Camshaft Service Video

The camshaft controls when every intake and exhaust valve opens and how far. When its lobes wear or its timing drifts, the engine loses power, idles rough, and sets misfire codes. This video shows what a worn lobe looks like, how lift is measured against specification, and what a failing cam phaser sounds like at idle.

The camshaft rides in bearings in the cylinder head and is driven by a timing belt or chain from the crankshaft. Its hardened lobes push on lifters or rockers to open each valve at the right moment. A stretched timing chain can mimic cam wear in the data, so chain checks are part of our engine repair service.

A ticking from the top of the engine that does not fade as the oil warms often means a worn lobe or collapsed lifter. Rough idle, hesitation under light throttle, and misfire codes on one cylinder bank point the same way. Cold Grant County mornings thicken the oil, so the lobes run on a thin film for the first seconds after a start.

Low oil pressure and skipped oil changes speed up camshaft wear. The contact patch between the lobe and lifter depends on a clean oil film to survive. Trucks that tow regularly put sustained load on that film, which makes oil intervals even more important.

Affordable Automotive Services confirms the fault with a scan tool and live data before any teardown. On variable valve timing engines, that includes testing cam phaser response. Camshaft diagnosis is part of our engine diagnostics services, which pinpoint the cause before parts are ordered.

We inspect the camshaft, lifters, and phasers as a system rather than as isolated parts. A worn lobe usually damages its lifter, and replacing only one sends the new part down the same path. We show you the worn components first, and the repair is backed by our 5-year / 50,000-mile parts and labor warranty.

Call Affordable Automotive Services at (509) 764-0000 to schedule a camshaft inspection. Need a trusted mechanic in Moses Lake, WA? Drivers from Ephrata, Quincy, and Warden bring their engines to us for this work.