Misfire! P0306 - dropped valve seat!

b4 the valve covers are bolted down

turn engine over by hand...........plugs out

if anything is amiss U will detect it before damage can occur

 

After I got all the timing chains and cam gears lined up I did two full rotations by hand slowly and everything turned over smoothly. No binding or hitting of valves as far as I could feel. Did a few practice runs installing timing cover, but of course once I did it with the fipg sealant wasn’t as smooth as practice run.

 

Installing that timing cover, can be very tricky.

 

Got her started and everything seems "ok" so far - I have a pending code of P0012 - “A” Camshaft Position – Over-Retarded. I'll see if it throws a hard code. I did clean the VVTI solenoids using a 9 volt battery and carb clean as a bad solenoid could cause this code. Still figuring out to get video from iphone to my chromebook. No leaks, and oil pressure looks good. There was some smoke at startup coming from engine bay and tailpipes for the first minute or two (white smoke), but everything cleared away and I put about 3 miles on it so far. I'm staying out of boost right now but it's driving good for the most part.

If my timing was off by a tooth would it be noticeable or does the VVTI compensate a little for this?

 

It would be noticeable.

Otherwise, very good!

 

if its off..............Its OFF

engine will run

not unusual to be1 tooth off.................i dont know if U are or not

double check

 

That code pops often without being off. Poor sensor connection is most common cause

 

Got the new vvti solenoid replaced, rechecked all connections, checked vvti screen and still getting P0012. Truck seems to run rougher with new vvti solenoid - go figure. Looks like next step is to open timing cover and double check timing marks. If timing marks line up what would next step be?

 

No need to do the whole timing cover. You can adjust the timing with just the valve covers off.

Get cylinder one where it needs to be, according to the instruction manual. Make sure cylinder 2 is in its respective position. Both with the crank pulley at the zero timing mark. Then check the cam gear reference points.

 

I like this idea. I have a decent video and pics of perfect timing in my cam gear thread (check signature)

 

This is assuming the main timing chain is alligned with the crank shaft dot?

 

You could pull cylinder 1 spark plug and confirm it's tdc when the cams are lined up on the appropriate marks. A simple rod/stiff piece of wire or my favorite- a magnet on a stick can help with this

 

Independent of the timing marks. When it's off and you have to adjust the main chain, you just get it all lined up. Similar to what Mightytacoman said. Then verify intake cam gear dots to cam bearing caps. Then adjust if necessary. Then align exhaust cams to intake with marked chain links.

 

Covers are off, I turned engine over a many times and I think I got it lined up. Engine is sitting at top dead center and timing marks look to be a little left of casting marks. here's passenger side:




Here's driver side:

 

Your intake timing both sides looks off to me. However it appears to be perfect in terms of your timing marks. What I'm looking at that looks off to me on passenger side is the angle of your intake and exhaust cams on cylinder 1. They should perfectly mirror each other over the centerline of the bank.
Like so:


As for driver side- with exhaust cams on cylinder 2 - they should be facing straight up through the tower cam holder and yours appear to be correct in this. Intake on driver bank appears to be retarded or rotated counterclockwise 1 tooth too much. I think this because again to me- intake cam cylinder 2 appears to be facing too far straight down when compared to cylinder 4 intake cam. It should line up more like what's pictured here:

Think of mirroring intake cams downward angle on cylinder 2 with cylinder 4 over the centerline of the intake cam.

I know that might not be the most descriptive explanation but I've had a few too many tonight. Can explain more tomorrow or pm me and I'll shoot my number over your way.

 

So to clarify when making adjustments do I loosen exhaust sprocket and manually rotate the camshaft and re-align to try to match up the cam lobes and timing marks, thus resetting chain on sprockets? This is where I'm getting confused, I leave main chain alone and at tdc, and only adjusting cam shaft orientation?

Thanks mighty t-man!

 

Thinking about it-I would gamble if you did decide to remove the front cover- you would see that on the crank sprocket timing link and mark it's off 1 tooth.
Your exhaust cams appear to be spot on so don't adjust those. Removing secondary and main chain will probably be needed to correct your intake cams being off a tooth. Removing the front cover will be needed to make all timing marks line up perfectly if you want them to. Otherwise you might be able to just adjust the intake cams over a tooth to correct the timing even though they won't match the factory marks.

 

^ that is all assuming I am correct in your intake cams being off...

 

I like the idea of turning the secondary chains so the timing marks are facing forward. Here's another pic of my passenger side cams, the intake cam lobes for cylinder 1 are definitely lower then the exhaust lobes. As you said they should mirror each other. How do I adjust the intake cam? Do I take off main bolt off of the vvti sprocket and re-allign teeth to the chain. Then allign cam to mirror exhaust side and hopefully keyway lines up?

 

Your pic isn't viewable to me.
I was hoping @Torspd could chime in on this with his thoughts to see if he would turn the whole intake cam by removing the main chain or if he would try to adjust the vvti part of the cams.