Hi all -

First off, I’m brand new to the forum - I apologize if I’m not doing this correctly. I didn’t even think to create an account on here until a buddy of mine recommended it when I was having issues with my truck after replacing the VCT solenoids. He figured someone on here might be able to help me out.

For reference below, I have a 2008 5.4L v8 F-150 FX4.

Anyways, my truck was ideling really rough after being on for 20+ minutes. When I would stop at a light or just stop in general after having the engine warm up, it would start sputtering and making a terrible knocking sound acting like it was about to die. It did that for a couple weeks almost every time I drove it but no CEL ever came on. Finally one day the CEL came on and it threw a couple codes. I can’t remeber exactly what they were but after searching the internet everyone recommended to swap out the variable cam timing solenoids.

So I finally did last night. I purchased two brand new solenoids from Ford that were the upgraded version, two new seals, and two new gaskets for the valve covers. I’ve seen videos where people were able to swap out the VCT solenoids without taking the valve covers off but there’s no chance you could do that with my model. So I removed the valve covers and replaced the VCT solenoids. I also put brand new gaskets in and some RTV to replace the original seal that I broke when removing the valve covers.

I turned the truck on and it sounded fine with no CELs. Got in the truck and drove it about a half mile when all of a sudden I lost power. The truck just completely shut off. I tried it again and it did the same thing again. I did it once more after that and a CEL came on. P0022 - intake camshaft position timing - over - retarded (bank 2). It continues to idle even worse now and just completely shuts off while driving and while idling.

Anyone have any ideas what’s going on here? The only thing I can think of is a bad VCT solenoid that I replaced?

Any help or suggestions would greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

@Doublet74

Thanks for the quick response! Great suggestion. I’ll give that a shot and see what happens.

I’ll reply back when after I do that to let you guys know what happens. Might be a while though as I’ll be traveling for the holiday.

Thanks!