P0013 is "Exhaust Camshaft Position Actuator Solenoid Control Circuit." It is an electrical code, not a timing code — the engine control module has detected a fault in the wiring or the coil that drives the exhaust VVT solenoid, and GM's threshold for setting it is a quarter of a second. That distinction matters, because it changes what you test and it means one of the most common causes on this engine is not the solenoid at all but engine oil that has wicked into its connector.
Jump to a section: What P0013 means · The two circuits and the 0.25-second rule · P0013 vs P0014 vs P0010 · GM's bulletin and part numbers · The oil-in-the-connector failure · Harness chafing · Symptoms · Causes and how to confirm each · How it's diagnosed · Parts and cost · GM documents · What other pages get wrong · FAQ
What Does P0013 Mean on a Chevy Equinox?
GM's own circuit description is worth reading carefully, because it tells you exactly what the ECM is doing when it sets this code.
The camshaft position actuator is attached to each camshaft and is hydraulically operated to change the angle of the camshaft relative to crankshaft position. The actuator solenoid is controlled by the control module, which sends a pulse width modulated 12-volt signal to it. The solenoid controls how much engine oil flows to the actuator, and the module increases the pulse width to accomplish the camshaft movement it wants. GM also gives the range: the actuator can change the camshaft angle a maximum of 25 degrees.
P0013 is the code for the exhaust side of that arrangement, and specifically for the control circuit — the electrical path, not the result. The ECM is not complaining that the camshaft ended up in the wrong place. It is complaining that it cannot drive the solenoid properly in the first place.
The Two Circuits and the 0.25-Second Rule
There are two wires to think about, and GM's set conditions name faults on each of them separately:
| Item | GM's condition |
|---|---|
| Conditions for running the DTC | The engine is running |
| High control circuit | The ECM detects an open, a short to ground, or a short to voltage |
| Low reference circuit | The ECM detects an open |
| Duration required | More than 0.25 second |
Two useful conclusions follow from that quarter-second window.
First, this is a fast, electrical detection. Performance codes like P0014 need the ECM to observe camshaft behaviour over a meaningful period. P0013 sets almost the moment the circuit misbehaves. An intermittent P0013 that comes and goes is therefore a strong hint at a connection rather than a component — a solid coil failure does not usually heal itself between drives.
Second, a wiggle test is genuinely diagnostic here. Because the detection window is so short, disturbing a marginal connector or a chafed wire while watching live data can reproduce the fault in a way it never would on a slower-setting code.
P0013 vs P0014 vs P0010 — Keeping Them Straight
| Code | Side | Type | What it's telling you |
|---|---|---|---|
| P0013 | Exhaust | Circuit | The ECM cannot drive the solenoid — open, short, or a bad ground reference |
| P0010 | Intake | Circuit | Same fault, intake side |
| P0014 | Exhaust | Performance | The circuit works, but the camshaft is not ending up where commanded |
| P0011 | Intake | Performance | Same, intake side |
| P0016 / P0017 | Intake / exhaust | Correlation | The physical crank-to-cam relationship has moved — usually the timing chain |
A single failing solenoid can produce both P0013 and P0014, which is why they so often appear together and why GM's bulletin lists them in the same breath. But the direction of travel matters: P0013 alone points at the electrical side first. If your scan shows P0013 with no correlation codes, you are almost certainly not looking at a timing chain, which is the expensive outcome this group of codes is otherwise associated with.
GM's Bulletin and the Part Numbers
GM bulletin 17-NA-098, revised September 2019, covers 2010–2012 Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain with the 2.4L engine (RPO LAF or LEA). Its condition is an engine that runs rough, hesitates, is hard to start and/or stalls, with a technician finding P0010, P0013, P0011 or P0014 set or stored. GM's stated cause is camshaft position actuator solenoid valve failure.
The correction: replace both camshaft position actuator solenoid valves, and verify the ECM has the most up-to-date software and calibrations installed.
| Part | GM part number | Qty |
|---|---|---|
| Camshaft position actuator exhaust solenoid valve — the P0013 part | 12679100 | 1 |
| Camshaft position actuator intake solenoid valve | 12679099 | 1 |
Labor operation 4020140, at published SI time. Older listings may show 12655421 for the exhaust solenoid; the number in GM's current bulletin is 12679100.
One caution that carries real weight on a circuit code: use ACDelco or GM parts for engine control components. A solenoid is a coil the ECM drives directly, and low-quality replacements are a recognised source of repeat electrical faults on these engines.
The Oil-in-the-Connector Failure
This is the cause that separates a good P0013 diagnosis from a parts swap, and it appears in GM's own list of probable causes for this family of codes: camshaft position actuator solenoid connector oil seepage, along with damaged solenoid sealing lands and an oil leak between those lands.
