P0016 (P001600 in full, 16400 in VCDS) is the fault code a Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda or SEAT engine stores when its crankshaft and intake camshaft are out of step: valve timing is off. On a 1.4 or 2.0 TSI the usual cause is a stretched timing chain or worn tensioner. On a 2.0 TDI, the belt, a sensor or the camshaft adjuster. A rattle on a cold start means stop and recover the car. A clean start with no misfire means drive gently to a garage. Repairs cost about £60 for oil, £400 to £1,400 for a chain or belt.
Is a P0016 Code Serious?
Yes. The engines that set it are interference engines, so if the chain or belt moves further the pistons hit the valves and a chain kit becomes a cylinder head. Whether you can still drive depends on one cold start. Bonnet up, listen to the first three seconds:
- Rattle or dry chatter that fades as the engine settles: the chain is slapping before the tensioner takes it up. Switch off and book recovery.
- Misfire, long cranking from cold, or P0300 to P0304 stored with it: the timing has already moved far enough to upset combustion. Do not drive it.
- Clean start, smooth idle, nothing else stored: oil, the adjuster valve or a sensor is more likely than a chain about to jump. Drive gently to a garage within a day or two, no towing, no long trips.
This split is reasoning from how the fault develops, so if you are not sure what you heard, treat it as a rattle.
What Does the P0016 Code Mean in a VW?
On a VW, Audi, Skoda or SEAT, P0016 means the crankshaft and the intake camshaft are not turning in step with each other. The crankshaft moves the pistons, the camshaft opens the intake valves, and a chain or belt links the two so each valve opens at the right moment. The ECU compares the crankshaft sensor G28 with the camshaft sensor G40 on every revolution; when the camshaft sits outside the allowed window, it stores P0016 and turns on the engine light.
That leaves two possible reasons: the chain or belt has let the camshaft move, or the camshaft adjuster is not doing what the ECU asked. A failed sensor sets a different code instead (P0340 or P0341 for G40, P0335 or P0336 for G28), so a sensor is the answer in one pattern (hot restart) and a guess everywhere else.
What Is Crankshaft Position Correlation Bank 1 Sensor A?
Crankshaft position camshaft position correlation, bank 1 sensor A, is the generic OBD name for P0016. Bank 1 is the side of the engine with cylinder 1, so on a four-cylinder it is the only bank. Sensor A is the intake camshaft sensor; the exhaust camshaft has its own code, P0017. When P0016 and P0017 are stored together, both camshafts are out, and that points at the chain or belt.
What Causes P0016 on VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT Engines?
A worn tensioner and stretched chain on the chain-driven petrols, a timing belt fitted a tooth out or past its interval on the diesels, and low oil or a sticking camshaft adjuster valve on any of them. Which one depends on your engine, so find the engine code: it is on the data sticker in the boot floor and in the service book.
P0016 on the VW 1.4 TSI and 1.2 TSI (EA111)
A worn chain tensioner, then a stretched chain. These chain-driven petrols, built until the belt-driven EA211 replaced them around 2014, are the cars that put P0016 on UK forums, especially the 1.4 TSI (including the twincharged version). As the chain wears the tensioner runs out of travel, the chain slaps on cold starts, and the camshaft timing drifts until the ECU notices. Left alone, the chain skips a tooth. P0016 is the warning that arrives before that happens, so the rattle test matters more on this engine than on any other. The ea111 engine timing chain or belt page covers the chain and tensioner history in detail, and the 1.4 TSI engine problems page covers the engine’s other faults, pistons, wastegate, water pump and fuel pump, by engine code.
P0016 on the VW 2.0 TSI and Audi 2.0 TFSI (EA888)
A chain tensioner that lets the chain go slack after shutdown, or a sticking camshaft adjuster spool valve. The early EA888 of about 2008 to 2012 (Audi A4 B8 and Q5, Golf Mk6 GTI, Tiguan 2.0 TSI) can start with a slack chain and jump a tooth. VW revised the tensioner, and Ross-Tech’s notes for this code list VW’s own bulletins on timing-chain no-starts and cold rattles for these engines. The same notes record faulty spool valves on the North American 2.0T, so a 2.0T with P0016 and no rattle has an oil or valve problem to rule out before anyone opens the timing cover. One more cause on this engine: a camshaft position sensor that drops out when hot, which shows as a long crank on a hot restart (a 2012 Golf GTI owner on VW Vortex fixed exactly that with a new sensor).
P0016 on the VW 2.0 TDI and 1.6 TDI, Including the Transporter
The timing belt: fitted a tooth out after a recent job, or past its interval with a tired tensioner. These common-rail diesels have a belt, so a P0016 after a belt job, even months later points at the fitting, and a belt with no service record points at age. Ross-Tech adds that on the 2015 2.0 TDI engines CVCA and CRUA the camshaft adjuster control valve may stick and set the code. With no stretching chain to suspect, sensors and wiring come next on the diesel list.
