It's been 10 days since the last post.
The shop replaced the magnet, which didn't change shit. Those idiots couldn't even hear the ticking noise
. It was the loudest ticking noise I've ever heard, and
obviously not a normal sound.
Fuck em.
I wasn't going to spend any more money or time on the car in Nashville. Seems like I always have to do shit myself because shops put such low effort if it doesn't mean taking your money.
So I took a bus back to Nashville this past Thursday, picked up the car, and drove it to an Airbnb to spend the night.
I left Nashville at 7am on Friday and arrived in Austin at 10:30pm.
It was easily the most stressful drive of my life.
The car would flash "check oil pressure" on significant decelerations (think going from highway to red light to gas station, or highway speed to stopngo traffic).
It stalled three times during the drive. The worst time was past Little Rock in Arkansas, when I came up on traffic, went from 70-0, stalled, and had to get out, and push the car over to the shoulder. It wouldn't start (cranked just fine) the first 3 times I tried. On the fourth try (after making a few phone calls), I let the starter rip for a good 3-4 seconds and finally it came to life.
After that, I didn't stop the car until my gas stop at a Bucees in Dallas. I filled up there and that was enough to make it back home to Austin. After getting to within 15 miles of my house, one of the o2 sensors must have started to fail, because the STFT went into "limp mode" at 1.00 and the car defaulted to running rich (11-12 afr).
But I made the drive, and after doing some research, I'm nearly certain that the issue is the camshaft vvt system is failing. The vvt gear uses oil to change the orientation, and if the gear isn't sealing the oil in there properly, it can cause issues and will make a tick at low idle (when oil pressure is the least). So below 1500 rpm is when the car should feel kinda shitty, and if you drop rpm too fast, the car will stall.
It's now Tuesday, and I said "F it, I'm taking this hog to work" so that I can grab some groceries on the way back and say hi to my coworkers (been 3+ weeks of working remote). The car was going rich on the way here, so I'm really hoping that it makes it home and that the vvt system isn't causing the valves to smack into the pistons.
So I'm going to do a compression test once I get home to make sure I don't need a new head. I'm going to pop off the upper timing cover and take a quick peek, also check on the condition of the cam bridge.
Then I'll to order timing chain, tensioner, guides for sure (I can warranty the old ones with FCP, nice) and probably replace the intake camshaft.
@jay745 @zrickety @GolNat mechanic friends, what do y'all think?