Was this article helpful?
P0010 and P0013: camshaft actuator circuit — the solenoid, not the phaser
These two codes name a circuit, and the circuit is usually fine. What actually fails is the oil control solenoid, and what causes that is the oil.
P0010 and P0013 point at the “A” camshaft position actuator circuit — bank 1 and bank 2 respectively. The wording says circuit, which sends people looking for wiring. The wiring is rarely the problem.
What fails is the oil control valve: a small solenoid that meters engine oil into the camshaft phaser. And what makes it fail is almost always the condition of the oil going through it.
Background on the system: VVT P0011 and P0014.
How the system works, briefly
Variable valve timing rotates the camshaft relative to the crankshaft to suit engine load. The mechanism is hydraulic: the ECU commands a solenoid, the solenoid meters oil, oil pressure rotates the phaser, and a camshaft sensor confirms the result.
Four things must all be right — command, solenoid, oil, feedback. A P0010 or P0013 means the electrical side of that chain reported a problem.
What actually fails, in order
1. The solenoid screen is blocked
Most oil control valves have a fine mesh filter at the inlet. Sludge from extended oil intervals blocks it, the valve cannot pass enough oil, and the phaser will not move as commanded.
This is the single most common cause and the cheapest to check: remove the solenoid, look at the screen. A blocked screen is visible without any test equipment.
2. The solenoid itself is stuck or open circuit
Measure the coil resistance and compare against specification. An open or shorted winding is a definite failure. A valve that measures correctly can still be mechanically stuck — a solenoid that clicks when powered on the bench is at least moving.
3. Wiring and connector
Last, not first. Check for oil in the connector, which happens more often than people expect, and for chafing where the harness passes the cylinder head.
Live data is what settles it
The useful reading is commanded versus actual camshaft position. Both are available on most vehicles that support these codes.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Commanded moves, actual follows | System working — look elsewhere |
| Commanded moves, actual stays put | Oil supply or stuck solenoid |
| Actual lags several seconds | Restricted oil flow — check the screen |
| Neither value present | Sensor or module problem, not the actuator |
Log this during a warm idle and a snap of throttle. The lag is what identifies a partial restriction rather than a total failure.
Reading technique: reading live data graphs properly.
The oil connection nobody wants to hear
Variable valve timing systems are the most oil-sensitive part of a modern engine, and they were designed against a specific viscosity.
Three things cause the failures above:
- Extended oil intervals on an engine that needed shorter ones.
- Wrong viscosity, especially thicker oil chosen on a whim.
- Oil level below minimum, which starves the system under cornering.
Engine oil viscosity and approvals and oil change interval reality.
If a P0010 or P0013 appears on an engine with an unknown service history, an oil and filter change with the correct specification is a legitimate first repair step, not a delaying tactic.
Related codes you may see alongside
- P0011 or P0014 — timing over-advanced. The mechanical consequence of the same fault: VVT P0011 and P0014.
- P0016 — crank/cam correlation, which is a more serious version of the same conversation: P0016 crankshaft-camshaft correlation.
- Camshaft sensor codes — the feedback side of the loop: P0340 camshaft position sensor.
If P0010 and P0016 appear together, treat it as a timing problem first. A stretched chain and a lazy actuator produce overlapping symptoms, and the chain is the one that destroys the engine.
Symptoms to expect
- Rough idle, particularly when cold.
- A flat spot in the mid range where the cam should be advancing.
- Slightly worse fuel consumption.
- Occasionally nothing noticeable at all — the code appears before the driver does.
What it costs to get wrong
The failure mode people regret is replacing the phaser, which is inside the front of the engine and expensive in labour, when the solenoid at the outside was blocked.
Check the cheap part first, and check it with the commanded-versus-actual reading rather than by intuition.
Pair an ELM327 adapter, open the free tier of the app and log commanded against actual camshaft position on a warm engine. If actual never follows, you have your answer before anything is removed.
Read next
Comments …
Loading…