Cam Actuator - P011 code relating to dirty oil ? 2013 Buick Regal turbo

[Marr2013]

Check engine light came on - it pulled a P011 code relating to a bad Cam actuator. Luckily it is covered under 70k engine and power train warranty. Dealer tried to charge me so i had to call GM to prove it was indeed covered.

My friend who owns a shop said this could be due to dirty oil or the interval. he recommends more frequent oil changes over what GM recommends in the manual .

This car gets recommended oil change interval in correlation computer reset on the shift column. GM recommends a blend does anybody know if full synthetic would be a better option ? as long as its Dexos1 rated ?

I just want to make sure the oil changes did not cause this to begin with but who knows right ??

if anybody has better insight on this issue ? After i looked online it appears this code failure is a common one with that GM engine. I didn't see any recalls listed though.

Thanks!

 

[dbruce]

My intake side died a month or two back. Oil was recently changed and all was clean when I removed. I could have done warranty, but hassle made paying and replacing easier for me.

It is an electrical fault, though you name it can probably cause it. For me, pulled both and replaced...all fixed. One of the posts related to this has zzp selling both for under 50 shipped. I consider them the same as a spark plugs and just as easy to replace.

You can do it in 10 minutes once you know all the locations and figure out the how. May take an hour if you are playing with things the first time and being careful.

 

[afireinside7710]

I had the same issue on my 2009 Aura 2.4. I noticed that I would get the CEL when the oil level was low so I figured that was the issue. When I pulled them out, the mesh on both actuators looked clogged, which wasnt letting enough oil into the actuator.

 

[GTP>GS]

I'd recommend a full-synthetic oil. Synthetic blends and semi-synthetic oils are marketing terms without any industry (API) certification to establish synthetic fluid content. Most articles I've read suggest that the blends contain 5-30% synthetic basestocks.
I've been using Amsoil's 5w30 signature series oil and performed yearly oil changes. One oil analysis indicated low to normal wear figures after one year/10k of service.
Mobil 1 Extended Performance would be another fine chcoice.

 

[dbruce]

You need to meet the dexos certs for whatever oil you choose. Doesn't need to be licensed.....just meets the specs.

 

[NHRATA01]

Dexos used to be a blend and I believe around '15 they changed to full synthetic. Pretty sure the ongoing timing chain stretch issues on the 2.4 and 3.6 DI motors led to this change.

While I'm sure dirty oil would speed up the failures, the camshaft actuator solenoids (ie the pair that sit on top of the valve cover, these are not the camshaft actuators btw) seem to be a common - and fortunately cheap/easy - failure on the LNF/LHU. I had one fail on my '12 at the 4yr/50K mark, and I always used full synthetic (M1 or PP) with 6-7k change intervals (which on my '12 with the old OLM algorithm would only be about 50% oil life).