CEL P0018 Cams

[Astroboy]

Originally Posted by JOSEC

Small Update on mine. So I joined this club probably 2 weeks back. Took it to the dealer all mods on the car. I won't get into detail about dealing with the dealer, but in the end they did honor my warranty. They replaced the Cam Sensor, Bank 2, Intake. And seemed to have brought the car back to normal. I guess I got lucky that it's nothing too complicated. I hope everyone else get's this fixed as easily as I did.

Really lucky

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[Astroboy]

Originally Posted by nelsmar

And I have now officially joined the P0018 club. I'm going to try and get an oil pressure sensor in there this week/next week and see how things are going. Fires off every drive cycle regardless of temperature of my oil *sigh*. Luckily I have some high resolution logs of my car previously that I can compare to see what has actually changed with the VVT system.

I hate this stupid DTC... -.-

Where were your vvt docs sitting at? Both my left and right intake valves were showing consistency in the low 70s. I was using ecutek

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[nelsmar]

Originally Posted by Astroboy

Was it the sensors?

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Originally Posted by Astroboy

Where were your vvt docs sitting at? Both my left and right intake valves were showing consistency in the low 70s. I was using ecutek

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I swapped out my exhaust phaser and it seems to have resolved it. I put a spare motor of mine in recently and used the exhaust phaser from the engine that had the code above. The stock engine threw the same code... I'll check the docs in the next week or two and see where they end up.

[Astroboy]

Originally Posted by nelsmar

I swapped out my exhaust phaser and it seems to have resolved it. I put a spare motor of mine in recently and used the exhaust phaser from the engine that had the code above. The stock engine threw the same code... I'll check the docs in the next week or two and see where they end up.

Mine got code cleared after I swapped out the ecu


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[DirtySouth86]

Originally Posted by woode

I may be reading this wrong, and their isn't much info out there, but I am under the impression that 0018 and 0019 are ECU-related. Even the post linked above seems to state that, saying that 0016 and 0017 are mechanical-related.

They are all the same code, but for a different cam:


P0016 - Crankshaft Position - Camshaft Position Correlation (Bank 1 Sensor A) = Intake, Bank 1
P0017 - Crankshaft Position - Camshaft Position Correlation (Bank 1 Sensor B) = Exhaust, Bank 1
P0018 - Crankshaft Position - Camshaft Position Correlation (Bank 2 Sensor A) Intake, Bank 2
P0019 - Crankshaft Position - Camshaft Position Correlation (Bank 2 Sensor B) Exhaust, Bank 2


The ECM can not determine the cause of the correlation error, just that the values are not matching up. It does not know if it is mechanical or electrical.

[opc]

Hi Gentlemen,

Reviving this old thread in hopes that someone can help me out with a few questions about fixing the P0018 engine code.

Some background

I just bought the car used a week ago, and it has been throwing the P0018 for an unknown amount of time prior to me buying it. The previous owner mentioned they brought it to Subaru to have it diagnosed and they said it just needed a "cam sensor".

I have since replaced the driver's side intake cam sensor (probably not necessary) which did nothing to fix the issue. I then swapped the intake and exhaust OCVs from left to right, and cleared the code again only to have it pop right back up next time I drove on the same side as before.

From here, it was clear it was not the sensor or OCV causing the issue.

Next step was the intake CAM sprocket which was just replaced at the Subaru dealer. This seems to have indeed fixed the issue as the car is now idling perfectly (it used to hunt for idle and dip down below 400RPM and almost stall) but the P0018 code remains. Even when cleared, it pops back up after only a short drive.

Based on everything I've read here, it seems the ECM is the last thing that will need to be replaced as it has apparently permanently learned "bad" values that cannot be overridden.

My questions:

1. When people refer to the "ECM" do they mean the main control module under the glove box in the cabin, or is it the smaller module on the passenger side of the engine in the engine bay? Both seem to be available on eBay for ~$100 and both seem to be called "ECM" interchangably. I'm not sure which I need to replace.

2. I have heard about updated ECM ROMs that can be loaded to fix this issue. Is there any point pursuing this, or is this just nonsens? Is it really true that there's no way to "reset" the ECM to default values to undo the bad values values it has learned? This seems absurd to me.

I would hugely appreciate any help on this issue. I'm supposed to have a track day on the 30th and am deperately trying to get this all fixed by then

Thanks!
Owen

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by opc

1. When people refer to the "ECM" do they mean the main control module under the glove box in the cabin, or is it the smaller module on the passenger side of the engine in the engine bay? Both seem to be available on eBay for ~$100 and both seem to be called "ECM" interchangably. I'm not sure which I need to replace.

2. I have heard about updated ECM ROMs that can be loaded to fix this issue. Is there any point pursuing this, or is this just nonsens? Is it really true that there's no way to "reset" the ECM to default values to undo the bad values values it has learned? This seems absurd to me.

I would hugely appreciate any help on this issue. I'm supposed to have a track day on the 30th and am deperately trying to get this all fixed by then

Thanks!
Owen

1. It is the unit under by the glove box, the one in the engine bay is the driver for the direct injection.

2. I am not sure about this. I believe I have seen some threads where they swapped the ECM into another car and swapped it back and it worked, but I would have to hunt that down.

Be sure to follow this guide if you do swap ECM's.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102810

[opc]

Thank you so much for the quick reply!

I'll get the main ECM on order and report back... I was considering writing up a guide for this given how textbook my experience has been, but only if it all works out

Fingers crossed this fixes it, and that I don't buy a used ECM on ebay with the exact same issue.

[yEEt42069]

So P0018 light came on, replaced the cam sprockets and light is still on. Took it to a programming shop and they said timing is off, so we took it apart and double checked, and replaced timing chain while we were at it. Light still on, from what I've seen here, looks like I need a new ECU.

Fun times....

[makinen]

Originally Posted by opc

2. I have heard about updated ECM ROMs that can be loaded to fix this issue. Is there any point pursuing this, or is this just nonsens? Is it really true that there's no way to "reset" the ECM to default values to undo the bad values values it has learned? This seems absurd to me.

When I chased my non-operating vvt issue https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138803 , I've experienced when flashing new ecu image the initial learning values cleared. ECM was not changed.
I solved that vvt issue after changing four cam sprockets and cam chain. Ah, reflashing was done also because I do it frequently.

[yEEt42069]

Originally Posted by yEEt42069

So P0018 light came on, replaced the cam sprockets and light is still on. Took it to a programming shop and they said timing is off, so we took it apart and double checked, and replaced timing chain while we were at it. Light still on, from what I've seen here, looks like I need a new ECU.

Fun times....

Replaced ECU and light still on.... Debating selling the car or tearing it apart again. This has been a major headache.

[HOBrien79]

What equipment did you use to clear everything. I have done the chain, 4 cam sprockets, 4 ocv's, and the 2 sensors. Mine is with the P0018.

Originally Posted by makinen

When I chased my non-operating vvt issue https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138803 , I've experienced when flashing new ecu image the initial learning values cleared. ECM was not changed.
I solved that vvt issue after changing four cam sprockets and cam chain. Ah, reflashing was done also because I do it frequently.

Attachment 215962

[makinen]

Originally Posted by HOBrien79

What equipment did you use to clear everything. I have done the chain, 4 cam sprockets, 4 ocv's, and the 2 sensors. Mine is with the P0018.

Tactrix Openport 2.0, EcuFlash and Techstream software. With Openport, no Techstream cable required.

Hope you have good result.

[Ultramaroon]

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