GEN 1 Intermittent Knocking...VVT Solenoid first then Sprocket?

[Pitt1al]

So i haven't found a whole lot of information out there about issues with the Gen 1 VVT Solenoid and Sprocket so hopefully you can tell me if Im heading the right direction.

When I start my truck up it sounds fine while in its high idle warmup mode. When it kicks down to regular idle it will make a knocking noise for 5 or 10 seconds then go away. It doesnt always do it. Initial research led me to Phaser issues on the Gen 2 but not much came up about Gen 1s.

I dont seem to have a loss of power or noise when driving but it just started doing this noise and Im betting before long more issues will arise.

So I was thinking, before going as far as replacing the Variable Timing Sprocket that I would start by changing my oil, putting a new oil filter in, and replacing the VVT Solenoid under the tappet covers.

Do you think this has any chance of fixing my issue? Or should I just dive in and replace the sprockets as well?

Is there a method to flush the Variable Timing Sprocket without pulling it out?

Is it worth trying to find if its just 1 side, or should I just go ahead and do both sides at the same time?

I have about 36 hours to complete the work and have a full garage and plenty of experience from an RX7 I built. Just havent really tore into the Raptor yet.

Thanks in Advance,

Adam

 

[Pitt1al]

I forgot to mention I have no error codes currently.

I do have Forscan so hopefully that will also help clarify the issue.

 

[MTF]

6.2L all do this, I believe it's because at startup it dumps a lot of fuel to lubricate the cylinder walls and rings.
This is the same thing a carburetor with a choke does, you need that rich mix for initial start.
Then the PCM will lean it out once started and it takes a few seconds to adjust the AFR.
Keep in mind the PCM is doing hundreds of checks at startup.

Changing to soft start and Mobil 1 Extended Performance oil,
stopped that little knocking and the valves tapping for a few seconds at startup for me.

I also changed the oil weight from 5-W20 to 5-W30 last oil change,
I've been hesitant to do this for years but quite a few Raptor owners are doing this and no one been complaining.
And I can say I picked up about a 1/2 mpg. so I'm liking that as a bonus.

Now I'm not quite sure which years the soft start option is available to you.
I have a 2010 1/2 and soft start it's not available,
so since I'm running the Whipple Tune I had Whipple adjust the rpm at startup to 1000 rpm.
And my neighbors like that too. LOL

 

[Pitt1al]

Mine isn't just the lifter tick or injector tick. This isn't one of the common 6.2 noises. I've had it for about a year and it only started doing this this week. It's a rough loud knocking when my engine comes out of warm up mode.

I'm like 75% sure it's variable timing related. I need to hook up forscan and see if I can figure out how to see the variable error. Hopefully I'm heading dow. The correct path.

 

[MTF]

Mine isn't just the lifter tick or injector tick. This isn't one of the common 6.2 noises. I've had it for about a year and it only started doing this this week. It's a rough loud knocking when my engine comes out of warm up mode.

I'm like 75% sure it's variable timing related. I need to hook up forscan and see if I can figure out how to see the variable error. Hopefully I'm heading dow. The correct path.

The lower knock is what I was talking about, the lifters ticking I just added in.
The injectors always make noise.

I would look at coils, spark plugs and injectors before playing with cam phasers and timing chains.

 

[Pitt1al]

Well I change my oil and filter. Hooked up forscan and monitored the error for both cams and the requested advance. They mirrored each other almost identically. Error stayed below 1 degree except when accelerating or letting off the gas. Even when my engine started making the knocking noise at idle my error stayed dead on. Nothing stood out.

So I think my VVT system is fine. The noise really seems to come from under the passenger tappet cover.

Would a bad timing change cause q knocking noise if it was picking up slack? Would I see that in forscan on the cam error?

I need to sleep for a couple hours but I'm gonna pull the tappet cover off next unless you guys have any ideas.

 

[Marlboroman]

Let’s get a video for sound first !

 

[Pitt1al]

Yiutube link to the sound. It's a couple seconds into the video. That noise comes and goes at idle. Maybe once every couple minutes.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

I wonder if you have a bad rocker arm, can definitely here the noise in the video, just a guess at my end, I'm no expert.

 

[Pitt1al]

Is this too much slack in the timing chain?