My Issues Post Cam Phaser Replacement

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OP
OP
E

Eship

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FordTechOne,

Oil Condition. I checked the oil level and it was low. It was right at bottom hole on stick. I checked under the truck to see if I could detect any leaks. A lot of oil on underside of truck. Looks similar to the condition that it was in when I had received it post initial warranty procedure. What I thought was likely a sloppy oil change may in fact be a leak. This truck is a mess...Note that this was reported to the dealer after cam phaser procedure and they cleaned the underside of the truck on follow up appointment. Full transparency, I don't remember how good of a job they actually did of cleaning the underside of the truck. However, to me this looks active and not residual.
I changed the oil since I need to use the truck. I understand that by changing the oil, I'm tampering with what could be a valuable source of information. However, I don't think this whole dog and pony act is going to get to that level of sophistication (i did, however, save and bag the filter and contents). I could not find an obvious leak, but I'm going to look around after work today to see what I can find. In the meantime, please suggest potential leak sources in way of a cam phaser replacement procedure. I'll look around the front cover area and also anywhere else that I see oil. Another thought, could my PCV system be so out of whack that the truck is not venting correctly and some engine seal or another has been compromised? Who knows. If you have knowledge or what engine seal is most likely to blow in that case, please let me know. Will report what I find when I look around.

PCV System. I did some poking around in the engine bay to inspect PCV hoses. I didn't find anything amiss on initial inspection, but I only checked for proper connection and also inspected the o-rings for each tube. I felt along the body of the tubes, but did not REALLY give a close look for cracks etc. I plan to take another look with emphasis on the tube structures. The PCV valve on pass valve cover looks normal/clean on exterior. The sensor pigtail seems to be properly connected, but there is a little bit of play where the sensor penetrates the tube. This may be normal.
While inspecting PCV tubes, I found an issue with the intake installation and I'm betting it is not the only issue with the intake install. If you follow the main intake tube from the airbox, it branches downward and eventually connects to the driver turbo. If you follow the tube downward toward the turbo, you will find a mounting/locating bracket with two rubber grommets which mate up with posts on the intake tubing. This locating post was not inserted into the mounting bracket grommet, it was underneath it. This caused the tube assembly to sag and also caused the drive turbo boot to bind and restrict. I went ahead and fixed this. Intake tube to driver turbo connection much straighter now. I felt like this was going to cure the hissing sound for sure, but it did not.
I'm going to carve out some time to inspect all intake system and connections soon. I have a hunch that I will find something else wrong and likely the source of the hissing sound that I get under load. Someone looked at this truck twice with the intent of clearing a hissing sound from the engine bay and did not see this. If somebody missed this on two different service appointments, all bets are off and everything needs to be checked.

I have not messed with PCM/code clearing at this point, but I may elect to clear codes and CEL and see what happens. I don't think it could hurt anything at this point, but I'm doubtful it will glean any information that will help with troubleshooting.


As for the previous owner and the trucks services history, I did get hung up on this when shopping the truck. There was no proof of routine maintenance within first ownership. I recognized the risk and took it. If all of this ties back to that decision, then I own it. Period. Entirely possible this truck went 13k on delivery oil. Ford would never know unless they analyzed the oil as part of the certified pre-owned inspection, but that isn't the case I'm sure. Anyhow, oil is lifeblood and cannot be overstated.

I've got some more inspecting to do. I will report back what I find. Please offer as much pertinent input as you can with the information you have. I'll take any clues that I can get to get this right myself. I appreciate your continued assistance and input.

Thanks
 

smurfslayer

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The 10k interval is the absolute maximum and only applicable under ideal operating conditions, which is misleadingly called “normal” in most Owners Manuals. That means no cold or hot climate operation, mainly highway driving, no towing, no hauling, no off-road use, no extended idling, no short trips, and flat to moderately hilly terrain. Almost nobody falls into that category.

Yeah Blackstone said I could push to ~9k miles on my -2 oil change ago, but I’m just not comfortable pushing oil that long, full synthetic be damned. It’s good to know the old is still sound when it’s coming out of the truck, but I spent big on the Rap, so I’m not going to skimp on oil changes.

If OPs truck went 13k miles with no oil change, it is highly likely that there is excessive wear on multiple bearings.

Yeah that’s a really good point. I know a woman who came he from cr@pholistan back in the 80s with her parents. She had no interest in being in the USA, but her parents gave her a Celica 4 cylinder to drive.

That poor car. She came in to the office one day complaining that her car was making a really bad noise, so she got the boss to take a look, and several of us went out for the entertainment value. It had bad rod knock. The dip stick had a black substance on it that had the consistency of play dough. We asked her when the last time she had the oil changed was and she just had this quizzical look. It had somewhere around mid 50k miles on it and she couldn’t account for -any- oil change on it, ever. I don’t know how many mile she put on it from it’s last change but that car was not well cared for and that motor was a total goner.
 

gopher870

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I drive my truck gently compared to most, and my oil life monitor reaches 0% between 5k and 6k miles.