The mechanism is straightforward once you see it. The solenoid sits in the camshaft cover with oil on one side and an electrical connector on the other, sealed by lands and O-rings. When those seals degrade, oil migrates into the connector body and up into the wiring harness. Oil in a connector does what you would expect — it displaces contact, corrodes terminals, and produces exactly the intermittent open or high-resistance condition the ECM flags within a quarter of a second.
Two things follow that people routinely miss:
- Replacing the solenoid without cleaning the connector puts a new part into a contaminated socket. The code comes back, and the new solenoid gets blamed.
- Oil can wick a surprising distance up the harness. If the connector is oily, check further back along the wires than feels necessary, because the contamination does not stop at the plug.
So when you pull the solenoid, look at three things, not one: the screen for debris, the sealing lands for damage, and the connector cavity for oil.
Harness Chafing — an Instructive Case
There is a GM bulletin that describes a wiring failure mode worth knowing about, though we want to be precise about what it covers.
18-NA-307 documents the engine wiring harness chafing on the edge of the camshaft cover and/or the cylinder head, producing lack of power, a Reduced Power message on the DIC, rough idle, a StabiliTrak light, and DTCs including P0014, P0365, P0366 and P06A3. GM notes it is a multi-wire bundled harness, so which DTC you get depends on which wire got cut. The repair requires no parts: inspect the harness, repair the wires, tape the contact points in a double layer of woven polyester electrical tape past the camshaft cover, and tie the harness away from the edge.
That bulletin covers 2015–2019 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon with the LCV engine — not the Equinox. We are including it because the failure mode is instructive rather than because it applies to your VIN. A harness routed near a camshaft cover edge can chafe on any engine, the resulting symptom set is exactly what a circuit code looks like, and the inspection costs nothing. If you have an intermittent P0013 and the connector is clean, follow the harness and look at where it passes hard edges before you buy a second solenoid.
What Are the Symptoms of P0013 on an Equinox?
- Check engine light on
- Rough idle
- Hesitation and reduced engine performance
- Hard starting, and stalling — GM's described condition in 17-NA-098
- Reduced fuel economy
- Symptoms that come and go, which on a circuit code points at a connection rather than a coil
- Oil visible in or around the solenoid connector
- Companion codes: P0010 (intake circuit), P0014, P0011, and P0300 misfires
Worth saying plainly: it is possible to have P0013 with no noticeable driving symptoms at all beyond the light, because the ECM can compensate to a degree. That does not make it safe to leave indefinitely — prolonged incorrect valve timing wastes fuel and adds unnecessary work for the catalytic converter.
What Causes P0013 — and How Do You Confirm Each One?
| Cause | How to confirm it | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Failed exhaust camshaft position actuator solenoid valve | Swap the intake and exhaust solenoids. If the code becomes P0010, the solenoid is confirmed. Coil resistance is commonly cited around 8–13 ohms; infinite reading means an open coil, near-zero means a short | 17-NA-098 |
| Oil seepage into the solenoid connector or harness | Unplug and inspect the connector cavity for oil. Check the solenoid sealing lands for damage. Follow the harness back — oil wicks further than expected | GM probable causes |
| Open, short to ground or short to voltage on the high control circuit | Back-probe and check the circuit with the engine running. Wiggle-test the harness and connector while watching live data — the 0.25-second detection window makes this productive | GM set conditions |
| Open on the low reference circuit | Check continuity of the low reference back to the ECM. GM names an open here as a distinct set condition | GM set conditions |
| Chafed or cut engine wiring harness at a hard edge | Inspect where the harness passes the camshaft cover and cylinder head. Repair and re-route away from the edge | 18-NA-307 (Colorado / Canyon — analogous, not Equinox) |
| Corroded or spread connector terminals | Inspect terminal tension and condition; a wandering reading while wiggling the connector implicates the connector, not the coil | — |
| Poor-quality aftermarket solenoid | Establish what was fitted and when, particularly if P0013 returned soon after a repair | — |
| Low or dirty engine oil | Check the dipstick. Less directly linked to a circuit code than to the performance codes, but it is free to check and it is the root of most VVT trouble on this engine | Oil consumption coverages |
| ECM driver fault | Last on the list, after the circuit and component have been proven. Verify the ECM calibration level first | 17-NA-098 |
How Is P0013 Diagnosed?
- Record every stored code. P0013 alone means electrical. P0016 or P0017 alongside changes the picture entirely and points at the chain.
- Check the oil level and condition. Thirty seconds, free, and relevant to everything else in this system.
- Unplug the solenoid connector and look inside it. Oil in the cavity is a finding, not a curiosity.
- Inspect the solenoid's sealing lands for damage while it is out, and the screen for debris.
- Measure coil resistance. Infinite means an open coil; near-zero means a short; commonly cited healthy range is around 8–13 ohms.
- Wiggle-test the connector and harness with the engine running, watching live data. The quarter-second detection window makes intermittent faults reproducible this way.
