Just a quick follow up. My car has been stuck in the garage waiting for parts because I didn't prep for parts until I realized I didn't have it. I should be done tomorrow.

Question:

• I need to remove my valve covers to replace the cam timing chain tensioners. I just replaced my valve cover and valve cover gaskets 3 weeks ago, all OEM. Would I need to replace the valve cover gaskets again after 3 weeks of use?

What I'm replacing (From Z1):

• 2 - VQ35DE Oil Gallery Gaskets
• 20 - Allen Head Gallery Cover Bolts
• 2 - Cam Timing Chains (Short)
• 1 - Main Timing Chain (Long)
• 1 - Main Timing Chain Tensioner
• 1 - Main Timing Chain Tensioner Guide
• 1 - Main Timing Chain Top Guide
• 1 - Main Timing Chain Guide (Small)
• 1 - Crank Sprocket
• 2 - Cam Timing Chain Tensioners
• 2 - Small Timing Cover O-Rings
• 2 - VTC Cover Cam Gear O-Ring
• 1 - Crank Seal
• 1 - Left VTC Cover Gasket
• 1 - Right VTC Cover Gasket
• 1 - Front Oil Pan Seal

I noticed while pulling the alternator that the positive battery cable that connected to it had a ton of turquoise corrosion in the harness. So I ran out to LKQ and pulled a battery cable that didn't have corrosion. I hopefully will have some good news come this Friday. I have summer tires, coilovers, new ball joints, adjustable upper control arms, and some other goodies I'll be installing this weekend... that's if my CEL goes away.

 

The correct answer is that you should replace the gaskets with new ones. However I think you would be ok re-using your new-ish gaskets, assuming you don't tear or damage them during removal.

 

Just replace them, they're cheap.
cheap. Also replace your BATTERY, the corrosion on your cable was almost definitely caused by your battery off-gassing corrosive sulfuric gas that corrodes the cable. Typically the micro cracks form around the battery terminals and that's where the gas comes from.

 

No, you don't need to replace the valve cover gaskets if they are that new. They're just rubber and not a crush type gasket and are still plenty flexible. If it was a year later, then maybe you might have a problem sealing back up.

 

Good news... gallery gaskets and timing chain kit installed.

Blown gallery gasket


Before

After

Bad news... still generating a P0300 code... and now I have a P0024 (EVT control, bank 2 (drivers side)) code. I triple checked in making sure I installed the timing chains correctly.

• Voltage tested both IVT solenoid harnesses... passed at 12 volts
• Resisted tested both IVT solenoids... passed at 7.5 Ohms
• Voltage tested bank 2 EVT magnet retarder harness... passed at 12 volts
• Resisted tested bank 2 EVT magnet retarder... passed at 10 Ohms
• Continuity between bank 2 EVT magnet retarder and ECM.
• Cannot complete the "Exhaust Valve Timing Control Learning" procedure because misfire will not allow me to hold the RPMs between 1,800 and 2,000.
  • Throttle acts really weird when trying to hold it at that range... some times it'll drop to 1000 rpms without me moving my foot.
• Still need to test and inspect the exhaust camshaft sensor (1.5 years old) and the the crankshaft sensor (2 weeks old).
• Note: Not sure if my cruise control malfunctioning has anything to do with it. But it sort of worked while testing driving...
  • Press On = Cruise lights up
  • Press Set = Car holds speed, but "On" does not illuminate until 50 - 60 seconds later, then turns back off while vehicle still holds speed.

I will look into replacing the battery. The last battery was in bad shape (2 years ago), I'd assume the older battery that was replaced was cause of the wire corrosion. I also didn't replace the rocker cover gasket... no leaks in 50 miles.

I purchased the Tanabe Medallion y-pipe back exhaust, should be here tomorrow. I'm hoping that eliminating the huge exhaust leak will improve something.

I wonder if my EVAP control system is malfunctioning without throwing a code. Since I'll be installing exhaust parts tomorrow, I'll inspect that as well. Any other suggestions?? I'm all ears.

 

Whole lot of new parts here for it to still be doing the same things.

Was the crankshaft sensor (the one down in the trans) replaced yet?

