VVT kicking in a little harsh?

Now that it's gotten cold out I've noticed something else.
At part throttle when cold out (first few minutes of driving) when accelerating moderately thru 3000RPM in first or second, all of a sudden there's a rush of power like the turbos just came on or I hit VTEC or something.
Is this common to the 2.3L? I've heard complaints of 6 owners having the problem, and some Ford guys and gals say the VVT on Ford's motors hate any other weight of oil than 5W20 (of course I'm running 5W20!) and will cause it to engage harshly or at different times.
It's fine when it's warmed up, but that first take off from a stop light... WHooosh! I've spun a tire a couple times in the wet, kinda freaky.

Anyone else? 3 owners? 6i people?

Benfolio said:

Now that it's gotten cold out I've noticed something else.
At part throttle when cold out (first few minutes of driving) when accelerating moderately thru 3000RPM in first or second, all of a sudden there's a rush of power like the turbos just came on or I hit VTEC or something.
Is this common to the 2.3L? I've heard complaints of 6 owners having the problem, and some Ford guys and gals say the VVT on Ford's motors hate any other weight of oil than 5W20 (of course I'm running 5W20!) and will cause it to engage harshly or at different times.
It's fine when it's warmed up, but that first take off from a stop light... WHooosh! I've spun a tire a couple times in the wet, kinda freaky.

Anyone else? 3 owners? 6i people?

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the 2.0 and 2.3L VVT engines in the 3 and 6 were designed by mazda. Ford uses the same engines in their focus, ranger, and escape respectfully called the duratec 20 (2.0L) and duratec 23 (2.3L). the VVT on both engines is exclusive to mazda cars.. so I don't know how those guys and gals could talk about VVT on these engines. (poke)

Yes but by Ford guys I meant Ford guys with mazda motors in thier Fords.

Benfolio said:

Yes but by Ford guys I meant Ford guys with mazda motors in thier Fords.

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lol oh. as far as the VVT kicking in at some point, don't take my word for it, but afaik the VVT on the 2.3L in our cars is always on

Maybe it's the dreaded lag I read about (err... skimmed through) over on the 3 forums....
Time for a CAI!

I think its a combination of those IM tumblers opening fully and the cam being advanced more. Ive felt what your talking about.

Leaving my house, Sunday morning, my father in the passenger seat, moderate pressure on the accelerator pedal and all of a sudden, whooooosh!!!, just like you said, felt like a turbo kicked in, or as my dad said "You got a set of secondaries on this thing" (old carbeurator reference) It does seem to do it more often when it is cold. I call it "Jeckyl and Hyde" when I talk with my service guys.

Mine has just started doing this last week as well...I went in and had a diagnostic done to see if there was any sensor failures and to check out the transmission and make sure everything was fine...I opted to have them check the sensor function because my old Scion xB had VVT as well and when my knock sensor went out it caused the gears to engage with a kick and the car seemed to jump just like my 5 had been doing...

Long story short, the checkup was covered under warranty and I wasn't charged so that was good news, and my 5 came out clean...Nothing came up out of the ordinary so the tech took it for a road test to see what I was talking about...Of course he didn't seem to feel it at all with the exception of 2nd gear lagging a bit before shifting into 3rd...

I was told that it was partly to do with the cold and the car having to warm up, and the VVT performing in accordance to how the car is being driven...Normally I would have been pounding away at the BS button on this one, but I know that the same went for my VVT xB so it wasn't much of a surprise to hear him say something like that...

All in all I'm loving the car and it doesn't bother me at all...On days when I get an afternoon start, my 5 drives and responds like normal...When it's cold in the morning, I get the lag and kick up until I get it on the freeways then it seems to go away...

Hopefully some of this might ease your mind a bit

HAPPY DRIVING!!!

DAN