Newbie123

Hi,

Does anyone know how you would diagnose a bad camshaft adjuster? On you tube there is a video for the 4.2 8 cylinder engine which shows internal damage and recommends replacement when doing the timing chains and tensioners.

Since I did the L/R tensioners, I can't get the car to run well enough to even hold an idle. A scan keeps showing the P0346 implausible signal at G163, bank 2 intake cam position sensor. When I check time, I am able to lock the cams and pin the crank.

How would I know if I have a bad intake camshaft adjuster?

Anyone been down this path?

Thanks in advance for any info provided.

Florida8L

Check your cam to cam chains under the valve covers. Failed adjusters can go metal to metal and start the shaving. If it has... id go aftermarket adjusters and chains, change the oil and filter twice to pick up all the parts. And use a flush on first draining. Also put on new cover gaskets while its apart.

There are also vacuum driven intake plane adjusters that can break off, fall into intake, and rattle above the valves. There is a thread about someone having this issue.

LarryJa

Are you certain that you've gotten the cam adjusters properly installed pretensioned & torqued?
After that, I'd be suspicious of the cam position sensor. I think typical diagnosis of that is by swapping the sensor around & seeing if the reading moves or remains.
While I've never had your problem, those are recurring issues that have shown up in valve tensioner threads/posts.
Note: I'm monitoring my start up noisy tensioner to change it myself as it worsens.

Newbie123

As sure as I can be. And to verify, I was able to install both cam locks and then pin the crankshaft. So it appears that the chains are in time. I also replaced the intake cam position sensor. Same result. That's wht I am wondering if the camshaft adjuster can fail/lockup. If so, how do you diagnose?