From the FSM, here's your list of possible causes to check:
* Improper spark plug
* Insufficient compression
* Incorrect fuel pressure
* The fuel injector circuit is open or shorted
* Fuel injector
* Intake air leak
* The ignition signal circuit is open or shorted
* Lack of fuel
* Signal plate
* Air fuel ration (A/F) sensor 1
* Incorrect PCV hose connection

The first two steps in the FSM are to check for intake leaks / PCV hose leaks and then check for clogs in your exhaust. I know you have a downstream exhaust leak, but are there any dents or damage? Any chance your high flow cats were installed with an impact gun, causing damage and now possible clogging? What's your catch can setup look like, can you delete it so it can be ruled out? My guess is that your next step would be a power balance test and check fuel injectors. At this point, you might as well just remove the injectors and send them out to be cleaned and flow tested. Going to have a whole new engine before too long at this rate.

I really hope you have an OBDII dongle, using the NDSII app you can do the idle relearn at the touch of a button and also monitor the items listed in the FSM. If you need the FSM, I have one for a 2006 uploaded here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ssivjnalx...20FSM.zip?dl=0

 

I know. I never thought I'd be the guy that's throwing parts at their car to fix it. Here I am. Yes, I replaced the crankshaft sensor at the back of the oil pan two weeks ago. I pulled the entire exhaust today from the cats back to the muffler and everything looked fine, insides covered in soot, but nothing clogged. Cats looked fine, i've never used a impact gun on my exhaust. Down stream O2 sensors were caked with soot, but the upstream ones weren't (I soaked the downstream sensors in throttle body cleaner... didn't make a difference). No dents or damage in the exhaust except for the flange leak. Installed a new y-pipe back Tanabe exhaust today... much quieter, but idle is still super rough. I don't have a catch can setup... PCV valve is stock. I have an OBDII bluetooth dongle. I have to fish out an old Android device to download the NDSII app. I've been using OBD Fusion and Car Scanner on my iPhone. I already have a 2005 and 2007 FSM... Thanks for offering.

• Improper spark plug - Spark plug... does the gap have to be 0.043? Is there a +/- 0.002 tolerance? There is one at 0.041 and one at 0.045. I didn't want to risk damaging it being so close.
• Insufficient compression - Compression is good. (between 157.5 - 165 on all cylinders)
• Incorrect fuel pressure - Fuel Pressure is a steady 51 psi at idle
• The fuel injector circuit is open or shorted - There's continuity between the ECM and the F33 harness (fuel injectors). I don't know how to check short to ground or short to power.
• Fuel Injector - I will check fuel injector function by supplying power in the morning.
• Intake air leak - I had a crack in the upper plenum, but I've replaced it. I will spray some throttle body cleaner around the engine to recheck tomorrow.
• The ignition signal circuit is open or shorted - I can't check the coils spark. I need help to do that. But the coils and spark plugs are less than a month old.
• Lack of Fuel - Currently have a little over half a tank.
• Signal Plate - This will require removing the timing cover and valve covers.!!!!!
• Air fuel ratio (A/F) sensor 1 - (Both seem to be working properly) I pulled both sensor ones today and they looked ok. The sensor two's were both caked with soot.
• Incorrect PCV hose connection - All new PCV hoses installed

One more thing to add... my bank 1 short term fuel trim starts at 17 then fluctuates between 17 and 21 at idle. My bank 2 short term fuel trim starts at -7, then fluctuates between -9 and -4. I don't know much about STFT, but I believe both should be very close to 1 at idle, right?

 

That's interesting. The fuel trims should be fairly equal. What this is showing is that one side is needing to add 17-21% more fuel to get to stoic (it's running lean), and the other side is pulling ~8% fuel (it's running rich). The lean is most commonly a vacuum leak. But you've been all over the top end of this engine so far. Focus on the fuel rail and injectors (clogged maybe), that's starting to seem like the problem, considering you've done literally everything else on this thing.

 

I think things have gotten way worse. I went to Lowes to get a 23 mm socket to install new ball joints. And believe rod knock has emerged. If anyone knows of a good pier to drive this car off of please send me the location.


I'm literally 10 minutes away from buying a used Jeep Liberty just to get me through to the end of the semester (graduating in May).
Edit (2:40 PM EST): So I reach out to my professor (Mech Eng. - Motorsports) and referred me to a car "Guru." He initially told me spark plugs/coils for the p0300 a month ago when I first met him. He's still stumped on that. He believes the noise in the video isn't rod knock, but something going on with the timing chain components. I told him, i accidentally was a little sloppy with the RTV when installing the timing cover. He told me that "RTV blocking oil passages can make the tensioners, solenoids, and other timing components malfunction... it's probably why you,re generating a p0024 code." So I will have to go back in there, inspect, clean and reinstall.

On my next post... either I will be showing you all a sigh of relief... or showing off my new daily beater and parting out.

 

That's not rod knock, you lost something on the top end, pull the valve covers and find out what, something along the valve train.

