Hello everybody!
During a long trip with my girlfriend's car, in which I was pushing the engine a bit, I had the "check engine" warning. We were in the middle of the trip and since the engine behaved normally I didn't care much and I just promised myself to read the code from the ECU once back home.
A couple of days later, soon after having started the trip back home, the "check engine" warning disappeard; however, I had the impression I was having an unusual fuel consumption, as we did just 200 miles with half a tank.
Once at home, I checked the OBD codes and I found code P0011 which is related to the camshaft position sensor.
Thinking of the reduced mileage it makes sense, as the engine couldn't dinamically vary the phase.
Given the fact that I haven't been seeing the "check engine" light again since that day, do you think it was simply a false alarm? Should I clear the error code from the ECU?
Thanks in advance!

What engine are we talking about here?

Hello!
Sorry, I forgot to mention: 1200cc gasoline, 69hp
Thanks for the interest!

Giuan said:

Hello!
Sorry, I forgot to mention: 1200cc gasoline, 69hp
Thanks for the interest!

Click to expand...

As you've already found out this fault refers to cam timing. My guess would be the solenoid which controls oil flow to the variator pulley. Pull the solenoid and check for contamination. A simple clean up may sort it. On my boy's Astra we were able to "drive" the solenoid with a couple of jumper wires from the battery - it should cycle with a positive loud click and you can see the plunger moving. This is just another reason why regular oil and filter changes are so important on modern engines - the solenoid filter screens are very fine and don't like dirt. The correct spec engine oil helps a great deal too!

P0011 is the ECU detecting the camshaft position sensor is over advanced in relation to crank speed.

The faster the engine runs, the more it will try to advance the ignition as it needs an earlier spark.

It will also advance the cam timing a little to suit via a solenoid/valve that is fitted to the cam cover (next to the engine breather pipe) to advance the valve timings to match.
(or more correctly, retard it for slow running as it's preset advanced already)

This valve works with the engine oil and as suggested can become blocked or if the oil level is very low, become starved of oil.
They can in fact fail completely.
It's also worth checking the wiring and connector, it's not unknown for Fiats to suffer with wiring niggles.

Another cause could be the timing belt has jumped.


I have suffered with cam phase solenoids in the past on Aflas.

Back then they did tend to cause the engine to rattle like a diesel on idle when cold and they were on their last legs.
I suspected the cam was already set advanced and when the solenoid is activated, it retards it for slow running and thus when it fails, it fails in the advanced state.

Good point about the "rattle" Goudrons. The Astra did that. It still does it very slightly on start up, just for maybe the first half dozen revs of the engine - 'till the oil pressure builds, whereas before she did it all the time at idle - I think it likely the belt sprocket on the inlet cam (DOHC engine and it was the inlet sprocket that rattled) has suffered some sort of internal wear, maybe some sort of buffered stop? but she's been running like that for at least 18 months now and apart from the very brief rattle on starting she runs fine.

Hi, thanks for all this input!
The oil level was fine, but due to a bad mechanic the grade is wrong (10w40 instead of 5w40); the weather was warm though, so I don't think it made a big difference...
There is no other sign, the engine doesn't rattle or sound weird at cold start.
I think I'll clear the error code and see it shows up again!
I'll certainly tell how it goes.
Cheers!