P0016 on the 1.0 TSI and 1.5 TSI (EA211)
Oil first, then the camshaft adjuster valve, then the belt and the short cam-to-cam chain. On these engines a belt drives the exhaust camshaft and a chain links it to the intake camshaft; the belt has a long service life, so timing work is a less likely cause unless the car has had some. Ross-Tech’s general note for this layout is to check the chain’s link count between the two camshafts after any timing job.
Which Engine You Have: VW Polo, Golf, Tiguan, Jetta, Audi, Skoda and SEAT Models
VW, Audi, Skoda and SEAT share these engines, so the badge changes nothing here except the garage’s labour rate. Find your car in one of the four lines; the line sets the likely cause.
- Chain-driven EA111 petrols, up to about 2014 (the cold-start rattle group): VW Polo 6R 1.2 TSI and GTI 1.4 TSI, Golf Mk6 1.2 and 1.4 TSI, Jetta 1.4 TSI to 2014, Tiguan Mk1 1.4 TSI; Audi A1 and A3 (8P) 1.2 and 1.4 TFSI; Skoda Fabia Mk2 1.2 TSI and vRS 1.4 TSI, Octavia Mk2 1.2 and 1.4 TSI, Yeti 1.2 TSI, Rapid 1.2 TSI to 2015; SEAT Ibiza 6J 1.2 TSI and Cupra 1.4 TSI, Leon Mk2 1.2 and 1.4 TSI.
- Early EA888 1.8 and 2.0 TSI, about 2008 to 2012 (the tensioner group): VW Golf Mk6 GTI, Tiguan Mk1 2.0 TSI; Audi A3 (8P) 2.0 TFSI from 2008, A4 B8, A5, Q5 and Q3 2.0 TFSI; Skoda Octavia Mk2 vRS from 2009, Superb and Yeti 1.8 TSI; SEAT Leon Mk2 FR 2.0 TSI. Later EA888s (Golf Mk7 GTI, Octavia Mk3 vRS, Leon Mk3 Cupra, A3 8V) have the revised tensioner: oil and adjuster first.
- Belt-driven EA211 1.0, 1.2, 1.4 and 1.5 TSI, from 2012 to 2014 on (oil and valve first): Golf Mk7, Polo 6C and later, Octavia Mk3, Fabia Mk3, Rapid from 2015, Leon Mk3, Ibiza 6P and later, Audi A3 (8V) and A1 from 2015.
- Belt-driven 1.6 and 2.0 TDI, all years here (the belt group): every common-rail TDI across the four brands, Transporter T5.1 and T6 included.
The engine code on the boot-floor sticker settles any car not listed.
VW P001600 Symptoms and How to Diagnose Them
Start the engine from cold with the bonnet up, listen for three seconds, then match the line that fits:
- Rattles for a few seconds, then quiet: chain and tensioner. Have the camshaft adaptation value read before anyone fits a part; past VW’s limit for your engine means the chain.
- Cranks long on a hot restart, fine when cold, no rattle: usually the camshaft position sensor, and at £50 it is the cheapest test
- Light under motorway load, or months after a timing belt job: belt a tooth out. Back to the garage that fitted it, timing marks checked with the locking tools. On a TDI the glow plug light may flash instead.
- Code on cold mornings only, otherwise fine: oil, then the adjuster valve. Change the oil first; if the code returns, pull the N205 valve, check its screen, and feed it 12 volts: it should click.
A second code stored with P0016 sets the order: P0017, chain or belt; P0011 or P0012, oil and valve; P0340, P0341, P0335 or P0336, sensor first. No match and no second code: adaptation value, oil, valve, sensor, in that order.
A generic reader shows the code only; needs a tool that reads VW’s engine module, such as OBDeleven or VCDS.
How to Fix P0016 Fault Code
Three of the fixes are a home job with basic tools. The other three need locking tools and a ramp, so the job is to ask the garage for the right thing.
Fixes You Can Do at Home
Oil and filter (cold-mornings code; oil low, black or the wrong grade). Drain, new filter, fill to the mark with the handbook specification: VW 504 00 for most petrols here, 507 00 for the diesels, 508 00 only when the handbook names it. Clear the code, drive two days.
Camshaft position sensor (long crank on a hot restart, or a circuit code). Engine cold: unplug it, remove the single bolt, swap the sensor with a smear of oil on the new O-ring, plug in, clear the code. VW or OE-brand part. A week of clean hot restarts confirms it.
Adjuster valve N205 (code back after the oil change). Unplug it, remove its bolt, draw it out and look at the mesh screen. Clean it, put 12 volts across the pins: a click means the coil works; no click, new valve. silence means a new valve. Refit, clear the code, check that the specified and actual cam positions track at 2,000 rpm.
Fixes That Need a Garage
Rattling TSI or TFSI: ask for the full chain kit (chain, tensioner, guides, sprockets), the revised tensioner on an EA888, and the adaptation reset with the before-and-after reading written on the invoice. Refuse a chain-only job or a “new sensor and see”.
