I went on a 700 mile road trip over the long weekend and we decided to take our 2012 Cadillac SRX Performance. About 250 miles into the trip I noticed I was about a quart low on oil and immediately added a quart to bring it back to full. I had about 6000 miles since the last oil change and planned on changing the oil upon my return. I do my own maintenance and use Mobile One high mileage oil and since this trip would be all highway miles, I wasn’t worried about being a little over the interval of 5000 miles when I usually change the oil. Everything was fine until I was about 200 miles from home when the CEL came on. I pulled the code and it is the dreaded P0014 (Camshaft position timing, over advanced, bank 1, exhaust side). For now there are no drivability issue. Starts, idles, and runs fine. From what I understand either the exhaust side actuator solenoid is seized, or the timing chain is stretched and needs replacing. One is a relatively cheap fix and the other is major engine work. My question is how do I find out which one it is? Do I just have the actuator solenoid replaced and hope that is the problem? If it’s the chain then have I just wasted the money I spent replacing the solenoid?
What is the current odometer mileage and which engine is this?
My suggestion is to do the oil change first. Idk how it works on your particular vehicle but from what I gather, dirty/low engine oil can cause the light to come on. If possible, find out why the car lost/burned oil and go from there instead of just shotgunning a part. I mean in most cases I've worked on at least, it is common to fix that issue with just that cheap part but of course it is recommended to try to find the root issue first.
