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Cold-start rattle, then a check-engine light with P0011 or P0014? One of the two small oil-control valves in your cylinder head is usually the cause. Expect a hunting idle, a flat spot low down and creeping fuel use. The direct fix is the VVT solenoid actuator 55567050 for the 2009-2016 Holden Cruze JH and the same-family Astra — a two-pin, bolt-in valve for a fraction of a workshop's diagnostic fee.

What the two valves do — and why there are two

Your engine turns each camshaft a few degrees while it runs. Oil pressure does the turning, and GM calls the setup DCVCP — dual continuously variable cam phasing.

Each camshaft carries its own solenoid valve, screwed into the head. The whole mechanism:

• Power the solenoid (GM reference 55567050) and oil pushes the cam one way.
• Cut the power and oil pushes it back.
• The intake cam is tuned for low-rev torque; the exhaust cam controls overlap, the window when both valves sit open, to cut emissions.

Two camshafts with different jobs means two valves. The computer watches each cam against its own target, so one lazy valve sets a one-sided code: A for intake, B for exhaust.

What each code is telling you

The eight codes split into three groups, and the group tells you what to touch.

• P0010 / P0013 — circuit codes. The coil or its wiring is open, shorted or corroded. No oil change fixes an open coil.
• P0011 / P0012 / P0014 / P0015 — phase codes. The cam missed its target angle: over-advanced (P0011 intake, P0014 exhaust) or over-retarded (P0012, P0015).
• P0016 / P0017 — correlation codes. The crankshaft and camshaft signals no longer agree.

A phase code usually means the valve or the oil. The spool — the sliding inner valve — hangs in one position and parks the cam off target.

Correlation codes are different. The cams on these engines are belt-driven, so check the belt, the tensioner and the cam sensor first. The camshaft position sensor pair for the 1.4L Cruze, Trax and Buick Encore covers the sensing hardware on these engines.

Our camshaft position sensor DTC guide for the Hyundai Elantra, Tucson, Kia Forte and Soul maps how other platforms read the same codes. The belt-side rules are in the timing belt and water pump guide for the Hyundai and Kia 2.0L (2006-2012).

Dirty oil is the usual culprit, not the electronics

Start with an oil and filter service at the correct specification, then the valve, then a re-test. Why oil comes first:

• The valve meters oil through gaps a fraction of a millimetre wide, behind a fine mesh screen.
• Overdue changes, wrong viscosity and short trips pack that screen with varnish — the hard film old oil leaves.
• A loaded screen slows the spool, so the cam lags its target and the code sets.

Low oil does the same damage by another route. The phasers sit at the very top of the lubrication circuit, so a litre down on oil starves them at hot idle. That rattle which clears on the move is the oil supply running short.

Sensors, coils and the rest of the head hardware are grouped in the engines and engine parts collection.

One valve, a family of numbers

Every number below buys the same valve: a two-pin oil-control unit with a screened inlet and a single retaining bolt.

Both valves are the same age and clog on the same schedule. Buy both sides at once: the intake-and-exhaust pair of camshaft timing solenoids 55567050 for the 2010-2015 Astra J and the 2009-2016 Cruze covers both cams in one order. Replacing one and waiting for the other means paying for access twice.

Swapping the pair on the Family 1 head

Both valves sit on the outside of the cam cover, each held by one retaining bolt and sealed by a small O-ring. No coolant is lost and no cam timing is disturbed.

1. Unplug the two-pin connector.
2. Remove the single retaining bolt.
3. Rock the valve out of its bore.
4. Wipe the sealing face clean and dry, then fit the new valve with a lightly oiled O-ring.

No programming or relearn is needed. The computer re-learns phaser response within a short drive. Three habits decide whether the repair holds:

• Look into the empty bores. Sludge there means the oil service is not optional.
• Tilt the old valves. A spool that will not slide under its own weight is the evidence behind your code.
• Check both connectors. Green corrosion in a two-pin plug sets P0010 or P0013 on a perfect valve.

Other Holden engines use different numbers

Match the part by engine, not by appearance. A number from another displacement will not seat or will meter oil wrongly.

• 2006-2017 Commodore VE/VF 3.6L V6 and 6.0L/6.2L V8: they take 12615613, a physically different unit.
• Larger 2.0L-2.4L ECOTEC fours: their own actuator numbers, 25194074 among them.
• The 1.6L and 1.8L dual-CVCP fours: 55567050 only.

A Commodore owner following this guide should be shopping for 12615613, not 55567050.

Frequently asked questions