New vvt cam installed big problem now. Please help

[Brian Wilson]

I just installed a eps vvt cam in my 2007 yukon denali. 6.2 6 speed non afm/dod. Blackebear tuned and MIT airaid and catch can. It sounded great when I fired it the first time. And I had lots of oil pressure. Almost 50 at idle with 5 w 30
I figured while I was changing the cam I would change every gasket and only used factory gaskets and replaced all the bolts with factory replacements except ARP crank bolt and exhaust bolts.

I installed a custom cam, comp phaser limiter kit (the correct one for my phaser), ported and shimmed oil pump and new oring, new hd timing chain and tensioner, new lifters, rockers, and pushrods, I also installed 1 7/8 long tube headers and an off road y pipe that merges to a 3.5 inch exhaust with a flowmaster 40. So I deleted the rear O2 sensors and the cats. Mobil 5w30 synthetic with a bottle of break in lube. Also plugs and wires and paper air filter.

I started it and it roared to life. Huge lope at idle, idle is rough. And a little white smoke and water from the exhaust. And 4 codes which were all related to the rear 02 sensors.

today I decided to drive it to the gas station 3 miles away. Never went above 3k rpm. Really granny like. Every time it stopped after it warmed up, the white smoke would start from the exhaust. And the oil pressure dropped to 20 psi at 600 rpm when hot. On my way home the white smoke got really bad and when I parked I revd it to 2500 to see if the smoke would clear up, which it didnt. It looked like I was seafoaming it. Also I got 2 new codes
p0011 and p0016 which appear to be related to the cam position or maybe the vvt malfunctioning.

my question is, what are the posible causes for the smoke and will the new cam and phaser limiter I installed have caused the new codes or did I screw something up and have to tear it down again

the smoke I think could be oil, residual antifreeze in the engine and exhaust from when I pulled the heads, a blown head gasket, or oil from inside the new headers burning off. But I think it would have cleared up by now if it was anything but the head gasket.

looking for any tips ideas or something to help identify and correct these issues. The drop in oil pressure scares me but I hear 20 psi is still ok. And the 2 cam codes scare me alot. But the smoke is my main concern

 

[kbuskill]

Have you checked your oil to see if there is any water in it?

 

[Brian Wilson]

Looks like no water in it. And no air stream in the overflow tank. But putting my hand overy the exhaust I get watter, and it tastes like antifreeze. I also did a few temp tests on the headers and It looks like both head gaskets are leaking antifreeze into 3 of the 8 cylinders. I used stock gaskets and bolts. I followed torque pattern and specks 100%. Is there a better head gasket available or will copper spray or arp bolts help? This is so depressing after spending so much time and money on this upgrade.

 

[kbuskill]

Looks like no water in it. And no air stream in the overflow tank. But putting my hand overy the exhaust I get watter, and it tastes like antifreeze. I also did a few temp tests on the headers and It looks like both head gaskets are leaking antifreeze into 3 of the 8 cylinders. I used stock gaskets and bolts. I followed torque pattern and specks 100%. Is there a better head gasket available or will copper spray or arp bolts help? This is so depressing after spending so much time and money on this upgrade.

Did you have the heads checked at a machine shop?

Any time I pull heads I send them out to be magna fluxed and resurfaced and have a vacuum pulled on them to check the valves.

 

[Brian Wilson]

I did send them to be resurfaced and have 2 exhaust bolts removed. And get the valves clean and do a valve job. I assume the would have checked for cracks as well, but I doubt they were cracked. I never had any problems before with them

 

[Speck]

It does sound like a head gasket has gone bad. But with the fact that you checked the oil and there is no water in it is suggesting something else. I hope the best for you as I too have been considering a new cam for my 6.2 and wanted to add all of the same mods that you have done to the engine.

Joe

 

[kbuskill]

Could also be intake gaskets leaking.

 

[bottomline2000]

I did send them to be resurfaced and have 2 exhaust bolts removed. And get the valves clean and do a valve job. I assume the would have checked for cracks as well, but I doubt they were cracked. I never had any problems before with them

The heads may not be flat. They should have just cleaned them up if you weren't changing the deck height. I used MLS head gaskets with arp studs and got a tight seal. How did u clean the block before putting the heads back on? The coolant can leak into the cylinders without mixing with the oil, but it's only a matter time before it gets past the rings.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T377A using Tapatalk

 

[Brian Wilson]

I used standard victor-rinze gaskets and cleaned the surface with kerosene and a micro fiber rag. Thats all it takes on these motors and stock gaskets. I would never sand or use a scraper on these aluminum blocks. The shop only took off .005 from the heads. They were straight and they just took enough off to clean them. The exhaust side they took off .025 because of pitting. But that wouldn't affect the issue I am having

 

[bottomline2000]

With all things being equal it seems u have failed head gaskets. It's strange that both sides failed but if u trust the shop that cleaned them up and u didn't have a problem before it's got to be the gaskets. I never heard of that brand before but did read some FORD diesel people having problems immediately after installing them.

