P0012, possible low oil pressure?

[wclepse]

First a little history. Recently the car was pulling timing only when accelerating hard, this was confirmed using VCDS Lite. I ended up changing the plugs since they were carbon fouled. I thought I had done them fairly recent but didn't find an invoice for them and last confirmed replacement was about 100k ago. Since replacement car still drove fine, no issues under hard acceleration nothing. Drove to work today and all was well. Went out at lunch and a CEL popped up, Torque revealed P0012. From my searches this is for the cam tensioner. This was replaced once before, I think around 180k at 240k now. At the time they did new oil pump and pickup. Also when it went it full diesel truck on me. Today, no noise what so ever. Car still drives fine. I cleared the code to see if it comes back but could this be a sludge issue? I always use Mobil 1 0W-40 (originally 5W-30) at 5k intervals. Would it be a good idea to seafoam and drop the pan to see if the pickup is clogged? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Even though it drove fine this morning and at lunch I am somewhat apprehensive to drive it home 40 miles but not sure I have a choice.

[redline380]

If you've kept up on oil changes, odds are the pan is clean. I would suspect a bad cct. Was it a genuine Audi one when it was changed at 180k, or was it aftermarket? The aftermarket ones usually last around that amount of miles

[ricekikr]

Buy a cheap gauge to test oil pressure first. Cheapest and easiest way to diagnose.

[wclepse]

Don't know for sure what was put in it but the work was done at KMD Tuning. I remember it being expensive but I don't have the invoice in front of me to see what I was charged for. But my guess would be aftermarket since I wasn't at the dealer. But do these go bad without hearing that terrible clatter? Like I said things are relatively normal right now.

Good idea on the pressure gauge. Where is the best place to pick up on this and is it a special fitting? Also what are the typical oil pressure for this engine at idle and oil at temp?

[wclepse]

Quick update...started car at work and instantly had CEL. Cleared code and drove about 40 miles home. No codes no noises Nada. If it weren't for the code I would never suspect there was something wrong. Idle engine load was at 2% which is normal for my car, it accelerated fine...really strange.

Was going to look at this tonight but currently at ER with wife...so it will have to wait.

Will try to confirm oil pressure but any other suggestions?

[seanf86]

this is from the b6 forum, same code, I bet your CCT took a dump, you could always try swapping out the electrical solenoid on the top of the CCT and see if that fixes your problem.

[wclepse]

Txs, I had read that. That post by Old Guy was informative, just wish I knew if this cold start failure was a sign of complete failure of CCT. Last time it went there was no warning...just dumped and sounded like a diesel and then code came up. If this is more of an annoyance then I can live with slightly higher emmisions the first few minutes, but if it is causing damage to something I want to address it.

[wclepse]

OK so I have driven the car a couple of days with no issues at all. Everything was completely normal then tonight when I got out of work the CEL came back. Torque was reporting P0010, camshaft position actuator A bank 1, circuit malfunction but when I got home and used VCDS-Lite I got P0012 Bank 1 Camshaft A advance set point not reached and P1529 Intake Camshaft Control Circuit Short To B+. I did pick up an oil pressure test kit but then found out I needed a 27mm socket to get oil pressure switch off and didn't get a chance to pick it up yet. While I still plan on verifying oil pressure could this be the cam position sensor? Like mentioned above I don't have any cam chain tensioner noise and all other aspects of the engine seem normal too.

[walky_talky20]

The circuit codes are important, too. I would put the ecu in output test mode so you can hear the CCT. Make sure it gives nice healthy clicks during the test. If it doesn't click, see if you are missing power or ground pulse during the test. It may be a wiring thing. Not enough power to fully hold the solenoid.

[wclepse]

Didn't even know that existed...is that available in lite version? Howmany clicks should I hear?

[walky_talky20]

Here is the VCDS function table comparing the Lite and full versions: http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/vag-functions.html

Output Test are available in the Lite version, if it's registered.

The clicking occurs at a rate of about once per second. Like a clock. The duty cycle is 50%, I believe. The battery power is constant, and the ECU alternates between full ground and open circuit.

[wclepse]

Txs...but I noticed it said you cant do selective output tests. I think one thing I read warned about not doing the airbag test. So should I try to find someone local with full license?

[walky_talky20]

ECU cannot do an output test on an airbag, being that the airbag is [thankfully] not connected to the ECU. Rather, it connects to the Airbag module.

When running output test mode on the ECU, it is literally testing just the outputs of the ecu itself (ie: the things that the ECU controls directly, usually via ground pulse). The lack of "selective" tests is not an issue. It just means you cruise through all of them in order. I've never even used the selective option. I like to cycle through each thing. It's kind of fun, really.

[wclepse]

OK good to know...this is what I saw on the Ross-Tech site: http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/tour/out_test.html

Bottom of the page references airbags. Hopefully
I will get a chance to run this and check oil pressures this weekend. Thanks for your help.

[wclepse]

Well I guess I need to look for a different socket. The one I had to remove the pressure switch isn't quite deep enough. Figures.

[wclepse]

Finally got part of this done this weekend. Unfortunately the only thing I was able to check was the oil pressure. It was about 50F outside when I started and the oil pressure at idle and "cold" was about 65psi. I drove around a little bit since I saw some references from Bentley saying the oils temps needed to be 175F. So at about that at idle I was running 24, at 1k I had 24, at 2k I had 50 and 3k I saw 62. So based on what I saw I am above what Bentley references but not as high as some other pressures reported here. In case it matters I am running Mobil1 0W-40 and I am just about due for an oil change. So maybe some of these pressures that are a little low would bump up a bit with fresh oil and filter??? Since I am at just about 245k I am guessing these numbers are pretty good. Either way I am not sure I would mess with the oil pump right now. But should I consider a little seafoam before my next OCI? I hear mixed opinions on where this makes things worse since sometimes it blinds off the oil pick up. Suggestions? Should I switch to a 5W-40 for summer?

I wasn't able to do the output test since my version of VCDS is not registered. I probably should have ponied up the money long ago but now I wonder if it is worth it. With 245k on the clock I may not be getting much more. Besides my wife just got in an accident in our other car and it is likely totaled. So I am trying to watch any spending right now. So if anyone is in the NNJ area and could lend a hand I would really appreciate it.