1GR-FE Bank 1 VVTi issues P0011 P0012 & P0016

**2023 edit: problem resolved, new spool valve installed**
Read on below for trouble shooting tips if you are in the same boat.
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Need some advice here guys. Traveling for the weekend pulled into a gas station, hit a small pothole, and the truck started running badly. Actually noticed it sounded very odd first. Shortly after once I got through the other cars I was able to focus on the truck and noticed it was running badly. Felt like it wanted to stall (though it did not) and was shaking.

Codes at present are P0011 and P0016. Oil level is good

I guess my questions are in order of importance:
1. Can I drive it? About 45 mins from home.
2. Any resources y'all can post (pictures) showing locations of the oil control valve vvti solenoids on the 2nd gen V6?
3. Is it possible this is just an electrical issue / loose connection? Happened at the exact time I hit that pothole. I've hit much much worse in this truck..

 

2012 V6 99,7xx miles

 

Can’t help but wishing you luck

 

Thank you

P0016 will clear but P0011 will not

 

Don't drive it.

These 2 code indicate that you have a problem with your bank 1 camshaft.


You need to open the valve cover and check the chain and both sproket

 

After sitting here for at least half an hour reading up on the issue the truck now runs fine. P0011 is still lit and will not clear as I said, but other than that there are no symptoms

I'm tempted to chock it up as an intermittent oil control valve issue and continue driving. Hopefully get a new part Tuesday morning

Other thoughts?

 

Bump

 

It seem that the timing is more advanced by the code. Something stuck for sure. When the last time have you checked both vvt-i screen filter on the engine?

 

Sounds like the VVT Solenoid got stuck on bank 1.
They are in the valley of the engine, I believe you have to remove the upper intake manifold to get to them.

 

Yes I think you are correct. Took the solenoid itself out in the gas station parking lot, looked great. The connection had a bit of grime in it, but nothing terrible.

Put it all back together, started up and ran fine. Cleared the P0016 code but P0011 will not clear as I mentioned. ScanGauge said it was running in open loop the whole time which makes sense, felt just slightly down on power. But other than that, and the CEL and Trac Off lights you'd never know.

Made it to my destination 45 mins up the road. Going to try to locate some brake cleaner tonight and give those screens a cleaning.

 

I remember one other member having a similar issue.
His OCV was “sticking”. I pulled the pic from the link below.
If you look close, you can tell the old one is stuck slightly open.
What ever you do, just don’t end up like the guy in post #13. Feel sorry for the poor guy.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1gr-fe-camshaft-position-timing.508832/

 

Interesting. I did get a few pics of mine before I slammed it back together. Obviously I don't have a new one to compare but it seemed fully closed??

Hind sight I probably should have jumped 12v to it while it was out and observed

Ill upload some pics later if I can. Not enough cell coverage right now

 

If you want to verify it's the solenoid you can swap it with the other bank and see if the code moves to the other side, I believe they are the same.

 

Are they swappable from side to side? I didn't even look while I was in there. I just assumed the mounting bracket made it so they were side specific.

Also the truck runs perfectly fine now. Makes me wonder if the code would actually jump or not

 

Forgot to mention I pulled the oil screen on bank 1 before family festivities started this evening. Thing looked like it just rolled off the assembly line. I think it might have had one or two particles of dirt in it, maybe. Still not enough cell service to upload pics but I've seen enough on here before to know what a dirty one looks like

So I am leaning towards a bad or intermittent solenoid at this point

 

I don't know if this can help. https://toyota-club.net/files/faq/16-01-01_faq_vvt_4_eng.htm

You can always splice the wire and check with a scope to see the waveform. You will know if it's a wire problem or something else.

 

Thanks for that link, very helpful. The oil flow diagram in particular. If the return spring is getting weak it makes sense why the cam timing was over-advanced

Pictures below. Looks to me like it was in the neutral position when I pulled it Sunday. And a few pictures of the screen. Im shocked how clean that damn thing was. Guess there is something to be said for full synthetic and regular OCI. Second pic was just wiped down with a dry rag, no solvents used.

Also, the truck threw a P0012 last night and ran kinda shitty at low throttle. Was less than a mile from home so I just drove it. Ran ok at mid range throttle and seemed fine when I parked it.

Would you guys do any more testing of any sort? Pull the solenoid again and shoot some throttle body or MAF cleaner through it? Swap it from bank 1 to bank 2? 15330-0P010 looks to be what I need and is only about $100 from McGeorge, cheap if it gets me another 100k miles. But dont want to waste $100 if its a cam position sensor, or something more involved like a timing chain

 

Either spend the money on the replacement, or the time to swap sides. Unlikely to be the timing chain.

 

Swap it with the other bank and maybe swap the sensor too after. A broken timing "flange" on the sproket (the metal thing who give the timing mark for the sensor) with throw many other code so i dont' think it's that. If you swap and the code don't move to the other bank... i hope it's not a broken chain guide (it's under the chain between the 2 camshaft. It's very rare but can happen. Check the chain tensioner (the little door with 4 bolt near the coolant overflow tank on the engine) it take 5 minutes and you will see the stretching condition of the main chain, this can give some insight, it's a long shot there but if the tensioner is bad or the chain is over stretched the slack will change the timing on the bank 1, bank 2 will be ok since the clockwise rotation pull on it.

 

Yup, just needed someone else to say it to put my mind at ease I did have a P0016, but that hasnt come back since initially cleared so Im hopeful

Good point about not having other codes. And yes Ill take the time to clean everything up and pull the tensioner inspection door, see what I find in there. Hopefully I can get all that done after work tomorrow before it rains.