Hi guys, decided to tackle phasers on my 04 5.4, did phaser on drivers side, went great, dorve truck a few hundred miles, then got the time to do passenger side, this is where it goes bad.

Put it all back together and it runs cruddy, won't idle, no power, and P0012, so I figured either I missed it by a tooth or VCT solenoids, so I replaced both VCT solenoids, no difference.

I then decided I must have muffed up the timing, so I tore it all down and re did the timing, put it all back together and it still has the similar problem, no P0012 now.

So I change all 8 plugs and COP's, no difference, swapped the cam sensors of some other 5.4s we have, no difference.

Decided to drive it around the block this weekend, cam back, noticed the first CAT on the Drivers side was GLOWING! So i hooked up my Autoenginuity and found a few codes P0171 P0174 P2198, so now I'm really confused, I have 2 lean codes and 1 glowing CAT.

Any ideas? I can datalog

 

It won't be vct solenoids....you can disconnect them at idle without affecting anything.

I'd say your timing is off. Unburned fuel is messing your cat. How're you timing it? Front timing cover off? What're you lining up?

J

 

Yeah I had it all apart, front cover and all. I used the timing marks on the phasers and crank, and lined them up with the gold links

Is it possible it jumped a tooth on initial startup?

 

Definitely possible to skip on startup - mine did. I had to take it apart again to redo it. The second time, I left the tensioners untouched to keep the oil pressure in them. That seemed to do the trick.

On the passengers side, did you line up the links with the L or the I? I almost screwed up on that one.

J

 

That's another area I was slightly confused when I was reading the Haynes manual.

Both the phasers my local dealer sold me were identical, both them have an R and an I no L anywhere like the ones I removed. Are both sides the same part now?

So one side I lined up with the R, the other with the I. I can't recall but it was whatever the manual said

 

When you turn the engine over (either by hand or disconnecting the cops), does it crank normal or does it sound like your starter is struggling? That might confirm bad timing if your valves aren't opening/closing at the right times.

Weird that yours have R's and no L's....

I would assume you'd need to line up the R on the passenger side (right side) and the I on the drivers (opposite to the Haynes manual because it only talks about L's like my phasers had).

Also, sorry if this is obvious, but I figured it wouldn't hurt - are you lining up both simultaneously (ie: setup both chains' timing marks before turning anything)?

J

 

It does seem a little hard to turn by hand, I don't really notice the starter struggling, but it seems almost as hard as my 7.3 to turn by hand.

Yes, I am lining everything up before moving anything.

I guess I am going to take this thing all back apart and study it. I am thinking about ordering new tensioners and guides and chains, just because it has 160k miles.

How would one tighten the chains before hitting the key?

 

Cranking the engine over with plugs removed should pump enough oil to get build some pressure . I cranked for about 45seconds. Maybe if I cranked a bunch more it would have worked? There's a anti-drain back valve in your filter (or there should be). So all you should need to do is crank crank crank.

J

 

Oh jeez. I didn't crank it at all before firing her up.

Did you turn it over with no plugs to build pressure while front cover was still off, or did you put it all back together first?

And my filter does have anti-DB I only use motorcraft or napa wix.

 

Cover on, plugs out. If you didn't touch your tensioners, you're probably fine there. I replaced mine and do the oil pressure in them was lost.

J