks for the reply.
here's a bit more info.
I'm unsure exactly why the valve broke. I did have it fixed both heads shaved, ccd and valve job done. New oem timing chains tensioner and guides where used setting up with the base timing setup I used before.
The solenoids are also new oem ones. However when I went to the dealer to get them the original solenoids have been replaced with a different version that required me to change the plug-in with an oem pigtail replacement. The new wires had 2 green wires that looked exactly the same. I took an old solenoid before cutting the old plug and seen how it was mounted and plugged in nothing which wire was on which side when plugged in. I then took the new one and put the connector on and matched the wires to how the old plug in was.
the car is still on a stock tune I havent started changing any parameters in the tune.

houtex

GREAT information! Thanks, that helps.

So the thing that is glaring to me is the swap of solenoids. Now, I've had to rewire my '06 Mustang's A/C fan as they changed to a different plug... and it hurt immensely to cut my OEM original harness to make it work, but the fan came with everything including the pigtail and the shrinkwrap... all of it. Instructions too. One stop shopping and all that. Ford meant for this to be a thing. I did what they said by their book and it worked exactly as it should.

So if your OEM solenoids came with all that, instructions as well, then great, they should be correct. If they didn't come with instructions, there might be your issue.

Just something to think about. Don't suppose you could give us the part numbers of the before and after on those parts, eh? That might be helpful in sleuthing further.

Thanks again for the post!

Lohki

The instructions was very limited. Didn't have a wiring diagram. Basically just told me to cut the old plug and wire in the new. Solder it and then use the included heat shrink tube.
I've thought about taking it back apart and swaping the 2 wires around to see if that fixes it.

Lohki

The stick ones I dont have anymore to pull the number from. But I can get the number for the new ones off my invoice when I get home after work

Lohki

Here's the part numbers off my invoice.
solenoid BR3Z 6M280 E
pigtail wire assembly BU2Z 14S411 AYA