I don't know how RTV could cause that issue unless you used it on the cam actuator solenoid maybe?

P0024 is usually the exhaust magnet retarder on bank 2, when you disassembled it there should have been two dowel pins on the magnet clutch backside that fits into two holes. Are you sure you got it all aligned properly? I would start by just unplugging the thing and verifying none of the pins were bent.

However, you did just have the timing system all disassembled, just to verify, you set the engine at TDC1 and ALL the match marks lined up perfectly as shown in the FSM correct?

 

If RTV isn't applied properly it can get sucked into the solenoids. I found a small ring of RTV in the bank 1 IVT solenoid. Looked like it came off a bolt. I had trouble putting the timing cover back on I'm sure I had a bad case of RTV smear.

When I was installing the cam sprockets, bank one sprockets fitted perfectly. I had to rotate one of the camshafts of bank 2 with a wrench about 1 mm - 2 mm (as suggested in FSM) to get them to slide into their dowels. The markings all lined up, just at it shows in the diagram you have above. I'm sure I had everything at TDC before installing, The lobes were all pointing in the direction shown in the FSM, and the markings were lined up as well. I will document removing the timing chain cover over, inspecting the chains, tensioners and guides the next couple of days. Should be quicker for me to get in there now. I hope it's something easy to fix. Wish me luck.

 

Sounds like there's no oil going to the cams, I wouldn't run that engine AT ALL until you tear it down and find out what's going on.

There's no RTV on the cam actuator solenoid, it's just a gasket.

iirc the only places that get rtv is the cover, the smaller access covers, and the front corners of the valve covers.

My gut is telling me something failed on the new gasket for the inner galley covers, the one that has the blown gasket in your previous picture. That galley supplies oil to the cams.

What did you torque those to? 12 ft/lbs ?

 

I'm not sure how that little ring of RTV (definitely was on the thread of some bolt) got into IVT solenoid, but I agree there should only be that gasket. I only applied RTV to where the FSM specified, but I had trouble putting the timing cover back on after I applied the RTV...(I didn't remove the smaller access covers):

• The corners where the valve covers where they mate with the camshaft brackets
• Where the camshaft brackets mate to the rear of the rear timing cover.
• The back of the front timing cover
• And of course the oil pan

I torqued the gallery gaskets to 12 ft-lbs. I've seen videos were people put RTV on the gallery gasket before installation, but I didn't do that. I'm taking my time and pulling the front off the car now. I'll probably get to the timing cover first thing in the morning.I'm not going to reassemble anything until I post pictures to have a second set of eyes take a look.

 

(I'm embarrassed) The ticking noise was the primary tensioner/slack guide. It was my negligence. I was up from 11:00 PM until 5:30 AM working on the car when this happened. I simply placed the primary timing tensioner in its position without torquing the bolts at all . On top of that I didn't pull the green pin to release the tensioner piston (as you can see in the 2nd photo of post #20). When I opened the timing cover the primary tensioner just fell to the ground with the "stop pin" still installed. I inspected all the tensioners, the chains, and cam components and luckily there was no damage. Since this was obviously the ticking noise issue, I torqued everything back down and made sure I was wide awoke and not forcing myself to continue working. The timing cover has been reinstalled. I haven't put the car back together yet, waiting for fuel dampers to arrive Friday, since the plenum and valve covers are off this gives me ample space to quickly replace them. Any suggestions for things I should look at will the top part of the engine is open?

3 more things to note:

• I've had this car since 2012. I can tell the previous owner did some modifications.
  • The radiator support has a 2.5 - 3 inch hole right in front of the air filter. (Maybe for a CAI setup or FI setup)
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  • When I changed the fuel pump a little over a year ago, there was a universal fuel pressure regulator installed right on top of (exterior - between the seat and the sending unit cover) the fuel pump unit. I removed it and made it stock. This is what prompted me to consider replacing the fuel dampers (which can cause black exhaust tips, misfires, fuel pump whine, and poor acceleration... all which I'm experiencing).
    • 
      
  • I can tell also that someone had a TEIN adjustable coiler kit installed... near the rear strut towers, there are cut outs to gain access to were the dampening motor adjusters would be... i found a cable, that connected to nothing, that is identical to the cables that come with the TEIN EDFC kit. I'm actually installing TEIN Flex Z's in the near future (been sitting in the garage for a year).

 

Yeah sometimes that happens, don't feel bad.

I installed a clutch backwards in mine last weekend Realized it once I had it all back together and my clutch pedal was halfway to the floor.

It was late I already did one clutch earlier that day on a different car, should have just called it a night.