VCT P1381 & P1383 PLEASE HELP!!

Hi all, so I'm new to the Puma owners club having only owned the car for just over a week now, when I bought the car all seemed normal, it pulled like a train no issues what so ever. It wasn't until the following afternoon that I noticed the car had lost pretty much all power throughout the rev range, at 3500rpm the VCT kicks in and the cars starts to miss fire only a little through the rest of the rev range. So getting back to work, I plugged her in and I got the code P1383 "Variable cam timing overretarded (bank 1)".

So for the hell of it I changed the CAM sensor, cleared the code and took her for a test drive, all seemed good and then I lost power again, this time I noticed it was when the car had WARMED UP. Upon getting her back to the garage I revved the car in neutral and there was no sign's of loss of power or miss fires. THOUGH UNDER FULL THROTTLE IT DOES SOUND LIKE I HAVE A K&N FILTER ON THE CAR.

So I plugged the car back in and this time I got the fault codes P1381 "Variable CAM timing OVERADVANCED". So come the following morning I went to start the car it it didn't seem to want to start, after about a minute of cranking she finally fired up and was running as normal again. Well not normal but as if it never had trouble starting. Got to work, plugged her in again and came up with another fault p0460 "Fuel Level sensor circuit malfunction" as well as the p1381 code. Since then its only had trouble starting once more.

So by my logic the timing can't be out, why would changing the cam senor cause the timing to go from overretarded to overadvanced? But I am going to check the timing this weekend (YES I have the tool !) Could someone tell me the proper procedure for checking/setting the timing? Some people say DO loosen off the CAM pulleys some people say DO NOT, which is correct :')? Anything else to check for whole I'm around the T-Belt aria? Also the T-belt was changed at 83k miles the car is now on 89k, I find it hard to believe the previous owner drove it around for 6k miles with the timing out!

Why does it only lose power and miss fire (only when vct has kicked in, 3500-5500rpm) when warm?

I cannot find sign's of a head gasket leak, if it is leaking it is at very early stages!

I also have reason to believe that there is a way to test the solenoid valve by grounding it? Can someone elaborate this a bit more for me?

Any help right now would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance !

Hi, Tom.

The procedure for checking cam timing is to rotate crankshaft only clockwise, until just before TDC. (You can either put something in piston 1/4 spark plug hole to check or just look at the census of the cams (they will be perfectly horizontal grooves when the crank is at TDC). Then insert the crank locking pin. Rotate the crank until it touches the pin, and then check the cam locking tool slides into the ends of the cam. If it don't go in remove the crank locking pin, rotate the crank around 330 degrees clockwise (just under a full turn) and then insert the crank locking pin and then rotate the crank clockwise until it hits the pin. Try the cam locking tool again. If it don't fit this time, the timing is likely to be out.

Just ensure never to rotate the crank backwards (anti clockwise) because it will rotate the pulley but not the cam, and give you a false position

Id be inclined to unplug the VCT plug if the problem persists (plug on the top left of cam cover under the plastic cover), if the VCT advancing is causing a problem, that will route it out.

The solenoid is permanent live a believe at pin 1 (double check that) so you'd have to earth out pin 2 to get it to work, but you'll likely only hear a click, as there is no oil pressure with the engine off, & I'm not sure if there is enough oil pressure at idle to advance the cam while idling.

It's also worth checking the lambda, that will cause a misfire but run fine when cold. You can just unplug it and drive it, it will go to a default map.