My shop is less than helpful now. I know what I need to do but I do not have the proper tester. I need to see power balance live, cylinder contribution live, and an ocilloscope style cam and crank sensor test. I am stuck in limp mode several thousand miles after replacing timing chains and phasers. I have since removed timing chain cover and re aligned the chains and sprockets from dead zero. Single links at mark on crank sprocket and double links stradling timing mark on cam sprockets. My phasers are blocked, i do have a new High Volume Iol pump and the mechanical shows 60-8- psi at idle. I repaired both exhaust manifold gaskets and broken studs. The truck runs smooth and sounds good at idle. Once loaded I have a hard time getting it over 45 mph and if on a hill it predetonates very bad.

Last time I was on a HP Tune scanner it showed right bank 13 degrees advanced. I believe this is still the problem. I am looking for scanners that I can see cam timing, can sensor signal pulse lengths, and a graphed power balance test. I really do not want to spend thousands. One group told me to buy Forscan. I did and it was not any better than my Innova. No one says what is offered with the 1 year paid license or if it will do the above tests. I know the HP Tuners will do it, but I am worried about accessing the program and breaking something. I just want to look at parameters not write or change tunes.

Any suggestions? My AE was also worthless as to graphing for diagnostics. It was not even close the the shops version of HP Tune

 

Well so far I have checked 3 local shops for what they use. Funny not a one had an oscilloscope. Each one said they call in a guy named Lucas. Lucas must be getting real rich off his scope. Dealerships even have few that get detailed into reading scanners. Most now are just remove and replace until it works. What I have is an issue with Bank 1. It is showing the cam is off by about 13 degrees. The signal that senses this is shared by 5 other sensors and Bank 2. If any of these sensors have a fault the power feed from PIN 58 will not be the full amount. The only way I know to test this is with an ocilliscope like we used to do back in the 70s with spark patterns. Below is a parade pattern oa sensor that tested good with a Multimeter, but the signal is corrupt to the ECM. The signal needs to be uniform and consistant.

If there is another way to test this I am open to suggestions. So far nothing is working and the truck is stuck in limp mode with no fault codes showing.

This is the ECM circuit with my cam position sensors.


Power Balance/ Cylinder contribution.

Sensor cycling. Note not all cycles are the same gap. This sends bad signals to the ECM resulting in faults.

 

Just an update: repairing the wiring and sheilding took care of the cam timing issue. The latest scan showed less tha 1 degree differance between cams. I also redid a complete timing of the chains. With timing chain cover removed resetting the chains to dead zero as if a new install using the black repairlinks as marking points from Cloyes. It was a lot of reworking, but it is best to not take short cuts. When checking from the sensor to the ECU plug knowing the right pinout is equally important. You Tube has many videos on the 5.4 pinout testing. They are all partially correct. What the readings should be was all over the place. On my truck, 2008 F350 5.4 valve, the signal wire is pin 45 for bank one and pin 44 for bank two. the power wire in is from pin 58 for both cam sensors. My readings were .2 ohms between the connector and the ECM plug for all four leads. I could also test between the power wire to bank one and bank two and get a reading of .2 ohms. Opening the wire wrap and checking the sheilding and the ground to the shielding was just as important. bank one was damaged. All of this work is what got me back to correct timing on my cams.

Now the problems are not over yet. I did repair the exhaust manifold gasket and studs. This helps fuel signals. The O2 sensors will not be accurate with a leak you can hear. Now my fuel trim jumps out of range when accelerating. Idle is fine but as soon as I take off I am -20 on bank one and plus 25 on bank two. Still a sensor issue. As the truck cools I will remove the sensors and see if they are bad.

 

Quite the exercise you've accomplished there and there will be many that will appreciate what you've done and shared.

 

EDC8008, too many leave you hanging with their problem. They fix it and never say what was the fix. I am old and would love it if I could save just one mechanics day. Most will not put the time I did nor buy the tools I have. Still they might have an easier time of it.

 

In the end it became a multi problem issue. Timing chains and phasers led to clogged cats. Bad wiring gave bad timing signals on passenger cam. then after all that work and rework while changing out cats I also replaced exhaust studs to fix leaks, which led to helicoil repairs on heads. So much drama, but now it runs stronger than it ever did. Because of the high cost of cat pipes we saved the old pipes and will drill out the elements from the cats. Factory grade cats are $1500-2200. The ones I got were knock offs good for 50,000 miles.

It is hard not to stay focused on just one problem. Many times there is more than one thing happening. For me the mechanic was only thinking hot rods and not old service trucks or farm trucks. Knowing how to use Baro pressures, intake air temps, cat exh temps, fuel trims and such makes diagnostics much more accurate. I wish I had access to an oscilliscope. Even if I am not sure how to spell it I know how to use it. Regardelss of make and model this is the new future of mechanics. Knowing the basics still is a must. Knowing how to see the basics with these new readings and monitors is a trick.