Code after a belt change: take it back to the garage that fitted the belt. They re-check the timing with the locking tools and put it right at their own cost.
Belt past its interval: belt kit, tensioner and water pump together. A garage that quotes a chain for a common-rail 2.0 TDI has the wrong engine in mind.
Valve clean and clicking, positions still apart: the camshaft adjuster itself.
How to Confirm the Fix
Clear the codes, drive two full cycles including one cold start, and read the adaptation value again. Silent cold start, clean hot restarts, cam positions tracking at 2,000 rpm, and no code: fixed. Keep the invoice; on a 1.4 TSI it is the document the next buyer asks for.
What Fixed P0016 for Six VW, Audi and Skoda Owners
Owner and garage reports, one line each, so you can see how each pattern ended:
- 2012 Golf GTI (VW Vortex): months of long cranking on hot restarts only. A new camshaft position sensor cleared it for good.
- Octavia Mk2 1.4 TSI, 95,000 miles (BRISKODA, 2026): drives fine, no noise, code back within miles of clearing. Measuring block 091 read 19.5 degrees on a chain replaced 50,000 miles earlier; the advice was timing, not sensors, and not to drive it far.
- Fabia Mk2 1.2 12v (BRISKODA): a new cam sensor changed nothing; the crankshaft sensor cured it. The clue was an mpg display showing nonsense.
- Audi A4 B8 2.0 TFSI (Audizine): long crank and rough idle, driven on. The chain was one tooth off at the cam; misfires on cylinders 1 and 4 followed two days later and the car was traded in.
- 2015 Transporter T5.1 2.0 TDI (t6forum): belt found one tooth out months after the change, code only under motorway load.
- Golf GTE (SB Autocare): rough idle straight after another garage’s belt change; re-timed with the locking tools.
How Much Does It Cost to Fix a P0016 Code?
£60 to £300 if it is oil, a sensor or the adjuster valve; £400 to £1,400 for a belt or chain job; £1,500 and up if the timing has jumped and bent valves. Independent-garage prices, parts and labour together, checked October 2026 against ClickMechanic and WhoCanFixMyCar quote data for the UK and RepairPal, Kelley Blue Book and YourMechanic estimates for the US. Main dealers charge more.
| Fix | UK | US |
|---|---|---|
| Oil and filter change | £60 to £150 | $120 to $220 |
| Cam or crank sensor, fitted | £85 to £175 | $120 to $250 |
| Adjuster valve N205, fitted | £120 to £300 | $350 to $550 |
| 1.4 TSI chain kit (EA111), fitted | £600 to £1,200 | not sold in the US |
| 2.0 TSI chain and tensioner (EA888), fitted | £800 to £1,400 | $1,300 to $2,500 |
| 2.0 TDI belt kit and water pump, fitted | £400 to £800 | $600 to $1,200 |
| Jumped timing with bent valves | £1,500 to £3,000 and up | $2,500 to $5,000 and up |
The adaptation value in the chain pattern tells you which row you are in, so get that reading before you agree to any of them.
How Do You Reset a Camshaft Position Sensor?
You do not. The sensor stores nothing, so there is nothing in it to reset. What you clear is the fault code, with any scanner, and the ECU relearns the camshaft position over the next few drive cycles. After a chain or belt job the garage also resets the stored adaptation with its diagnostic tool so the new reading starts from the reference. If the code comes back, the fault is still there.
Sources: Ross-Tech’s VCDS notes for 16400/P0016/000022 for the engine-specific points, the oil specification in the owner’s handbook, and UK and US garage quote data checked October 2026.
FAQs
Yes. P001600 is the same fault in VW’s six-digit format, where the last two digits describe the type of failure and 00 means none is specified. Ross-Tech lists it as 16400/P0016/000022
Yes. The camshaft adjuster moves on oil pressure, so a low level, an overdue change or the wrong grade can leave the camshaft out of position and set the code on an engine with no mechanical fault. Oil is the first check on any P0016 without a rattle.
No. Of the six cases on this page, two were a sensor and two were a belt fitted a tooth out. The camshaft adaptation value is what separates a chain from everything else, which is why it comes before any part.
The light can go out on its own after three drive cycles without the fault, and the code is erased from memory after about 40 warm-up cycles. That is how an intermittent P0016 seems to vanish. The chain wear or sticking valve that set it does not reverse, so have the adaptation angle read even if the light is off.
Yes, if the engine light is on during the test. An illuminated engine management lamp is a major defect in the MOT inspection manual, so the car fails until the fault is fixed and the lamp is off.
Last Updated: October 2026
Founder of TheCarLane | Automotive Enthusiast
Ayush shares practical automotive knowledge based on real-world ownership and hands-on experience. His work focuses on diagnostics, engine systems, common car problems, and clear explanations that help everyday drivers understand their vehicles better.
