Keep Your Vehicle Operating at Peak Performance with Dorman Cam Phasers, VVT Solenoids, and Cylinder Deactivation Solenoids

Variable Valve Timing, or VVT, is here to stay. And we should all be grateful it is, given how it makes our beloved internal combustion engines more powerful and efficient. By continuously fine-tuning the timing of the intake or exhaust cams (or sometimes both), VVT makes it possible for OE manufacturers to build high horsepower vehicles while reducing fuel consumption and emissions. It’s not black magic that makes this tech work, but a series of electric solenoids that act upon hydraulic camshaft adjusters known as phasers (if that term makes you want to cue up Star Trek intro music, you’re not alone). Phasers advance or retard camshaft position while the engine is running based on inputs from the Engine Control Unit, or ECU.

As with anything new, VVT has had its share of growing pains. Many GM engines, for example, had cam phasers fail unexpectedly after only about 80,000 miles. That bothered the automotive repair specialists at Dorman Products. Dorman’s engineers wasted no time getting to work on making a better mousetrap. They gathered up as many of these failed units as they could to find their weak points and determined that a loss of oil pressure caused by an internal leak led to failure. The solution was a new design that incorporates a much stronger internal center tube to eliminate wear and more oil passages to increase oil flow. The hard-to-find mounting gasket they require is included to ensure the repair is made right.

The cam phasers used in mod motor V8 engines experienced a failure rate of nearly 1 in 3. Ford made seven revisions to the part, but the problem still existed. Dorman’s engineers came up with a solution that started with a stronger alloy locking plate. Further design analysis showed that the internal rotor mechanism wasn’t up to snuff, so it was completely reengineered, earning Dorman a patent on the design in the process. 

Dorman also looked at cylinder deactivation solenoids found on engines equipped with multi-displacement systems, where cylinders are deactivated to improve fuel economy when power demands are low. Chrysler’s Gen III 5.7L Hemi engine is one such example. Dorman discovered that replacing the Hemi’s weak plastic-bodied solenoids with sturdier aluminum versions eliminated the heat resistance issues that plagued the factory parts. 

Summit Racing carries direct-replacement Dorman Camshaft Phasers, Variable Valve Timing Solenoids, and Engine Cylinder Deactivation Solenoids for vehicles to cure what ails their VVT and cylinder deactivation systems.