VVT/VCT issue

[Ryanthelsman]

Hello again, back with another issue.
My 04 3.9 has had some engine stuff. We had a 0020 code for the VVT sensor on bank two for a bit. The cars
was on jacks and we were testing wiring and such since id rather not have to remove the head.(all checked out and everything had and has power) And everything seemed sorted and as we were testing and making sure all connections were good 0010 came up as well.

When i got the car the “oil life” reading on the dash was Very low, and its been leaking since before iv had the car. Its darker but its not bad oil. The oil levels are also near the min but not below.

If the bad oil is effecting the sensors can i do an oil change and hope they start reading again or is it a lost cause and i have to remove the heads and clean or replace the sensors no matter what. Additionally like i said the cars half on jacks with the front raised. Could the lower oil levels and the angle cause the 0010 to trigger as well?

Anything helps and im open to ALL suggestions and taking both heads off would be a MASSIVE job. Thanks.

 

[joegr]

You do not remove a head to do anything to the VVT actuators (those are not sensors). Are you talking about removing the valve covers? Two very, very different things.
I don't understand leaving dirty oil in and leaving the level low. That should have been taken care of before you got this far.
P0020 indicates an electrical problem and has nothing to do at all with the oil. It is more likely to be the wiring between the PCM and the VCT, than the VCT itself. Anyway, a 30 second check with an ohm meter will tell you if it is the VCT itself or not.

 

[Ryanthelsman]

Sorry valve cover* NOT the head. Still a headache to remove on the driver side.

But to clarify whats the difference between the VVT and VCT. Im struggling with determining witch is witch as i keep seeing the terms used almost interchanged.

 

[joegr]

VVT = Variable Valve Timing
VCT = Variable Cam Timing (same thing, more or less) Above, I was using VCT to refer to the variable cam timing solenoid itself (2 below)

Again, do some very simple electrical tests before pulling any covers. It's probably not the VCT solenoid. It's probably the wiring.

 

[Ryanthelsman]

Thank you for clearing that up.

I did some testing and got 2.5 volts on each pin referenced to ground. And 7 ohms between the two pins. All seems in order.
Additionally we sent (I'm forgetting how many volts) to each of the solenoids and they both made a loud and healthy sounding tick like noise. Both had healthy engagement, even the one that we’ve had a code for a bit now.

 

[Ryanthelsman]

Did an oil change and have driven the car a bit to get it aligned and still codes..

now i have p0010, p0020, p0135, p0155, p0175.

The only wiring we haven't checked is mid point connection in the wiring harness to PCM. I will be tomorrow.

Any other weak points or potential problematic parts I should try checking?

 

[Ryanthelsman]

NEED HELP IDENTIFYING THIS PART!!
Whats its purpose as it dosnt look like a ground. Was disconnected on both sides and might be causing the codes…

 

[joegr]

RFI suppression capacitor for electrical noise from the ignition coils. You want to have them, and have them connected, but that's not causing any of those codes.