timing Chain

Yeah something's not right there You press on the gas and his car doesn't move Is the car and drive does the car back up okay backing up is all electric no matter what the engines doing if it comes on while backing up It's the start charging the HV battery That's one way to know the car is working pretty normally you back up I have a driveway where I can back up I don't know 400 ft backing up about 50 ft in the morning the engine comes on I see it in the display and blue bars are displayed and it'll run for I don't know 40 50 seconds maybe I've already switched to drive but I may not have moved anywhere yet just sitting there and it'll run for about 60 seconds and then shut off then I can pull it into drive step on it and if I step on it far enough the engine cranks right up and the car is moving forward sounds like you may have other problems did you say you have the code for the timing being off what about the tensioner and what have you But $3,000 is way too much and you're mileage is pretty low but if oil changes haven't been diligent it's remotely possible You have the code for it so I'm guessing it must be so That's funny because I got four of them and I've never had that in the one NZ engine doesn't mean it can be so but it must take some doing or I'm really lucky and that I am not.

 

So you can see your display the miles per hour zero the transmission display and the gas gauge and the car is ready when all this happens and you step on the gas and it goes nowhere but it's in drive it doesn't shift to neutral?

 

No, it does not shift to neutral. I was stopped at a red light and panicking since it's a busy road and I didn't want to be stationary in the middle of the road, so I didn't examine the dash closely, but it appeared normal.

 

I did not try to back up, it didn't occur to me.

So DTC P0016 can only mean timing belt? There is no other interpretation?

 

That code means the two sensors are out of sync generally a stretched chain or a chain that's not able to be kept reasonably tight can cause this your mechanic should be able to pull the valve cover and roll everything up on the marks and see where you are at this mileage I find it hard to imagine but hey stranger things have happened people don't keep their cars like I do I don't know things just happen.

 

it could be the chain and/or tensioner. The tensioner is a simple ratcheting mechanism that uses oil pressure to keep the chain tight.

 

The real world interpretation of P0016 is that the ECM sees a problem with the cam timing. Period.

Could be the timing chain system. Could be the Variable Valve Timing system that adjusts the intake camshaft position.

I have seen P0016 set for VVT faults that "should have" set P0011 or P0012.

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Yes your guy will have to look at the whole system cam phasers whatever all that stuff any of it not working properly can set various and sundry codes involving the timing The chain tensioner would be something to have a look at things like that do fail they're external at your mileage is quite surprising to me but if everything's been kept really dirty and dark nasty oil and all of that it is possible and somewhat likely generally people don't keep these engines in those conditions It doesn't take that much oil etc it's easy to change most people just do it because they know it's like the blood in your body You need your kid needs to keep it clean and do the filtration like a good oil filter and oil in your car

 

very rare for the cam phaser to fail on gen2.. common ones are chain (P0016) and the vvt solenoid (P0011/P0012)

 

Turns out it's not the timing chain, it's an attachment on ignition coil # 3 that was causing that code. He fixed it and I owe him $250, so that's a huge relief!

 

The mechanic said my oil was "clean enough" but I could be more diligent. There is so much useless advice out there (not necessarily related to cars) that I've gotten accustomed to ignoring a lot of it. I'm thinking of advice to always carry a first-aid kit when hiking (never done it, never needed it) or to get flu shots or Covid shots, or mammograms. Most of those things hurt more than they help.

But if you say that changing oil regularly really does make a difference I'll start setting reminders in my calendar.

 

Bad oil would be like having high A1C and super high cholesterol all at the same time and carry on long enough and you'll have a stroke that sort of thing I haven't seen the doctor in 40 years either until the other day basically told me a bunch of nothing for the most part.

 

Yeah you need to get the AP200 and start diagnosing this stuff yourself You could have fixed that with a stupid 10 mm wrench and a spark plug socket that sort of thing stuff most people are going to generally have anyway usually oh well yeah.

 

I did buy a scanner, I got the Veepeak that is used with an app on my phone, but it honestly wasn't much help. It certainly didn't tell me that the car was stalling because of an attachment on ignition coil #3.

Is the AP200 significantly better? Veepeak has 20K positive ratings on Amazon.

The full name is:
Veepeak OBDCheck BLE Bluetooth OBD II Scanner Auto Diagnostic Scan Tool for iOS & Android, Bluetooth 4.0 Car Check Engine Light Code Reader

 

My curiosity is running high....

 

Like I said It's a pretty interesting diagnosis as there's nothing really piggybacked on any of the four coils It's just plugged up to a plug right to each coilover plug setup is nothing to happen I guess if you damaged one of those plugs or harnesses or the harness leading to all four of those plugs yeah that could be problematic I would think the car wouldn't run not just be stopping when you're on the break or whatever was going on so there's always that those of us that work on these things a little bit you know We kind of want to know what's up because there's not a whole lot of real funny business like that that goes on with these cars they're pretty straightforward they're not designed like some of this real junk that's out here right now like these hyundaes with the GDI engines and the ecotec and the EcoBoost Ford motors and Oy It's really something

 

me too, looks like we're missing the big picture here.. kind of a story that isn't a story at all..