The number one thing to not do is rush. And if you can rotate it over clockwise twice and the cam tool slides back into place freely you should be set. I've done many a timing belt but the svt was my first experience with vct and it went together very easy and lined up first try, just take your time and you should be good to go.

Also can a moderator please move this to General Chat, it'll help him get more info.

 

Are you supposed to loosen the cam gears on the SVT?

 

ing[]belt[]on and tensioned. Both cam sprockets loose.
Lock the crank at TDC.
Align both cams and lock them.*

First step:
Hold the Intake cam with a wrench in place, tighten the sprocket by hand to 30 Ft Lbs of torque. Remove cam locking tool, using the wrench on the intake cam, rotate it towards the windshield slowly and gently no more than 1/4 turn until it hits a DEAD STOP. All oil within the gear should come out. Dont move the cam! If you didnt feel a dead stop, repeat above step.

Second step:
Now loosen the intake cam sprocket bolt and align the cam with the[]exhaust[]cam. Lock them and tighten sprockets. Intake to 80 and Exhaust to 55 Ft Lbs.

Now remove timing pin and plate (timing locking tools) and rotate engine by[]hand 4[]crank revolutions, cams will make 2 and check if cams are aligned. If not, redo the first step above. Thats it, no codes, no power loss, runs like new.

If after doing the timing the above way you get any P1381 or P1383 code, then you should invest in the VCTsolenoid[]and[]Cam Positioning Sensor, because i have no issues so far

 

I used that procedure to check my vct, however everytime I start step 2 and loosen the cam gear, the cam seems to be under some sort of spring load, do I need to hold it and then slide it back onto the cam alignment plate? Or do I let it spring back, then use a wrench to twist it (towards the windshield) until it lines up?

 

This should help you out, second post down, download the official Ford pdf for the svt, I followed it to the t and it worked great, hope this helps you out.

http://forums.focaljet.com/ford-svt-focus-headquarters/629405-svt-timing-belt-pdf-file.html

 

Yea I did that. Problem is I think I threw off the vct in the process.

 

I've seen that rotate the cam towards the windshield thing on here and that was a step I didn't do, been a bit I don't remember if the Ford procedure has that on there either. I loosened the gears, locked the cams together, tightened the gears, then ran the belt, tensioned it, rotated the crank twice(if your timing is off it'll show after only one revolution of the cams) and bolted it all together. No codes have come up since I did it back in December and it runs great. Although when I bought the car the previous owner had a head gasket done, and the cel bulb didn't light and I found out why, p1383 and they couldn't figure it out so they pulled the bulb.

 

Problem im running into is I turned the cam and spring tensed gear over by hand just trying to get a handle on how it all worked, ive read alot of guys end up with their vct off, the car wont be running until this upcoming weekend anyway, so im trying to take the initiative and check the timing before I have it all back together and it throws the code is all.

 

If you get it back together and it is off ( 90% chance) then give me a call and I can help from there , use caution there is a TON of misinformation out there about this

Tom

 

I'd agree if you have trouble pm Tom, he should be able to fix you right up.

Tom, that's why I tried to link him to the Ford PDF file on ST170/SVT procedure to fix in hopes that it would help him out, I used it and haven't had any issues since I did the belt and following the directions it all lined up the first try.

 

Tom actually isnt a big fan of that file. He prefers not even loosening the gears lol. Wish I had someone local like Tom ha.

Tom youll probably be hearing from me next week.

 

I wasn't a big fan of it either, was just stating it worked for me. Again though Tom will fix you right up, good luck getting the ride back on the road.

 

My motor is so [][][][][][] up now that I can even turn it over. Yay fml.

Tom you may end up getting a call from me tomorrow. After trying several times to get things to work out the motor seems to lock up when I rotate it clock and counterclockwise

 

How many bolts did you loosen on the intake cam gear?

I'll bet 1. And that 1 was only the cap screw:

If you remove it, you'll see the actual cam gear bolt. If you'd have loosened that you wouldn't feel/find any spring tension on the intake cam gear ... and wouldn't have any problems with cam timing.


