Cam phaser and CVT solenoids

[kenny]

Like everyone else my 2010 4.6 has the dreaded rattling at low rpm. It has 161,000 miles on it and has been very dependable. But has had the noise for about 60k miles.

If I unplug the CVT solenoids it totally quiets all noise. It drives fine with the only noticeable difference is a slight drop in fuel mileage and the engine light on.

I want to know if this means only the solenoids are bad since it is quiet when unplugged? Seems to me if the phasers were bad it would still make the noise.

Thanks for any opinions.

[Carolina Boostin]

its fine mine is the same year same motor same noise went to 2 dealers they said it was fine

[kenny]

Yea, I am totally aware of the noise and that it really don't hurt anything. My never bothered me until recently it has gotten really bad. Almost sounds as thought the chains are hitting the side of the cover.

I just can't get anyone at Ford to say yes or no about any side effects of running with the solenoids unplugged. It doesn't affect my performance at all. Just makes the engine sound new again.

[codwel09]

I've done quite a bit of research on this tho I'm not a professional at it, but I've seen where it could also be a timing issue. And as now days cars and trucks are fitted to make variable timing adjustments with the ECU (approximately 5 degrees or so max forward or backward) then it would be fair to possibly say that you ECU thinks the timing is off when in fact it may not be. What I'm saying is it could be a bad timing sensor or the fact that it may be so far out of time that the engine can't correct it enough, but if what you are saying is correct I would have to say that it may be a bad sensor. Or that there is another abnormal factor causing the computer to say it needs adjustment.

2005 XLT 5.4L V8, flow master catback duals

[Raptor05121]

Totally unrelated- 161,000 miles on a 2010? DAMN!

[Jersey_Joe]

Yeah man 161 on a 10'. Been Rollin huh?

[kenny]

Yea, I put some miles on. Just turned 170,000 today. Im a salesman and therefore that is the cause of my extravagant mileage. Funny thing. I've asked several dealers now about it and they say that ford finally issued a TSB on it and then they say " we might be able to get covered". Then when they see my mileage it's like " uh, we can't do yours under the TSB".

And yet none of the service guys to date can answer if the solenoids are unplugged and it quiets, whether it is the solenoid itself or the phasers.

Mine seems to stay the same. If it gets bad enough I will just install the comp cams and pin the phasers and get rid of the noise and get more power to boot.

[Jersey_Joe]

There u go boom