P0022 & P0023 - surging / rough idle reoccurring problem

[MikeR397]

My car has been to the dealer 4 times now for CEL's related to P0022 and P0023. The 2 VCT wires have both been replaced and this issue is continuing. The dealer seems to "actuate VCT" and clears the error and then says its fine, but after every track day or even spirited road driving, the car is back to CEL on with these errors, surging/missing while cruising and idling rough. It's already been into "heavy engine overhaul" dept for 2.5 weeks once and all that resulted with replacing the two $20 wires with thicker wires. Any suggestions?

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[Tractor Junk]

Clarify with your dealer that the wires were lengthened, not just replaced with thicker wires. The failure is generally because of the poor design of the engine wiring harness, where the wires are under tension AND meet the harness plug at an acute angle. Heat plus engine movement under load eventually kill the wires at the terminal. Ford sells terminal ends, and you can splice the harness to lengthen it. Make sure to wrap the new harness extension with OEM style cloth tape.

The most likely culprit is the VCT terminal furthest on the driver side, behind the air filter box. Honey Badger has a good video on this somewhere.

 

[Tomster]

I had this issue a long time ago. It was a camshaft position sensor. The sensor was fine, but the wire worked its way out of the pin. It was an easy fix

 

[MikeR397]

I had this issue a long time ago. It was a camshaft position sensor. The sensor was fine, but the wire worked its way out of the pin. It was an easy fix

Ya, I had two wires break separately, both on driver side and have been corrected with thicker wire and looks like more slack. But I keep getting the issue after every single track day. It’s fine driving to the track and most of the day, but toward the end I get the cel and then rough idle and horrible surging on the highway drive home with no cruise control working. It seems to run fine under hard throttle, and pressing clutch so you can hold revs at 1.2k prevent the shaking when stopped, but this has happened 6 track days in a row going back to last October.

My car is falling apart with lots of issues lately. Last week it was the starter that failed and had to pay some guys to push me to start it at a gas station. Nearly every single track day now something goes wrong. I’m certain I could lemon this car with 10k miles under original warranty, but I love the car when it’s working and I don’t have a way to replace the R without spending $10k+ on a 2020, which I’m not even sure I can find let alone in the color I want. Just wish this damn VCT issue could get solved for now, so tired of going to the dealer.

I’m going to Waterford hills tomorrow, am pretty confident it’ll be back at the dealer for a week tomorrow night :(

 

[MikeR397]

Issue still happening, but no cel now. Problem is car drives fine in morning and when taking it easy so difficult for dealer to experience. After a highway cruise or especially track day, the surging in 5th and 6th is bad and i get “see manual” and wrench icon and cruise control won’t set. Have to make a appt for 2 weeks with dealer layer this fall.

o ya and last week my starter failed and yesterday I lost reverse. I can put it in reverse but shifted pops out and horrible grinding when releasing the clutch.

 

[MikeR397]

Still have the problem. Noticed coming home from gingerman it was surging like hell in 6th, no cruise. I stopped to get gas and was very very gentle accelerating back to highway speeds it let me set cruise and did not surge for 75 miles until I got closer to home. Was more aggressive off some lights and the surging and “see manual” came back (but no CEL). The car is generally ok cruising to the track in the am, but it’s a mess after track duty coming home (runs fine on track).

dealer agreed to redo the tsb posted in this thread in case the trans flange nut fix was not done properly or came loose again. I’ve got the head guy at the shop on it now, but still not optimistic. Waiting to see the transmission dept anyway as my reverse gear pops out and grinds and does not work at all.

 

[shelbygt350canada]

My 2018 has similar issue..

VCT disables randomly during WOT pulls above 6k rpm
also have surging when cruising & rough ridle randomly
no engine codes

 

[MikeR397]

I've got a CEL back on, not sure what it is yet. Surging in 5th/6th and a "kick" when upshifting to 3rd/4th/5th/6th has remained and doesn't seem itself to trigger a CEL. It's been several weeks with no reverse, still waiting to get into the shop...

Calling a lemon law attorney this week to discuss options with this car I bought new in Dec 2017 :(

 

[nordique14]

Any update on the cause of your issue?

I experienced the surge on my way to the track today. Cruise control could not be set. No warning lights, no error codes, no messages. It is as if the computers do not know anything is wrong.

I stopped after few miles and restarted the car. The issue seems to have gone away. But I have been around long enough to know that this is likely an intermittent and has a good change of coming back again. I would like to hopefully fix it before it happens again if your dealer finally solved the problem.