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[John Lowak]

These head gaskets also have a specific orientation. This side up, and front.

 

[kbuskill]

Just out of curiosity, what was the original reason for pulling the engine apart?

Was it just to swap cams or was there an issue that prompted it?

 

[Brian Wilson]

The reason....i had a bad oil pump oring. Then I tore it apart and one thing led to another. I found a few pushrods with odd damage. I seen a few lifters that just didn't hold oil. And several rockers with wear. Not major damage but not perfect. Im just a do it once type and when I pulled the timing cover and seen that cam phaser, I decided it was the best time to throw a cam in it. I also bought a higher volume oil pump from melling. At first start up I had almost 60psi at idle cold. I was so happy. But now after driving it, my oil pressure is almost as low as it was before i tore it apart. Only around 10 psi at idle when hot. Keep in mind this engine only has about 40k miles on it. All the bearings look great and it doesn't knock or tick or even have piston slap. It is a very tight engine. I thought the higher volume/pressure pump helped and I changed litterally every part I took off except the heads and intake. I'm at a loss on my oil pressure. I know the oring is installed right and not pinched. I know it isn't sloppy lose tolerance in the parts, I know it isn't the oil pump or pressure valve in the pump. And I know it isn't just a bad oil pressure sensor. Also the pickup tube and strainer are new. No idea what else it could be. Also, I pulled all the plugs today, no evidence of burning antifreeze. But 3 of 4 plugs on the drivers side had oil covering the threads. I installed the correct new valve seals and my valve cover doesn't leak. Could a blown head gasket let oil into the cylinder and that cause the white smoke?

 

[sumo]

Compression test time. Also you said you deleted the rear o2 but still got codes? Did you have blackbear tune them out or maybe by chance forgot to install the tune?

 

[kbuskill]

Is the oil filter new?

Low oil pressure could be a collapsed oil filter.

Blown head gasket shouldn't cause oil to get into the cylinders since I don't believe there are any oil passages in the heads, only coolant passages. Oil should only enter the cylinder through valve seals or if it were getting past the rings. I would think the odds of oil getting in from the push rods/rockers would be very slim since it wouldn't be pressurized oil as it is draining back to the pan.

Just out of curiosity, did you clean out the intake manifold when it was off?

Its not as likely since your engine is a NON AFM engine but the AFM 5.3l's ingest a lot of oil via the PCV line and it collects and pools in the intake manifold.

Also oil usually has a blueish color when burning so if it straight up white then I would lean more toward coolant.

 

[NGAneer]

High volume oil pump worries me. I've known of a couple high volume pumps to push all the oil to the top of the motor and then have little to pull from the sump. This was on SBCs though.

It sounds like head gaskets to me. I'd pull the heads and throw some felpro MLS gaskets in there. Make sure they are oriented properly as well.

 

[kbuskill]

High volume oil pump worries me. I've known of a couple high volume pumps to push all the oil to the top of the motor and then have little to pull from the sump. This was on SBCs though.

It sounds like head gaskets to me. I'd pull the heads and throw some felpro MLS gaskets in there. Make sure they are oriented properly as well.

The HV oil pump is standard on his engine and it is also standard on AFM engines.... Just FYI

 

[Jason_S]

Have you double checked the torque on your head bolts? It may be as simple as having missed final torque on one.

 

[Brian Wilson]

New info. I cleaned everything before the install. And today I checked the antifreeze for exhaust gas (chemical method) looked good. Checked the oil for foam or high level and looked good. It was acctually alittle low which was odd because i put 6 quarts in it and 1 bottle of break in oil additive. I did compression test and each cylinder was between 165 and 175 psi. I noticed oil on my spark plugs. I looked in the intake which i just cleaned about a week ago and it had a pool of oil in it. So i pulled it and cleaned the oil out again. I emptied my catch can for shit and giggles and it was full. With only about 300 miles since I emptied it last. I pulled the hose off the valve cover and started the car with the intake side plugged. It was a steady mist of oil from the valve cover. I was too tired to investigate further but it looks like I may have damaged the pcv valve when I cleaned the valve covers somehow. I used contact cleaner and kerosene to clean everything. I will test further tomorrow.

 

[Brian Wilson]

If this is the cause, a new larger clear catch can will be the next mod