hammeron

i could tell when i read your initial post that you pay close attention
to detail, i don't think you bent it at all. it's just that i have seen them
come right out of a shipping box with a slight bend and that's the only
reason i considered it could even be a possibility. i also figured you,
like me, are very careful while working in the engine bay and i just don't
see you disturbing the harness in any significant way during the cam job.

keeping fingers crossed that you see something, let us know how things
look.

OhEightGT

Thank you! I do my best. I am by no means a pro, but I take things very slow and am the type of person to read "how to's" endlessly before tackling a job, especially like this one. I opened up the driver's side, and I just can't see anything wrong with it. Everything looks spot on as best as I can tell. I can't find our camera right now, but it is too late to put the car back together, so I will snap a few pics in the morning, perhaps you might be able to see something I am missing. I've been studying this for the last days endlessly so maybe I am blind to something.

I thought for a moment maybe I somehow got the phaser limiters in wrong, but reading the directions again and looking at them, there's just no way to do that. It makes no difference how that is keyed, it's the same all around, even the guys at Comp said as much.Is it possible my timing chain could have a little slack? Or maybe it somehow even got off by a link or something? Everything lines up, I don't have the front cover off right now, but I did during installation and I made sure it was right, just can't see how that could have changed.

I'm lost. The car runs GREAT under throttle. Smooth, no problems at all. It just can't find idle, tries to stall when coasting in neutral or with the clutch in, and keeps throwing that damned code. Hell if I could get it to idle on it's own I'd be fine just ignoring the check engine light. It's honestly almost frustrating enough I'd just as soon lose the gains and go back to the stock setup. But I know when I finally get it sorted out it will all be worth it. Oh! By the way, Bama sent me three new tunes, they all do the same thing. So I suppose that eliminates the tune.

I really appreciate the help man, even though we haven't got it nailed yet, you've been a big help.

OhEightGT

Believe I found the culprit! I was racking my brain trying to figure this out. Just... Nothing was bent, out of place (I thought) or anything like that. Had my wife help me this morning. I was turning the motor over by hand slowly, and had her watch the arms to make sure she couldn't see a bend anywhere either.

Well, she asked a random question "Why is the back side of this link different than the front/others?"... Well, that caused me to look so I could explain it to her, and low and behold... Just the position everything was in... Let me see that one of the arms was VERY slightly bent towards the rear. I mean barely. (The reason I couldn't see it earlier I guess was because it was not lined up with anything good to reference it with, but in this position it was parallel to something else, and it stuck out to my eyes.)

I guess my eyes had just been staring too hard or something. I really don't know how I missed it now. Feel like an idiot, haha. Going back together with her this morning, we'll see (I really, REALLY hope...) that this fixes it. Thanks again!!!

hammeron

it would be real nice if that slight bend is indeed causing the
issue. however, just incase we find ourselves back at square
one after getting her all buttoned up and running her for awhile,
here's a backup plan.

if the code(s) return, i'll be leaning toward the alternator. the reason
is based on my assumption that 1) the noise supressors are both
hooked up to the wiring harness and 2) the cam position sensor
wiring is in good shape and the connector is making good solid
contact. the alternator may be generating just enough interference
which is being picked up on the cam position sensor wiring.

OhEightGT

Well. This is interesting. Got her all back together. Everything is great at first. Car actually IDLES and doesn't try to stall!! Took it for a spin, running smooth, everything seems great! Got home and parked it, still no light, I was excited as could be! Decided we'd take my GT to the store to get some errands done, and bam... A new f*cking code. P0018, which shows to be crank/cam position sensor correlation issue. NOTHING has been moved or changed. The original codes I was getting are gone and have not returned, car idles and drives great. I am at a loss, I have no idea what is going on. Starting to wish I never bothered with this deal.

What do you think it means? I find it interesting with the bend gone, that the original error codes I was getting are gone and the car idles and drives beautifully. But this new code out of nowhere, I can't figure out. Unless the timing chain somehow jumped itself a tooth as it ran, because it was spot on yesterday and I didn't move it at all today. didn't need to take anything apart aside from the valve cover to fix the bend, so timing wise nothing has changed even in the slightest.

My car doesn't seem to like to be modified!

hammeron

ok so if the car is idling and running smooth then that is
great and at least the car is driveable while you work out
the final kinks.

if you are confidant that engine timing (crankshaft/cams)
is good, I lean toward alternator.

OhEightGT

Right, it is running spot on as far as I can tell. I mean it actually idles now, and runs smooth (well, it doesn't idle smooth of course but it's not supposed to now, haha but the idle is stable and as it should be) But this new code... I am just now researching it but so far I haven't seen a case where it is related to the alternator. Do you think it can be? I find it really interesting that the original codes are gone and cannot be replicated, the car runs like it should now, but has this new code. If timing were off, would it run perfect like that?

I am confident in the timing. Unless like I said, it somehow jumped, but I really don't see that being even mechanically possible? I had the front cover off very recently trying to diagnose the original codes, and everything was spot on then. I guess I need to look into an alternator! It just seems so odd for it to very coincidentally cause issues the moment I changed cams. I really hope that takes care of it. I know when you start to modify anything, issues come up all the time as you're changing something that was engineered and built to do one thing, to doing something different. But man, when those problems come up, it can be frustrating

hammeron

if it were my car i would probably give it a few days, drive it
around and see what happens with the code(s). i know it
seems so unlikely that the alternator is the culprit, but there
are just so many reports of folks changing cams only to get
some code (in the 0340's) afterwards. i don't know how the
crank and cam sensors work but it seems they are magnetic
in some fashion? and that interference from the alternator
affects their signal somehow.

OhEightGT

Do you think even in the worst of cases that it's safe to drive it around like that? Only thing that scares me is that somehow if something is out of whack, I could be causing damage along the way the more I run it. I tend to think this isn't the case, as if things were THAT bad it would be very noticeable right? There are no ticks/rattles/weird sounds, the car runs fine, just the code...

It does seem possible reading how many people run into that. They are magnetic, yes. If you take them out, you have to be careful as they want to pull towards anything they get close to. I guess they use that magnetic field to sense the arms as they pass by. I'll drive it around for a day or two and see what happens, if this code won't go away, or the "normal" post-cam install codes come back, I will just throw an alternator in it and see what happens. Thanks so much for your help Hammeron! I really appreciate it! We got two of the codes whacked out, I'm sure we'll get this new one too!

hammeron

you are welcome OhEightGT, always happy to help a fellow
DIY'r. yes i'd drive it, but would stay relatively close to home
as i built up confidance that i'm not gonna get stranded out
in the boonies.

if you do an exchange on the alternator, i
would try to have the replacement unit bench tested to make
sure that AC ripple on the DC output, is minimal. or else we could
end up right back where we started, with codes and not being
sure if it's the alternator or not.

good luck and i'll be watching to see your updates