Hi,

2001 A4 1.8 Quattro wagon. Twice randomly in the past I've gotten code 16395: -A- Camshaft Pos. Actuator Circ. Bank 2 Malfunction, after driving on the highway for an extended period then coming to a stop light. They worried me a bit, but I couldn't reproduce it.

Last night the check engine light came on at a stop light after the highway. I didn't get a chance to read it that night. When I started it next I saw the light and remembered. Again, code 16395 (same as above). I cleared it, the idle got rough as usual since it clears the ECU's idle parameters.

I then drove home, and it coughed a few times, I had to tap the gas to keep it from stalling once. When I got home and read the codes, I had:

16684: Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
16685: Cyl.1 Misfire Detected
16686: Cyl.2 Misfire Detected
and good old 16395: -A- Camshaft Pos. Actuator Circ. Bank 2 Malfunction

So my question is: do you think the misfire could have been caused by not letting the car idle a bit after clearing the ECU parameters, or did the cam position fail far enough out to cause a misfire?

For what it's worth I've driven the car twice since then, perfectly smooth idle and no codes. Timing belt was reportedly done 20k ago.

Thoughts?

-Jack

 

It sounds like the problem is when the car is at operating temp and heat increases electrical resistance so I would guess that the cam sensor is starting to fail and is loosing signal when it gets hot. If it were mine I would replace it and see if the other codes come back.

 

Hm that sounds plausible. I'll order one and see if I cant get it in there. Thanks!

 

I got a 2005 1.8L audi with same problem. changed the camshafts, the variable valve timin actuator 3 times and the CAM sensor. It sets the16395 (p0011) code and it idles rough and sets misfire codes for all four cylinders. it got new plugs and coils and compression is good. What finally fixed yours.

 

Coils plugs and injectors fixed the idle for me, and I never got the camshaft error again. I can only assume it was confused by the odd idle behavior?

For what it's worth, I later had issues with parts of my EGR system being stuck open and introducing unmetered air also, and another coil died in the process of debugging that. Coil swap and pulling out the EGR system fixed that ;-)