VCT Solenoid(s)
05-31-2014, 03:21 PM
#1
VCT Solenoid(s)
About a month ago this started,,,
i left my house, drove it for about 10-15mins, went to turn off of a main road into a neighborhood and my truck began to run "very" rough to the point where it died. Re-started and it was still running rough and shaking like a muscle car w/ a big cam in it...went to where i was going then went back home, still running rough....did some reading on here and came to the conclusion that it was my vct solenoids...ordered a brand new set w/ seals from a ford dealership on ebay, they were oem factory parts....replaced both and the truck ran perfect...about 3weeks later out of the blue it happen again, now i was confused,, I did some more reading on here and read about the cam positioning sensors, swapped those out, no luck... so i took it to a very respected retired ford mechanic who does work at his home..he had it for a few days and called me to say that there was an issue again w/ the vct solenoids, explained that the only codes that where showing pointed only to the solenoids and that i needed to remove them, clean the hell out of them, clean out area where they going into motor and put in a quart of marvel mystery oil to help breakdown the sludge that could be clogging up the solenoids. He also said that it wasn't the cam phaser because if it was it would run rough all the time.
So i pulled the solenoids out again and cleaned, no change, still runs rough,,not rough like a fouled plug or bad coil pack but rough like the timinig is off,,but it does not do this all the time...like i said earlier, if i leave it sit over night or for a few hours it will start and run fine for about 10-15mins then its all down hill after that.
Any help for ya'll would be greatly appreciated, becaue this is very frustrating,,, thanks in advance
i left my house, drove it for about 10-15mins, went to turn off of a main road into a neighborhood and my truck began to run "very" rough to the point where it died. Re-started and it was still running rough and shaking like a muscle car w/ a big cam in it...went to where i was going then went back home, still running rough....did some reading on here and came to the conclusion that it was my vct solenoids...ordered a brand new set w/ seals from a ford dealership on ebay, they were oem factory parts....replaced both and the truck ran perfect...about 3weeks later out of the blue it happen again, now i was confused,, I did some more reading on here and read about the cam positioning sensors, swapped those out, no luck... so i took it to a very respected retired ford mechanic who does work at his home..he had it for a few days and called me to say that there was an issue again w/ the vct solenoids, explained that the only codes that where showing pointed only to the solenoids and that i needed to remove them, clean the hell out of them, clean out area where they going into motor and put in a quart of marvel mystery oil to help breakdown the sludge that could be clogging up the solenoids. He also said that it wasn't the cam phaser because if it was it would run rough all the time.
So i pulled the solenoids out again and cleaned, no change, still runs rough,,not rough like a fouled plug or bad coil pack but rough like the timinig is off,,but it does not do this all the time...like i said earlier, if i leave it sit over night or for a few hours it will start and run fine for about 10-15mins then its all down hill after that.
Any help for ya'll would be greatly appreciated, becaue this is very frustrating,,, thanks in advance
Last edited by clamas327; 05-31-2014 at 03:24 PM.
05-31-2014, 04:14 PM
#3
Senior Member
Try leaving the vct's unplugged and see if it runs rough then. If it dont then its the vct's. Your chain tensioner's could be shot as the seals blow out and **** out oil and then you lose oil pressure and the chains are not staying tight. But try to unplug the vcts and see what happens and report back.
05-31-2014, 05:05 PM
#8
wow IceFishinFool i started my truck, it was running very rough, unplugged both solenoids and within 10-15secs it started running normal, went and drove it for 15-20mins, not one single issue
05-31-2014, 05:36 PM
#9
Senior Member
Yeah. Your vcts are shot. You'll need to get new ones but make sure they are motorcraft and that they are the most recent updated ones and u should be good. But you might want to consider doing all of your timing components just to be on the safe side.
05-31-2014, 05:43 PM
#10
yea they were a "FORD" part, part# and from a Ford dealership on ebay (fairway ford).. I'm selling my truck anyways so i am going to replace those and say goodbye, lol, thanks for the info IceFishinFool, it was a HUGE help