remyboyphil
Member
I've got a 2020 gen 2 with 107k now. A couple months ago I got a flashing check engine light with misfires all on bank 2 along with codes p0021 and p0018. I pulled over, cleared the codes, and started the engine to see if it was still fine. There was no more misfire and I was able to get it home. Spent the next couple days trying to get it to throw those codes again but it wouldn't. I took it to the dealer and they couldn't replicate the issue. I figured that's what they were gonna say but worth a shot. Spent the last couple months trying to replicate the issue, but all I could get is a pending p0021 code that would go away after a couple drives and couldn't get it to the dealer in time. I could tell the pending codes were there because on the auto start screen on the dash it would read "not available". I would also get an occasional rough idle when coming to a stop, but the codes would never trigger the CEL. They would only show up as a pending code and clear itself after a couple drives. At this point I suspected the VCT solenoid to be bad/dirty. I've never heard the phasers rattle even after sitting for a couple days so I was pretty sure it wasn't the phasers. I tried changing the oil and performing the HK11 pinpoint test, but the code would still show up pending every now and then.
I have a warranty and the dealer said they couldn't do anything about it if they couldn't get they couldn't trigger the issue so I narrowed down the conditions that would cause the code and tried to get the CEL to turn on for weeks. The two conditions that trigger it most frequently were engine warmed up going up an extended incline with the revs holding around 3-4k and then coming to a gradual stop. As the truck went down in gears and returned to idle there was a point were I could tell the idle was off and when I came to a stop the auto start stop would say "not available". The other condition that would trigger it was going down an extended decline and basically giving it no gas just in gear coasting down a hill. This is what finally got the code to trigger a CEL. During all this I would have my laptop open running forscan and watching the bank 2 VCT Intake Solenoid PIDs. I've never been so relieved to break something, but I could now show my service advisor I was not crazy. They ended up replacing the intake VCT solenoid and it has been good since.
Incase anybody has a similar issue and would like to see what the PIDs look like when a VCT Intake Solenoid is not functioning correctly I attached the a screenshot from the scope. The VCT_INT_DIF2 (Green) measures the difference between the desired and measured value and should stay at 0. There's a moment where it begins to deviate far from 0. The bottom two PIDs are for Bank 1 and I just used those as a control
I have a warranty and the dealer said they couldn't do anything about it if they couldn't get they couldn't trigger the issue so I narrowed down the conditions that would cause the code and tried to get the CEL to turn on for weeks. The two conditions that trigger it most frequently were engine warmed up going up an extended incline with the revs holding around 3-4k and then coming to a gradual stop. As the truck went down in gears and returned to idle there was a point were I could tell the idle was off and when I came to a stop the auto start stop would say "not available". The other condition that would trigger it was going down an extended decline and basically giving it no gas just in gear coasting down a hill. This is what finally got the code to trigger a CEL. During all this I would have my laptop open running forscan and watching the bank 2 VCT Intake Solenoid PIDs. I've never been so relieved to break something, but I could now show my service advisor I was not crazy. They ended up replacing the intake VCT solenoid and it has been good since.
Incase anybody has a similar issue and would like to see what the PIDs look like when a VCT Intake Solenoid is not functioning correctly I attached the a screenshot from the scope. The VCT_INT_DIF2 (Green) measures the difference between the desired and measured value and should stay at 0. There's a moment where it begins to deviate far from 0. The bottom two PIDs are for Bank 1 and I just used those as a control