 

[Tank]

Issue still happening, but no cel now. Problem is car drives fine in morning and when taking it easy so difficult for dealer to experience. After a highway cruise or especially track day, the surging in 5th and 6th is bad and i get “see manual” and wrench icon and cruise control won’t set. Have to make a appt for 2 weeks with dealer layer this fall.

o ya and last week my starter failed and yesterday I lost reverse. I can put it in reverse but shifted pops out and horrible grinding when releasing the clutch.

Late to the party...apologies.

Surging without CEL? Check the TSB in this post:
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/tsb-19-2135-surge-or-hesitation.126435/

 

[MikeR397]

Late to the party...apologies.

Surging without CEL? Check the TSB in this post:
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/tsb-19-2135-surge-or-hesitation.126435/

Appreciate it, but this was done on my car last October when this issue started (I mentioned It here and someone, you maybe, mentioned the tsb. The deale agreed to do it again in case it was not done properly, but I can’t get an appointment until later in October it seems for my transmission (no reverse) and this issue. I’ll keep you updated.

 

[MikeR397]

Any update on the cause of your issue?

I experienced the surge on my way to the track today. Cruise control could not be set. No warning lights, no error codes, no messages. It is as if the computers do not know anything is wrong.

I stopped after few miles and restarted the car. The issue seems to have gone away. But I have been around long enough to know that this is likely an intermittent and has a good change of coming back again. I would like to hopefully fix it before it happens again if your dealer finally solved the problem.

Waiting until mid October to get into the dealer for no reverse trans repair and this issue again (which I am ok with an have 2 more track days before done with the season).

for me, the surge is intermittent, but very common. After every track day crusing Highway home is a mess. Also, any medium acceleration make the car start surging and acting wierd, right after up shifts and again cruising in 5th or 6th. Only if I really baby the car does it drive Normal and allow no cruise. I do have a cel that eventually came on again currently, but usually do not have a cel but do get a see manual wrench icon and no cruise.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Here’s the other SSM/TSB for the VCT’s too - seems to be an issue on both the Shelby’s and GT’s:

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/p0018-code.123932/page-2#post-2646415

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I’d question your dealership as to why they are dickering around replacing “wires” instead of doing the R&R to replace both VCTs, which should be proper procedure via the TSB’s.

 

[MikeR397]

Here’s the other SSM/TSB for the VCT’s too - seems to be an issue on both the Shelby’s and GT’s:

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/p0018-code.123932/page-2#post-2646415

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I’d question your dealership as to why they are dickering around replacing “wires” instead of doing the R&R to replace both VCTs, which should be proper procedure via the TSB’s.

I don’t know enough about this stuff to really guide/argue with them, so I appreciate the help. To be fair, two different occasions I did have 2 broken wires on the driver side vct actuators, but those have been replaced with thicker wires and intact. I agree they need to replace the VCTs themselves at this point, and fry something different besides “actuate vct and issue cleared” only to have it immediately come back. Part of the issue has been a 2-3 week wait to get into “heavy engine” dept and other issues like losing reverse and a 5 week wait (at all my local ford dealers) to get to the transmission dept.

Wrong thread, but relevant: I am also speaking with a lemon atty and going to open a federal claim under Magnuson act as breach of warranty (to repair) and lost time against Ford. the car has literaly lived at the dealer this summer now with 11k miles, perhaps 10 visits, half on the VCT issues, and a cumulative 90 days+ out of service in the past year (with another handful of stuff in prior 2 years). I love the caR and want to keep it but I either need a partial refund of purchase price to keep it or a way to get a replacement R. This is under the federal act, not state lemon law. I need to get the current repair docs on lost reverse and more vct before proceeding over the winter with this with the attorney and figure something out for next season.

 

[honeybadger]

Here’s the other SSM/TSB for the VCT’s too - seems to be an issue on both the Shelby’s and GT’s:

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/p0018-code.123932/page-2#post-2646415

—-
I’d question your dealership as to why they are dickering around replacing “wires” instead of doing the R&R to replace both VCTs, which should be proper procedure via the TSB’s.

Unless I can't read, I didn't see mention of the 5.2L in that TSB. I've helped about 10 owners with their VCT troubles and it was wiring harness for all but one (it's happened 3 times to me).

I'll bet it's tied to the harness. Almost always is.

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