eccentric shaft is stuck

[OG Style]

We were replacing in valvetronic motor and the eccentric shaft over rotated clockwise. Now it stops when we try to turn it counter clockwise. Has anyone ran into this problem or know how to get it to rotate?

Thanks

[yupetc]

Originally Posted by OG Style

We were replacing in valvetronic motor and the eccentric shaft over rotated clockwise. Now it stops when we try to turn it counter clockwise. Has anyone ran into this problem or know how to get it to rotate?

Thanks

It's shouldn't really be stuck, it's sprung down right at the stop stud. You'll need to use an open-end wrench (don't remember the size) and reach out to the end of the shaft (at front of the engine) and wrench that thing back up. When you're wrenching it back, you're working against the force of the spring and depending on where the intake cam is located, you may have a hard time overcoming, so you'll need a wrench with a longer handle to get some mechanical advantage to overcome.

When you're able to wrench it back up, you'll need to bring the gear close to the valvetronic motor, then looking straight down at the valvetronic motor, there is a hex bolt you can drive with an allen key to turn the valvetronic and catch as you move the gear up into place.

Working with valvetronic assembly sn't that hard, but you do need to play some sequencing in your mind before you go wrenching on and off the parts because there are springs involved and stop-studs also need to be removed atop the possibility of incurring some safety hazard with the spring loaded valvetronic cam.

[OG Style]

We removed the one stop stud to get the valvetronic out. It stops solid when trying to turn it. Were afraid of breaking something if we try forcing more.

[yupetc]

Originally Posted by OG Style

We removed the one stop stud to get the valvetronic out. It stops solid when trying to turn it. Were afraid of breaking something if we try forcing more.

There are two stop studs, if you've already removed one, it must have landed or gotten stuck on the other stop stud (either on stud's landing or on the side of the stud coming around the other way). You may proceed to use force to wrench it in opposite direction to free it up. When you do get it to move, as you turn the shaft in rotation, you'll get the feel of spring and unspring forces as you get across the rotation spectrum. And you'll also run out of wrench travel so you'll be stopping to change the wrench end to proceed for more.
You'll need to finally coast the shaft onto the stop stud at the correct landing before you can proceed to guide the gear onto the valvetronic motor.

[yupetc]

Also, FYI that if you do get to free up both stop studs, the eccentric shaft is free to rotate 360-degrees back and forth however you want. So if you're afraid of breaking something, at most you're fighting the ecc shaft against the stop stud. So in this case, there nothing to be afraid of.

[OG Style]

We got it. Thanks a lot. We were worried about breaking something.

[yupetc]

Originally Posted by OG Style

We got it. Thanks a lot. We were worried about breaking something.

Glad to help. Happy motoring, buddy.

[OG Style]

Does it need calibrated?

Thanks again

[yupetc]

Originally Posted by OG Style

Does it need calibrated?

Thanks again

Once you've gotten everything buttoned up, go inside your car and hit the start button once without starting the car, you should here a slight "click" or some people describe it as "dunk", that's the ECC shaft knob turning and hitting the stop stud. This happens every time before the engine starts as a min-max calibration step, all done by the DME. And even with a new valvetronic motor, after this limit-learning your car should start fine and idle quite smoothly.

If for whatever reason the self-learn doesn't work, then you'll either need to plug into ISTA and have it run the calibration for you, or you can go get this done at the dealership. Typically, if this needs calibration, you'll know it immediately because of erratic idling upon start of engine. I've done this replacement over 50 times throughout different N55 platforms already, not once did I ever need to plug-in for the limit-relearn. However, I'll always say your luck may vary.

[OG Style]

I have ISTA but I'm not really familiar with in. I usually use ProTool but it doesn't have the option for this model.

[yupetc]

Originally Posted by OG Style

I have ISTA but I'm not really familiar with in. I usually use ProTool but it doesn't have the option for this model.

Wait till you get everything buttoned up and ready to go. I'll say for safety-sake, before you start the engine, use protool to reset all of your adaptations, then go for the ignition.

After cold idle, if it idles like shit even after warm up, then shut it off and try the ISTA method. If you're not familiar with it, go on youtube and look. there's a bunch of ISTA demo's out there; that's where I learned my ISTA tricks from. Good luck.

[OG Style]

I was able to figure ISTA after watching a few videos. The car seemed fine but I ran the relearn anyways.