But if you open her up and are looking for a blockage ,then pull off the vct bod ies and clean them up Pay special attention to vct body gaskets there have been problems there.
If she is running I would do an engine flush right before I tore her down . I'm not sure you used oem phasors or replaced lashs /cleaned heads .Non oem phasors high failure rate- some out of the box .

 

Don't know where your oil could have come from on floor .

 

I am not convinced all of it is oil. I know at least 50% of it is coolant from removing the upper coolant hose. There was quite a bit in there when we removed it. It's also possible some of it is transmission fluid (You can see some pink tint to it) from moving the trans dipstick around. Plus, the location of one of the spots would have been impossible for any oil to get to (It was on the ground below the rear seats, far away from the engine. Keep in mind it's snowing here, and we had the salamander in the garage so some of it could also be melted snow. We never checked the consistancy of the liquid as it's really more just a stain and not really a puddle or pool.

I know 100% it wasn't the original phasers that were built for the car (unless everything else in the kit was off-brand and the real cost was in the phasers), but I know it wasn't cheap knock-off ones, either. Just looking at them you can see they are made of high-quality.

I wasn't aware that the actual bodies themselves came off. It didn't look like there was a way to detach them. Knowing that you can, it may be helpful to remove them and clean them, as well. Are the gaskets something you can replace on them? I saw pictures in other kits of what looked like the gaskets, but they were labeled as cam spacers, so didn't think anything of it. If we have to take it apart, I will check those, as well.

 

Yeah he means the solenoids. And no, leaving them unplugged will not harm the engine. You can leave unplugged for 50 years and it wouldn't do harm other than MPG and performance loss. I forgot to mention checking oil pressure, so that was a good call

 

Okay, so NOT the vct housings that bolt to the block? Okay, the solenoids themselves are 100% new, just installed so I don't think anything would be plugged up in them.

As far as disconnecting the solenoids, in theory, wouldn't that cause the rough idle and the timing CELs to go away? I mean, as long as the chains are tight, and timing is correct at startup, wouldn't disconnecting them ensure they stay that way, and the phasers never move? I am wondering if I can use that to diagnose if that's the actual problem or not (If I disconnect the solenoids then start the truck up and let it warm up, and it starts acting up again and loses pressure after its warm, it should be a sign that its not related to the vct system, no?). If disconnecting them it still acts up or stalls out after warmup, it may lead to another issue (and may not make the vehicle driveable to get the CEL scanned/cleared still)

 

Of course, that's a cheap quick diagnosis. Disconnecting the VCT's can narrow it down to it being strictly oil flow related. The VCT solenoids provide a route to the phasers to activate them. Unplugging them will deactivate phasers. Now, IF the rough running disappears at hot idle, it could very well mean restricted oil flow. Which means you'll still want to drop the pan and clean the tube since not enough oil is getting to the rest of the engine. Now, if the problem still ensues after disconnecting the VCTs and at hot idle...we've got another issue. PULL THAT CODE

 

I do know before we did the work disconnecting it didnt help, so I don't have much faith it's going to work this time, but before we replaced the parts both guides, both tensioner arms, and both tensioners themselves were completely gone and broken into pieces at the bottom of the timing cover.

The code at that time was p0022 or something about timing being retarted. I think it also had a too lean condition code.

 

Codes should've been cleared after the battery was reconnected. Let's see what this current one says. And interesting that disconnecting it didn't do anything prior to the job but try it nonetheless. And if the guides were all gone then the tube is definitely contaminated

 

Yep, there's no doubt in my mind that the tube needs cleaned out or replaced. It's been decided by me that barring no major mechanical issues, I will be at least dropping the pan.

Once I get home, I will hook the scanner I bought today up to it and get the DTCs. Do you want the freeze frame data as well?