Rough idle, P0011

[Badd GT]

Man I'm a dumbass

2 months ago I put a new timing chain on my old (30yrs.) Dodge truck w/ 195000 miles cause it was running like shit. Got it all back together and it still ran like shit. Put new plug wires on it and it ran like new!! Who's the dumbass

 

[AbdullaGT500]

Wait a minute, have I been messing with the wrong side of the engine this whole time? Is Bank 1 the passenger side? I'm confused, some places say P0011 is the Bank 1 cam(which I'm reading is passenger side) and some others say P0011 is the left cam...which is it? Maybe that's been my issue, I'm looking for a problem in the wrong freaking place.

Bank 1 is always the side with Cylinder #1, so it differs from makes/models/engines.

 

[Phil1098]

no, you realized a mistake and corrected it. just like most of us.

More like all of us if the truth were told. If you work on shit, things don't go right every time. Nobody here is going to throw any stones at you, we're hoping you get it fixed and get back to having fun with your car.

 

[ghunt81]

Welp found the problem. Pulled the passenger side VCT solenoid, it had metal chips on it. Also noticed the reluctor on the phaser is off, so probably some chips got in there too. That's what I get for not checking the cams before I installed them...sigh. Another new phaser and solenoid ordered...

 

[Phil1098]

Where did the chips come from?

 

[ghunt81]

They look like chips from machining...so I'm going to say from the end of the cam where they machined out the oil passage and threaded hole for the phaser.

 

[Phil1098]

I'm putting my cams in this weekend, I'll make sure to clean out that area of the cams.

 

[ghunt81]

I should have but of course didn't think of that until the cams were already installed.

 

[eighty6gt]

This doesn't sound good. Have you still got the dorman phaser installed? It doesn't matter w.r.t. my next question - who made the cams? I'd say it's extremely unusual if they did have debris in them from machining, and I'd start looking elsewhere for the source.

 

[ghunt81]

The Dorman was swapped out for a Motorcraft and that was on the other side.

These definitely look like machining chips to me by the size and shape of them...the cams are from Cushman but they were done by Bullet Racing Cams. I pulled the front cam cap off and everything there looks perfect, and the little screen "basket" under the allen head was clear. I imagine most of what was in there probably went into the phaser.

I noticed the bottom of the VCT solenoid hole just opens into the inside of the timing cover, does it just dump oil straight down from there?

 

[ghunt81]

OK guys, I got a question about this.

As you see in the picture the finger on the reluctor is left of the timing mark which is not where it should be. This is how I found it when I took the valve cover off.

I started taking stuff apart tonight. I broke loose the phaser bolt and took it out. I started pulling the phaser off, and as soon as it started coming off of the end of the cam, pressurized oil squirted out of it on the back side and I noticed the reluctor finger was back where it was supposed to be, right over the timing mark. WTF?

Does this indicate some sort of a blockage in the phaser itself or something?

I took the front cam cap off a few days ago after I found the metal chips on the solenoid, just to make sure there was no damage, and no oil came out then despite the fact that two of the holes in the front journal that feed the phaser were exposed.

I took all the cam caps off and pulled the cam out...all the journals look great including the front one. I did look down in the nose of the cam, and yes there were a couple metal chips in there, as well as some "flash" around the aforementioned front journal holes on the inside where they were drilled and not cleaned up. I broke off that flash as well as I could and cleaned the metal chips out, but there really was very little and I only found about 5-6 small pieces on the solenoid when I took it out.

I also took the back off the phaser and there's literally nothing inside the phaser that I can see...no shavings, no chips, no nothing. I blew brake cleaner through the backside holes and they all at least appear to be clear.

At first I thought maybe I had a blocked oil passage in the head but then I thought, if that was the case wouldn't the oil from the phaser have come squirting out when I took the front cam cap off?

So, I'm a little confused and I don't want to put anything back together before I verify I know what's going on. Any input?

 

[Phil1098]

I started taking stuff apart tonight. I broke loose the phaser bolt and took it out. I started pulling the phaser off, and as soon as it started coming off of the end of the cam, pressurized oil squirted out of it on the back side and I noticed the reluctor finger was back where it was supposed to be, right over the timing mark. WTF?

Does this indicate some sort of a blockage in the phaser itself or something?

I was up till 2 A.M. putting my cams in last night. Fucking OTC spring compressor tool sucks ass. Back to your issue, yeah both my phasers had zero oil pressure when they came off the cams. It only makes sense that there is some blockage in that phaser. I haven't done one, but they can be completely disassembled and put back together.

 

[ghunt81]

I already have a new phaser so the old one doesn't really matter. I just want to make sure I'm fixing the problem before I put stuff back together.

 

[Phil1098]

Are you 100% on timing now? I know this has nothing to do with metal chips in a phaser, but if it's wrong it's coming back apart again.

 

[ghunt81]

The timing was right when I checked it before and I haven't messed with anything since then...so I have no reason to think it would be off.

 

[ghunt81]

So I figure it's worth posting an update on this one.

After all this cussing, disassembly, reassembly, and throwing money at parts, I finally found out last night the whole problem I've been having is actually with the passenger side cam itself.

See the circled holes in the picture (this is one of my stock cams not the new ones)? Left side one is in the journal and is connected to the right side hole, which goes to or from the phaser.

Well, the hole on the left side on my passenger side cam is drilled clear through to the center, on both holes. No wonder my VCT is all fucked up. I didn't realize it wasn't supposed to be that way until I looked at one of my stock cams.

I'm sending the cam in today to get it exchanged...hopefully soon. This is really frustrating.