1999 V70r - Rebuilt head installed/now codes P0014 P0134

[robbcolecrabtree]

Okay, I followed that procedure to a "T". I am putting it all back together now. I will now shortly after it is assembled and I take it for a drive if all is good to go. Fingers crossed. I figure while I have it up in the air I will change coolant too. I am flushing all fluids a couple of times due to the bad head gasket. Couldn't hurt.

I will update as soon as I come back from the test drive in a bit.

[robbcolecrabtree]

Well just got back from the drive. Car is still kinda sluggish. Turned the car off, then back on, and I still get the P0014 code, but no P0134 code. Not sure. I followed those directions to the letter. Everything looked just as it should.

Would the conventional oil be causing an issue with the VVT solenoid?

[Ozark Lee]

Once it throws the P0014 it disables the CVVT altogether, hence the reason for the sluggish performance. The CVVT doesn't care about dino oil vs synthetic, only that the system has oil pressure. There have been circumstances where the oil passage to the CVVT gets sludged up and that can cause a P0014 but that would be somewhat rare, particularly with the work that has just been done.

When you said that the cam came up in the same position relative to the timing mark after the preload was set, that shouldn't be unless the sprocket started off at the wrong stop when the hub was torqued down or the sprocket and the hub are somehow stuck together.

...Lee

[robbcolecrabtree]

What I meant by it being in the same position, is it was in the same position as the last time I did the whole routine. It didn't change. I ignored any marks I made from the previous attempts, and it ended up lining up with them regardless.

I am glad to see the oil doesn't matter, but I was hoping that could be a possible fix.

I guess the only thing I have to go on is replace the VVT solenoid, or do the timing routine again. Perhaps I will have to get someone else to lend an extra set of hands/eyes.

I also made my own cam lock tool, perhaps I will have to just buy the real one just so I can rule out the possibility of the tool I made not cutting the mustard.

Lee, I appreciate all of the help so far. I am not trying to be stubborn, and I am not afraid to admit I may have screwed up doing the timing. I just don't know how if I did it wrong three times, how a fourth would change that.

I found a good used VVT solenoid for $30. That will be here this week, so I will try that and see. On top of that, I think I will purchase the Volvo cam lock tool and try that, unless someone has one they will let me rent from them, which would be great.

I am done wrenching on the car for today, but I will see what I can do this week and try the timing again. Four times, haha. I have had better luck with most anything else on a car. This is challenging to say the least.

[robbcolecrabtree]

So one thing I thought of last night as I was laying in bed thinking about the timing on the car was that the tool I made could be slightly off. If the cams were not in the absolute perfect orientation, the gears would be off. The intake gear would be obvious, but the exhaust not so much. Just a hair off on the cam would throw the gear off by a tooth. So it may line up perfectly, but if the exhaust cam was slightly off, even just a little, it would be easy to be a tooth off. I am going to take it all apart again, make a new tool and try that out. I will go through the whole procedure with the hub and everything.

I will have to take a billion measurements to make sure the tool is angled properly, and that the grooves in the came are perfectly parallel to the seem in the head. It won't take me but 4-5 minutes to make the tool, the bummer part is taking the whole engine apart to get to the back of the cams again, haha. I doubt the solenoid or cam sensor is bad. Although I do have the new solenoid heading my way, for $30 it is worth a try. If I don't need it, someone on here might.

Either way, I will make a new tool, better, stronger, more beefy if you will. I want to make sure that the tool is not the issue. In all honesty, after I rotated the crank 2 revolutions, I looked at the back of the exhaust cam and it was slightly off of horizontal vs. the intake cam. I figured it had something to do with the VVT, but I may have been justifying it to myself. And when I say slightly off, I mean just ever so slightly. But looking back, that could be enough to be just one tooth off.

Moral of the story kids, is NEVER EVER EVER remove the VVT hub. Unless of course you have a week to just play around with getting it right again. Or if you have the REAL Volvo tool, then it shouldn't matter as it will line the marks up correctly.

[robbcolecrabtree]

So to keep this updated, I will go over my plans for this evening for the car. I am going to tear it all down again to redo the hub assembly. I will make a new tool that is stronger and cannot bend at all for lining the cam marks up. I will measure several times to make sure that they are in the correct position. I will then go through the step by step instruction for the hub assembly and timing components as I did before.

