P0012 camshaft position fault, 2019 CX-5 with 4000 km

[flrmazda]

I have a 2.0 liter CX-5 with 4000 km. I got a CEL (P0012) that I cleared and took it for a test drive where I was accelerating aggressively and the CEL did not come back on.

It looks like you have to take off the valve cover to replace/ check the OCV unlike some Toyotas. I am due to change the oil for the first time, but unlikely cause. Could it be the Camshaft Position Sensor?

Does anyone have any other ideas for such a new car? I purchased the car in another country, so do not effectively have warranty. (If someone says bring it to the dealer.) It is in a tropical country with short distance, low speed driving. But the Skyactiv comes up to temp very quickly, especially in a hot climate.

When I connected my scan tool it showed 3.5 degrees at idle with a hot engine.

P0012: camshaft position over-retarded bank 1.

 

[cz5gt]

It's hard to guess what it may be over the internet.

For example I had an oil control valve changed under warranty, think it was around 6000 miles. but it was for the Exhaust cam. Don't recall the code. Error was showing actually in normal load not under hard accel. once cleared then it came back after few hundred more miles, then I cleared it again and it came 3rd time. Then service

Isn't p00012 for the intake? The intake should be electronic not oil regulated as far as I recall.
I don't think its the cam sensor, when this goes bad usually you cant even start and all kind of weird things happen.

Do you know the history of the car? Since its already 4000 km.

BTW warranty is per region, so unless you purchased in Europe or Asia and moved to USA, it should apply. Since you say km, I assume its from Europe or Asia.

If it comes back, you may have to go to a service shop.

 

[ceric]

P0012 has diff meaning for diff automaker.
For Mazda, it is cam position sensor.
It is rare for a cam position sensor to go bad on a new vehicle.

 

[flrmazda]

Thanks for your replies. Yes, it is for the intake. I purchased the car brand new in Australia and shipped it to the South Pacific where it is has been driven 4k km in the past 18 months. My guess is that I will have to ship it back there to get warranty coverage.

You are correct. It is hydraulic on the exhaust and electric on the intake side. So there is a VVT relay and a motor/driver.

Mazda CX-5 Service & Repair Manual - Variable Valve Timing Mechanism - General

www.mcx5.org

Ceric, are you sure? It could be the VVT motor/driver or the relay, although maybe even less likely for a close to new car. Replacing the camshaft position sensor seems a lot easier. Why would it maybe fail to provide a signal momentarily? What is required to trigger CEL? The roads are extremely poor here.

 

[dunhillmc]

You should contact Mazda corporate in your area and check on warranty coverage

 

[flrmazda]

You should contact Mazda corporate in your area and check on warranty coverage

Thanks but there is no "Mazda corporate" in my country.

 

[cz5gt]

In that case, try a good indi repair shop.
the VVTI on the cx5 is pretty common, nothing fancy about it so any good service shop should be able to help.

You may need acces to buy certain car parts though. Not sure how this would work out in your place but first I would probably wait if the issue happens again.

 

[flrmazda]

Thanks but changing the oil would really only impact the OCV issue, which is not relevant as you kindly pointed out. The oil is full (well I never see it up to the second hole on a Mazda Skyactiv and I have had 4 since 2014) and the oil looks very clean as you would expect after 2500 miles. It is the original factory fill, but have been procrastinating changing for a month or two. I am going to drive the car more often now and have timing advance displayed on one of my phones as I drive. I was doing that on my CX-9 yesterday for comparison.

Ha, independent shop. The best you might find is a shade tree mechanic who is not going to know more than me. I would buy the parts in AU or US and have them shipped. I am hoping Ceric is correct because that is pretty easy. I am not sure what a dealer in the US or AU would do. They might just change all the relevant parts since corporate foots the bill under warranty?

Well, I'll call Mazda Australia on Monday but they will probably tell me to take a hike. They don't condone having their cars exported for some reason. The guy in AU who helped me buy it exports hybrid Toyotas in large volume, doing arbitrage because of the lower prices. I'll see if his buyers had any warranty issues over the years and how it was resolved.

 

[cz5gt]

Good luck, hopefully the error would not appear again.

The workshop manual (if you dont have it) may help you in future given the circumstances. Browse through the various categories.

Mazda CX-5 Service & Repair Manual - Electric Variable Valve Timing Actuator - General

www.mcx5.org

p.s. The cam sensor is nothing more than a simple hall sensor monitoring the rotation. They either work or don’t work at all based on my experience.

 

[flrmazda]

Someone wrote to ask about what happened. The fault never re-appeared now after 6 months. The person driving when it happened is very "gentle". It happened on a long steep hill. The 2.0 is a bit anemic and you would have to kick it down with an auto on this hill or I usually put it in Sport for around town driving. I pretty much have to go up this hill on 75% of trips around town. Is it possible that the fault could have been triggered if you really lug the engine under load or should the tranny downshift to avoid this? I drive the same hill with my CX-9 (2.5 turbo) and it flies up without having to do kick down.

 

[ceric]

To OP.
An owner at Mazda6 forum has the same P0012 code as you do.