Ford Super Duty (1999-2016) :: Bad Valvetrain Noise On Power Steering / P0012 Code

I'm working on an 05 with a 5.4. I got it with a bad valvetrain noise on the PS, which ended up being a bad cam, and one bad rocker. I changed the bad rocker and any others that showed any wear, the cam, and all 12 lifters on that head.

The truck starts, idles, runs, and drives fine; identical to my own 05. But if I get on it, it has a dead spot around 3-4k rpm, then picks right up again. After a while, I get the p0012 (Variable camshaft timing over-retarded bank 1). After I get it pissed off, the idle gets rough as well and bogs down.

Now I know the cam went it correctly. I used the wedge tool so the phaser never left the timing chain. I marked the chain as well just to be safe, and the phaser only goes on the cam in one position. Also, it idles too nicely, and runs fine under normal acceleration.

Tonight I swapped the VCT solenoids from one side to the other. It took a lot longer to get the code, but finally came up as a freeze frame dtc, and on Bank 1 again, so it's not the solenoid.

So in my mind, all I can think is that the timing chain jumped (which I don't think is likely due to the good running under normal conditions), or the phaser is bad/sticking on Bank 1. I popped off the oil fill tube and the phaser looks fine physically, so I don't think I banged into it somewhere along the line. I also manually excited the Bank 1 solenoid by grounding the purple wire, and it gives my the same rough idle which I get after the p0012.

It looks like the phaser to me. Another mistake I made was not scanning the truck when I first got it. It came right from a repair shop which diagnosed the camshaft, but I would have at least known if they cleared any codes from it.