Front Cam Seals - I think I touched something I shouldn't have...

So... I changed my valve cover gaskets two months ago and neglected the cam plugs. I later realized the rear cam plug on the drivers side was leaking. Finally got around to fixing that last night. Because of the appearance of the cam plugs on both ends I though that I needed to seal up both the front and rear. I added RTV as shown in Timmy's video to both the Cam seal and the Cam plug. I torqued both cams to 12 ft/lb and sealed up with a new gasket and RTV in a couple spots. Left the half moons and tube seals as is as both should be fine given I did it two monthd ago. Now my truck has a rough idle that sputters and sounds like its going to sputter out. I drove it around for twenty minutes to no avail. It got to temperature fine and idles around 7k (Correction, *700 RPM!) RPM but sputters in that region. Couldn't tell much of a difference in how it drove overall, drove it up to 65 MPH. Curiously my dashboard lights stopped working midway through the drive. I'm confused.

Other than doing that I can't think of what I missed. Looks like everything is connected, no random bolts left over. Anyone know if messing with the cam seal is the issue and what to do next?

 

Triple check your grounds.

 

Where can I find the information regarding the grounds on that side on the engine? Anything I can check other than bolts being tight? Can i use a multimeter with the battery for this?

 

The ground you would have removed to get down to the valve covers is on the driver side connected to the upper intake manifold, near the diagnostic port. The others- which you were unlikely to touch- are on the firewall near the passenger side rear of the engine, and next to the battery.

Other things to check- reseat any of the connectors you may have disconnected- tps, IAC, MAF if you removed the intake tube, Reseat the coils and wires, and the injectors if you can reach any of them.

 

I've got P0300 code now. I'm thinking I'll take the upper and lower plenums off to check my connections. Probably the best next step because it looks like everything is connected from what I can see around the plenums.

 

Idles around 7k…? That’s gotta be a typo or I read it wrong. I get on my skinny pedal and I don’t think I’ve ever hit 5.5k rpm which already sounds pretty loud. Idling at 7k would be bananas.

 

7k is way over redline, that would be a blown engine lol

 

Correct. Meant 700 RPMs!

 

Could these gaskets be the cause of the P0300 code?

There are also a couple of broken connections both they appear to just be bolts that hold a plastic component onto a part of the engine, not any sort of ground.

I checked my plugs and the gaps are good on them. Replaced them about 3 months ago.

 

Did you reuse the original intake manifold gaskets? They should be replaced for sure. But I don't think that would cause a p0300 (misfire) code. I would expect the gaskets to end up somewhere in a vacuum related code.

Those broken plastic bits wont cause a problem.

I'd get some electric contact cleaner and clean each of the injector connectors while you're in there. (or replace your injectors while you're there.

Are your wires new? they look original to me. I'd pull them, clean the contacts, and reseat them.

Use a wire brush and clean the ground strap on the driver side intake manifold...

 

Do you spray contact cleaner into the injector or just into the portion that clips into it?

I believe the wires were replaced with ones manufactured in 2014. I believe thats right based on the labels?

Do you also spray contact cleaner into the bottom of the plug tubes? Where they meet the spark plugs?

Also, do you have any thoughts on the Cam Seal that I took off and put back on? I can't imagine it really did much based upon its construction, it was basically the same part that holds a cam plug, but there wasn't a plug that came with it when you pulled it out.

 

Contact cleaner just going on the electric bits. You would have to remove the fuel rail to spray it into the injector- but you would not want to do that. You're just trying to ensure that no contaminants (oil, dirt, etc..) made their way in there during your valve cover job. Make sure they fully dry before re-connecting (I usually wait several minutes).

2014 is still 6 years old.

Yes, there should be a rubber boot - clean there. The other end of the wire connects to the coil pack- disconnect, clean, and reseat these.

The goal here is that you're reseating anything which might be preventing spark, even if you didn't specifically disconnect it as part of the valve cover gasket job. You want to ensure all the electrical connections are clean and seated correctly.

It's highly unlikely that changing out the cam plugs will cause a mis fire, unless you dropped something into the valve train while the cover was open.

 

Well everything is back to normal. I replaced the plenum gaskets, cleaned the MAF, and snugged up a few connections like the fuel injectors, coil packs and the IAC. I'm guessing that the problem was that the IAC came loose as propped the upper plenum up 90 degrees to access the lower plenum. Oriented this way it would rest partly on the IAC. So I'm guessing that with the wiggling around it came loose and was the issue. My dashboard lights going out was likely coincidental. Thanks @Andy01DblCabTacoma for chiming im.