I’ve been getting P0017 and P0014 codes for months now. When I clear them, the P0017 comes back within a day, and the P0014 shortly afterwards. Everything that I’ve read online indicates a timing chain issue, but when I brought the car to a mechanic I trust, he recommended I ignore the code since it’s running fine. My question is how safe is this? I’m planning a road trip with small kids and don’t want to do something stupid here. If the car dies on me that’s one thing, if it dies while I’m on the highway at speed that’s obviously something else. Thanks in advance.
The code indicates that the timing chain is probably stretched and/or the guides/tensioner are worn or both.
Worn out timing chain components can cause a failure which may result in major engine damage.
I wouldn’t ignore this warning.
Tester
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Many moons ago, my family and I were driving on about a 300 miles trip for Christmas. About 1/4 of the way into the trip, the car we were riding in suddenly shut down; luckily my dad was able to pull over to the side of the road. Long story short…the timing chain had broken on the engine with no apparent warning. Right wrong or neither, my parents had to make the call to buy a brand new car right there on the spot at an out of town car dealership a ways from home.
So yeah, definitely get a suspected timing chain issue looked at before your trip.
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I also recommend you find a new mechanic. “Running fine” isn’t a diagnosis.
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This could be a variable valve timing actuator problem. That part is very sensitive to oil quality, so make sure the vehicle has its oil and filter changes on time. If that hasn’t been done recently, you could try that as a first step, see if the problem improves.
Note that you’ll generally get the best results here by first stating the make/model/year/engine for the vehicle.