I could be wrong though ...

 

Yea, no, I loosed the star looking nut inside of that as well.

 

One comment from the first post is scary "rotated the back cam a few times".

Cams shouldn't be rotated EXCEPT when timed with the crank (timing set, rotating engine carefully to check).

I hope you didn't really do that (rotate the cam by itself) or got exceedingly lucky.

When the crank is at TDC #1 for replacing belt/setting timing, 1 & 4 pistons are at the top of their travel. Forcing the cam through a full rotation moves the valves through a full cycle and with the interference design that would likely bend both the #1 pair & the #4 pair of valves.

The only way to safely rotate the cams is to have the pistons at the middle of their travel, NOT at the TDC position for setting timing.

Valve spring resistance when moving a single installed cam is significant, it could potentially mask the resistance felt when a valve contacts a piston.

REALLY hope you didn't actually do this...

Luck

 

Anytime I have felt internal resistance I have stopped.

 

That's a plus, moving the cam slightly for timing bar alignment is OK - you don't want to twist the cams more than needed to do that.

 

Sailor check your PM's. I need someone to walk me through what Ive done and how to get everything fixed.

 

Huge thanks to sailor for helping me get this all straightened out. Huuuuuge help, and walked me through everything.

The timing was so messed up I would have valves slapping cylinders on both 1 & 4 and 2 & 3. So glad it got all straightened out.

I think I may do a write up with HUGE warnings of things not to do at the beginning haha.

 

Glad you got it all back together, maybe I'll see it driving down the road.

 

You people are killing me here, if you don't loosen the sprocket with VCT it is IMPOSSIBLE to lose the timing there. Ford can take their procedure and stuff it, they don't even explain to their own mechs that can't do it right why not. It's simply 'you didn't follow the procedure right'. Loosening the sprockets allows the VCT to spring to the end stop but sometimes it does not happen fully, you have to check for it. Also, once set correctly simply rotating the engine can make it seem to be off again when it's not, thus sending people into a tizzy too.

If the cam tool goes in the backs of cams with crank on the TDC pin AND with the VCT ON ITS' END STOP AT THAT TIME the engine is timed perfectly. Ignore any later rolling around rechecks that show it then to be off (they WILL!!), the VCT moves off the stop with turning friction, the valvespring resistance moves it.

 

the VCT moves off the stop with turning friction, the valvespring resistance moves it.

Can you explain ?

Tom

 

OP's crank timing was off after moving it by mistake without the exh. cam sprocket tightened.

With some phone & text help it was checked for any obvious damages & re-set to proper timing without any apparent issues. (valve clearances look OK & timing matches right on each of two full turns of the cams)

Stopping when resistance was felt seems to have saved the day for him - props for that!

Long screwdriver trick for piston position found the crank orientation issue, "Simple" checks can really help.

Once everything was carefully checked/moved/confirmed to be positioned properly there were no issues with locking cams in place & rechecking by rotating the assembly.

 

Nothing to explain, the valvetrain friction moves it. Of course not sure which way the stop ends up on intake VCT (CW or CCW) but the idea still has merit since the cams can drift one way or another slightly by simply letting off the wrench used to turn crank. I've clearly watched them go both ways depending on where exactly you stop and what spring is pushing which way on cam lobe. It would be less likely if the end stop is attained by rolling cam CCW inside VCT, rotation would tend to keep it tight then. Very bad though on earlier exhaust VCT which goes the other way for sure.

On Contours with VCT on exhaust they could come off the stop by easily half the 22 degrees total adjustment they had. You positively HAD to bring them up to stop every time you roll engine around. Less likely if full of oil but some leak down and if VCT cylinder is empty of oil absolutely guaranteed to happen. The earlier service manuals had procedure checking in them for it.

This all misses the point anyway, if all timing aids (pin and bar) are used, at that time the VCT must be on the end stop, the really big thing there.