Fastcar302

------------------------------------UPDATE:----------------------------------- Sorry for the delayed reply. I've been extremely busy not only with the truck, but with work, and renovating my house. After checking tons of different things I started to question the custom tune I was using...and that hunch paid off. It turns out the tune that I was sent by the tuner was the wrong one. He sent me the wrong one by accident. It was a basic "performance tune" for a stock truck. After loading the correct tune in the truck, that is one that eliminates VCT, the truck runs great. I will say this though - there is still a very minor resonating sound under a low rpm load similar to the one that the truck had since the time I bought it, but it is very very minor now. As for the lockouts, I'm pleased with them. There is zero ticking or dieseling sound now. There is a little bit of loss in power up top, but it's not that bad and since this is a truck that will mostly be in the lower rpm range I would hardly consider it to be an issue. The low end power was not affected at all. All in all I would recommend the lockouts for anyone that has cam phaser issues and wants to put a stop to it once and for all.

Rick's 06

An error in the tune could have had you chasing your tail for a long time. Glad you got it figured out. I'm wondering if when my phasers do go, will I add the lockouts to them when I replace them. My truck has been perfect since I bought it new and it has a little over 115K on the clock, so I know something will be required before too long. I'm anticipating the full timing set, tensioners, phasers etc at some point. One consideration is the cost of the lockouts. I'm assuming folks are using the $40 ones I see on ebay. They're just a couple squares of CNC cut aluminum, so it seems like they would be fine assuming they fit properly. After reading what appears to be hundreds of phasers gone bad, it seems like locking them out would be a good idea, but then again I've got 115K with original ones, so who knows. Anyway, glad you got your engine running well again and the lockouts are working good.

Fastcar302

Thanks! It sounds like you have the right idea by being prepared to replace all of the components when the time comes...and unfortunately it probably will. The guides are definitely a problem since they are known to become brittle and break apart with age and the adjusters also tend to fail and/or have blown out gaskets. The solenoids are notorious for failing too. There's so many possible parts to malfunction and make the engine unreliable that IMO it's not worth having VCT on these motors. This job was, in my opinion, a huge PITA and I would definitely recommend replacing every component while you're in there and also the word on the street is stay away from aftermarket phasers. I used the lockouts from Livernois because that was the only set that I could get immediately locally, but I would imagine the ebay ones would be fine. If they don't have a snug fit you could easily shim them with some shim material or by cutting a piece of feeler gauge which is the same exact thing. The lockouts are really not anything special so I wouldn't be too concerned with quality issues on them.

HulluCorn

If the phasers are the only things bad, is it ok just to lock them out? Or do you need to replace them and lock them out (if chain there's no chain slap and oil pressure is good). I think $40 is next to nothing to eliminate the VCT issue.

Fastcar302

It's NOT necessary to replace the phasers if you're going to do lockouts UNLESS the phaser is so badly damaged that it's coming apart or severely damaged in some way. You MUST reflash the ecm if you do lockouts. So plan on spending $475-$550 or so for a programmer and a custom tune. Call any reputable custom tuner shop local or otherwise and have them ship the programmer to you with the tune loaded or have them email the tune file to you. You'll need to provide them with the ecm code found on the front of your ecu.