OBD-II trouble code
P2092: 'A' Camshaft Position Actuator Control Circuit Low (Bank 2)
Bank 2 is the far head, so this control wire is the one that crosses the engine. A short to ground on a branch that long is usually a chassis contact at the crossing point — and the fastest test is to split the harness there rather than measure at either end.
Quick facts
- System
- Powertrain
- Category
- Variable Valve Timing
- Severity
- Medium severity
- Drivable
- Usually safe to drive short-term
- Repair cost range
- $100 – $1,100
- DIY difficulty
- Advanced DIY
Browse every code in P2000–P20E8, or start from the full code library.
What does P2092 mean?
P2092 is set when the module finds the control line to the intake camshaft actuator solenoid on the second cylinder bank held down toward ground at a time when it was not commanding that.
The electrical verdict is the same one the bank 1 code delivers, but the physical problem is a different size, and that is the part worth understanding. On a V engine the module lives on one side of the engine bay, and bank 1's actuator wiring reaches its solenoid over a short, direct, well-supported run. Bank 2's wiring has to get to the opposite cylinder head. On a transverse V that means crossing behind or over the engine to the rear bank; on a longitudinal one it means crossing the valley or running around the front. Either way the bank 2 branch is substantially longer, passes more brackets and clips, and — critically — leaves the engine's own structure and runs against body metal for part of its journey.
That changes what a short to ground is likely to be. A fault of this kind needs the conductor to touch something grounded, and the amount of grounded metal a wire passes is proportional to how far it travels. The bank 2 branch passes clamps, a bulkhead or a crossover, heat shielding and frequently a metal wiring trough, and the crossing point is where the loom is held hardest and flexes most, because it bridges an engine that rocks on its mounts to a body that does not. Chafe damage concentrates there. Before the solenoid is suspected at all, that crossing deserves to be found and looked at.
The crossing point also offers the best diagnostic move available on this code, and it costs nothing. There is normally a connector or a taped breakout where the harness passes from the engine side to the body side. Separating the circuit there splits the run in half and answers in one step which half the short is in, rather than measuring end to end and learning only that the fault exists somewhere along a metre and a half of wire. Halving a long circuit twice narrows it to a quarter of its length, and on this code that is worth more than any amount of careful probing at either end.
There is one more thing that is true of the bank 2 run and not of bank 1's. On a great many transverse installations the crossing sits under the cowl at the base of the windscreen, which is where water collects and where blocked cowl drains dump it. Water does not usually cause an outright short, but it does provide a resistive path to ground through a damaged splice or a perished section of tape, and a resistive path is enough to set this code while remaining completely invisible on a dry day. If the code history lines up with wet weather or with a car washed the day before, look at the crossing and check the drains before anything else is disturbed.
What the fault costs the driver is modest. The intake phaser on one bank parks, that bank fills its cylinders slightly differently from the other, and the engine feels a little flat in the middle of its rev range while idling and top-end pull stay normal. It does not damage anything. It does, on a car that is left long enough, start producing fuel trim complaints from the affected bank, which is how a good many of these are eventually noticed.
Common causes
- Control wire chafed through where the harness crosses from the engine to the body
- Loom rubbed against a metal wiring trough or bracket on the bank 2 run
- Water entering a damaged splice at the cowl, giving a resistive path to ground
- Blocked cowl drains soaking the harness crossing after rain or a wash
- Insulation melted where the long bank 2 branch passes a heat source
- Shorted winding inside the bank 2 intake solenoid coil
- Oil contamination in the solenoid connector on the far head
- Harness clip broken or missing, letting a section rest against the block or subframe
- Damage from previous work on the rear bank, where the loom had to be moved aside
- Module driver shorted low, credible only after the harness has been cleared
Symptoms
- Check engine light with a noticeably flat mid-range and a normal idle
- Bank 2 intake cam timing stuck at its default value in live data
- Fault appearing or worsening in wet weather or shortly after the car is washed
- Bank 2 fuel trims drifting away from bank 1 over time
- Slightly reduced fuel economy without any change in how the car starts
- Code returning after a repair that only addressed the solenoid
- Commanded duty cycle shown with no corresponding movement in cam position
- Occasional bank 2 lean or misfire codes stored alongside
- No rough running at idle and no reduced-power limp mode
- Harness visibly rubbed, taped or repaired at the engine-to-body crossing
Diagnostic steps
- 1.Find the crossing before you find a meter. Trace where the bank 2 branch leaves the engine and meets the body, because that is where a long run gets damaged and where the single most useful test is performed.
- 2.Split the circuit at the crossing connector or breakout and retest. Knowing which half of the run holds the short turns a metre and a half of wire into a manageable search.
- 3.Ask whether the fault tracks the weather. A code that appears after rain or a wash points at a resistive path through a wet splice rather than at a hard short, and at the cowl rather than at the head.
- 4.Check the cowl drains on a transverse installation. Blocked drains put standing water exactly where the harness crosses, and clearing them is part of the repair rather than an afterthought.
- 5.Run the disconnect test at the solenoid. Unplug it, clear the code and see whether it returns with nothing connected — if it does, the short is in the harness and the part is innocent.
- 6.Inspect every clip and trough along the bank 2 run. A single missing clip lets a section of loom rest against the block or the subframe and wear through over months.
- 7.Look inside the solenoid connector on the far head before condemning the coil. Oil that has crept into a connector body provides the leakage path a low fault needs.
- 8.Scope the control line rather than reading an average voltage. The solenoid is pulsed, so a meter shows a plausible mid-range value whether the circuit is healthy or partly shorted.
- 9.Compare the bank 2 solenoid coil resistance with the bank 1 solenoid. Two matched parts on one engine make a better reference than a generic figure from a manual.
- 10.Confirm access and labour before authorising the part. The bank 2 solenoid is behind the engine on most transverse layouts, and a job that sounds identical to the bank 1 version is not priced like it.
Repair cost
$100 – $1,100
Diagnosis is $120 to $250 — higher than the bank 1 equivalent because the run is longer and locating a short along it is the work. The solenoid is $45 to $200 in parts with 0.8 to 2.2 hours of labour on bank 2, since the far head usually means removing intake plumbing or working from underneath. Repairing a chafed section of harness is $120 to $400 depending on where it sits. Clearing blocked cowl drains and resealing a wet splice is $90 to $280. Module driver replacement with programming is $500 to $1,100 and should be the last conclusion, not the first.
Estimate your repair
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Open the Repair Cost Estimator with vvt solenoid replacement preselected. Adjust labor rate and vehicle category to fit your situation.
DIY vs shop
This is an advanced DIY job. It typically requires specialty tools, scan-tool access, lifting equipment, or careful sequencing to avoid causing new failures. Plan for extended downtime and have a backup vehicle. Most owners are better served by a shop that has done this repair before.