Interesting. I drive my truck (only after reaching operating temperature) at almost 100% throttle application every time I put my foot down. Yeah, it's stupid....but stupid fun. I change my oil every 5000 miles. But the oil life monitor calculates close to 10K intervals every time. Perhaps I would need more cold climate operation, more towing/hauling, extended idling, shorter trips, and more hilly terrain for the algorithm to figure a shorter interval. I would think my driving style is "severe." Blackstone tells me my oil could go longer (Mobile One) but it's cheap insurance. Good luck to OP.
 

Solidred

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FordTechOne,

Oil Condition. I checked the oil level and it was low. It was right at bottom hole on stick. I checked under the truck to see if I could detect any leaks. A lot of oil on underside of truck. Looks similar to the condition that it was in when I had received it post initial warranty procedure. What I thought was likely a sloppy oil change may in fact be a leak. This truck is a mess...Note that this was reported to the dealer after cam phaser procedure and they cleaned the underside of the truck on follow up appointment. Full transparency, I don't remember how good of a job they actually did of cleaning the underside of the truck. However, to me this looks active and not residual.
I changed the oil since I need to use the truck. I understand that by changing the oil, I'm tampering with what could be a valuable source of information. However, I don't think this whole dog and pony act is going to get to that level of sophistication (i did, however, save and bag the filter and contents). I could not find an obvious leak, but I'm going to look around after work today to see what I can find. In the meantime, please suggest potential leak sources in way of a cam phaser replacement procedure. I'll look around the front cover area and also anywhere else that I see oil. Another thought, could my PCV system be so out of whack that the truck is not venting correctly and some engine seal or another has been compromised? Who knows. If you have knowledge or what engine seal is most likely to blow in that case, please let me know. Will report what I find when I look around.

PCV System. I did some poking around in the engine bay to inspect PCV hoses. I didn't find anything amiss on initial inspection, but I only checked for proper connection and also inspected the o-rings for each tube. I felt along the body of the tubes, but did not REALLY give a close look for cracks etc. I plan to take another look with emphasis on the tube structures. The PCV valve on pass valve cover looks normal/clean on exterior. The sensor pigtail seems to be properly connected, but there is a little bit of play where the sensor penetrates the tube. This may be normal.
While inspecting PCV tubes, I found an issue with the intake installation and I'm betting it is not the only issue with the intake install. If you follow the main intake tube from the airbox, it branches downward and eventually connects to the driver turbo. If you follow the tube downward toward the turbo, you will find a mounting/locating bracket with two rubber grommets which mate up with posts on the intake tubing. This locating post was not inserted into the mounting bracket grommet, it was underneath it. This caused the tube assembly to sag and also caused the drive turbo boot to bind and restrict. I went ahead and fixed this. Intake tube to driver turbo connection much straighter now. I felt like this was going to cure the hissing sound for sure, but it did not.
I'm going to carve out some time to inspect all intake system and connections soon. I have a hunch that I will find something else wrong and likely the source of the hissing sound that I get under load. Someone looked at this truck twice with the intent of clearing a hissing sound from the engine bay and did not see this. If somebody missed this on two different service appointments, all bets are off and everything needs to be checked.

I have not messed with PCM/code clearing at this point, but I may elect to clear codes and CEL and see what happens. I don't think it could hurt anything at this point, but I'm doubtful it will glean any information that will help with troubleshooting.


As for the previous owner and the trucks services history, I did get hung up on this when shopping the truck. There was no proof of routine maintenance within first ownership. I recognized the risk and took it. If all of this ties back to that decision, then I own it. Period. Entirely possible this truck went 13k on delivery oil. Ford would never know unless they analyzed the oil as part of the certified pre-owned inspection, but that isn't the case I'm sure. Anyhow, oil is lifeblood and cannot be overstated.

I've got some more inspecting to do. I will report back what I find. Please offer as much pertinent input as you can with the information you have. I'll take any clues that I can get to get this right myself. I appreciate your continued assistance and input.

Thanks

My truck recently went in for oil pan leak and cam phaser, got it back and it was pouring oil out the bottom (okay exaggeration but a steady drip, enough to muck up my under carriage). Ended up being a pinched valve cover from the cam phaser fix. That was fixed but there is another leak, dealer put dye into the oil to verify it wasn’t residual, truck is still being worked on so not sure where this “new” leak is yet.

Im guessing if your front timing cover isn’t leaking it’s possible a valve cover.
 

1BAD454SSv2

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I change oil every 2500 miles , just cause i drive like i stole it most times and oil/filter is cheap. At 11,600 miles on my 19. i couldn't imagine going 5k let alone 13k miles . My 2010 has always had 2500 mile oil changes sitting at 96,000 miles as i drove to work this morning , 65,000 of those been supercharged. It's been working for me. Found some old Pictures of truck at like a year old

View attachment 167032

IMG_0006.JPG
 

1BAD454SSv2

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I think Black stone is a waste of money . For few dollars more than the test you can do another oil change. If you can't tell what condition your engine is in by sight , sound or smell and how it performs . Than maybe black stone is worth it.
 

nikhsub1

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I think Black stone is a waste of money .
Are you a flat earther too? An oil analysis can show you exactly what is going on inside your engine. for $30 it's worth it to me to have one done periodically. Not necessarily to tell you when to change your oil but to check engine health etc.
 

1BAD454SSv2

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Hence : If you can't tell what condition your engine is in by sight , sound or smell and how it performs . Than maybe black stone is worth it.
 
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