Once I am certain the timing is in the correct location and the belt is on and has proper tension, I will remove the cam tool and rotate by hand several times. Probably 4 rotations of the crank. I will then check the timing marks on the front and verify grooves on the back are still in their appropriate horizontal positions. If there is even a shadow of doubt they are not lined up correctly (as in I installed the hub wrong), I will stop right there. I have ordered the OEM Volvo tool and it will arrive tomorrow.

Having this tool will eliminate the possibility of the tool I made being slightly off. I think this may be the problem I was having. I will just leave it apart until tomorrow at that point and use the OEM tool to verify that it is all lined up and finish the process with the correct tool.

At this point, I think it is the best direction I can go. I don't think it is the cam sensor, and the VVT solenoid may be sludged up from all the coolant in the oil, but I cleaned it fairly well, so I don't believe that is the issue. Other than that, the timing marks have to be off.

Once I am all done with this, I will have a cam tool set to sell I guess, haha. Unless I end up not using it, in which case I will just return the tool set. Fingers Crossed.

The one question I do have for anyone is about the grooves on the back of the cams. After I have everything on, and I rotate the crank 2 revolutions, should the grooves on the back of the cams be horizontal again, or would the exhaust be slightly off of horizontal from the VVT hub? I would think they should still be horizontal, but at this point I am not really sure what to think.

Thanks for any and all help so far.

[Ozark Lee]

As I recall it will be off slightly but I can't remember which way. After you get the mark preset one tooth off and the cap screws at the clockwise limit on the sprocket to torque down the hub the thing to really focus on is the location of the cap screws with respect to the slots in the pulley. After the last step they won't be at either limit and the timing mark will be lined up with the slot on the cover. In my case they weren't centered but they weren't at the limit either and the car quit throwing the immediate P0014 on startup. I did drive it around that way as I waited for the cam adjustment tool and it didn't hurt anything but the car was much peppier after I got it right and the code went away.

...Lee

[robbcolecrabtree]

Yah, that is exactly how they were the last three times I did the timing. I just thing the exhaust cam was slightly off to start with. The cam tool will insure I get it in the exact position needed.

I would drive it the way it is until the tool comes in (tomorrow), but I have to get emissions to register the car, and I can't pass with a constant check engine light, haha. Of fate, how cruel you are sometimes. Either way, the car is prepped for the tool tomorrow. It is fully disassembled and all I will have to do is bolt the tool on, remove the hub, put the hub back on and then proceed from there through the tutorial from Volvo and I will be done. Worst case scenario if the timing doesn't pan out and fix the issue, the VVT solenoid should be here in about two-ish days and I will try that.

The sad thing about all of this is, I am (or was before they expired) a certified master mechanic. I have worked on tons of different makes, to include the nightmarish Saabs, and I have never, ever, ever had this much trouble with anything on a car like I am this timing. I thought I was dead on putting the hub on before, but if you are a millimeter or two off when lining it up on the cam, but the time you calculate that all the way out to the sprocket, you are roughly a tooth off on the timing. Even though your marks will be dead on, the cam itself will be just slightly rotated that it is hard to see.

When I rotated the engine over to line the marks up this evening. I took a cotter pin and placed it in the groove of the back of the exhaust camshaft. It looked straight to me. But once the cotter pin was on there, you could tell it was slightly off. Perhaps enough to be one tooth off. The cam itself was advanced, so it is all starting to add up. Perhaps my eyes aren't what they used to be. I measured many times, but I think the tool I made had a little "slop" in it, allowing the millimeter or two of play in the cam, making it off a tooth. Or at least I hope that is the case.

We will see tomorrow evening. I will update when I am all done and have results, good, bad or otherwise.

Again, thank you Lee for all your help.

[robbcolecrabtree]

Well I am not sure if I will get to put it back together tonight. I have everything prepped, but the tool may not be in until tomorrow. Guess one day shipping isn't always one day.

[gmh]

When I did the timing belt on my wife's 2001 V70 2.4T, this drove me crazy. I was so focused on the VVT being the problem, that I overlooked the crank was off by a tooth or two. Once I corrected that the code stayed away. Good luck.