- Check the high control and low reference circuits back toward the ECM for opens, shorts to ground and shorts to voltage.
- Follow the harness past hard edges — camshaft cover, cylinder head — looking for chafe damage.
- Swap the intake and exhaust solenoids to separate coil from circuit. If P0013 becomes P0010, the solenoid is the fault. If P0013 stays put, the fault is in the wiring or connector on that side.
- Fit both solenoids if one is confirmed faulty, per GM's correction, verify the ECM calibration, then clear and confirm with a drive cycle.
Step 9 is the one worth emphasising. On a performance code, the swap test tells you whether the solenoid is good. On a circuit code it does more — because the fault stays with the wiring if the wiring is the problem, the swap cleanly separates the component from the circuit. That is a genuinely useful distinction and it costs nothing.
Parts and Cost
| Scenario | What it involves | Cost picture |
|---|---|---|
| Clean an oil-contaminated connector | Electrical contact cleaner, drying time, and addressing the seepage at its source | Close to nothing — and the fix most often skipped |
| Solenoid swap test | One bolt each, both on top of the engine | $0 — separates coil from circuit |
| Replace both actuator solenoid valves | Exhaust 12679100, intake 12679099, labor operation 4020140 | Two inexpensive parts; a realistic under-an-hour DIY job |
| Harness repair and re-routing | Wire repair, double-layer woven polyester tape past the hard edge, tie straps | No parts required in GM's analogous procedure — labour only |
| Connector or pigtail replacement | Terminal repair kit or pigtail splice | Modest |
| ECM software and calibration update | Dealer-level programming | Part of GM's stated correction |
| Timing chain work | Only if correlation codes are present — see our P0016 guide | The expensive outcome, and not what P0013 alone indicates |
This is the least alarming code in the VVT group. A P0013 on its own, with no correlation codes, is usually a cheap part or a dirty connector — and the connector version costs nothing but attention.
GM Documents Relevant to P0013
| Document | Date | Subject | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17-NA-098 | Sep 2019 (v2) | Rough running, hesitation, hard start, stalling and/or P0010, P0013, P0011, P0014 — solenoid valve failure. Replace both; verify ECM software. Parts 12679099 and 12679100 | Equinox 2010–2012, 2.4L LAF / LEA |
| 18-NA-307 | Dec 2018 (v2) | Engine harness chafing on the camshaft cover or cylinder head edge; repair, tape and re-route. No parts required | Colorado / Canyon 2015–2019 LCV — not Equinox. Included as an instructive failure mode |
| N192291100 — Special Coverage | Jan 2020 | Excessive oil consumption from piston ring wear, under 2,000 miles per quart. 7 yrs 6 mo / 120,000 mi, now expired | Equinox 2013, 2.4L LEA |
What Other P0013 Pages Get Wrong
- "Replace the exhaust solenoid — done." Sometimes correct, but it skips the question a circuit code is actually asking. If the fault is in the connector or the harness, a new solenoid changes nothing, and the swap test would have told you that for free.
- Never mentioning oil in the connector. GM lists solenoid connector oil seepage and damaged sealing lands among the probable causes for this family. It is one of the most common findings on a high-mileage 2.4L, and almost no page raises it.
- Treating P0013 as a timing code. It is a control circuit code. On its own, with no P0016 or P0017, it does not indicate a stretched timing chain — and telling people otherwise creates unnecessary alarm about a repair they probably do not need.
- "Replace one solenoid." GM's correction in 17-NA-098 is to replace both, and to verify ECM software. The software step is routinely dropped from summaries that quote the part numbers.
- Citing harness-chafe bulletins as Equinox coverage. 18-NA-307 is a Colorado and Canyon document. The failure mode is worth inspecting for on any engine; the bulletin is not an Equinox bulletin, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
- Ignoring part quality. This code is about a circuit the ECM drives directly. Cheap solenoids are a known source of repeat faults, and a repeat P0013 shortly after a repair should prompt a question about what was fitted.
We publish set conditions, part numbers and labor operations only where we could read them in GM's own documentation, and we state the vehicle coverage of every bulletin we cite so you can tell whether it applies to your vehicle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is P0013 the same as P0014?
No. P0013 is a circuit code — the ECM cannot properly drive the exhaust solenoid, and it decides that within a quarter of a second of detecting an open, short or missing reference. P0014 is a performance code — the circuit works, but the camshaft is not ending up where commanded. One failing solenoid can set both, which is why GM's bulletin lists them together.
Can I replace the solenoid myself?
On the 2.4L, yes. Both solenoids sit on top of the engine, each held by a single bolt, and it is among the more approachable repairs on this engine. Before you do, unplug the connector and look inside it for oil — that check takes seconds and may save you the part entirely.
Will an oil change fix this on its own?
Less likely than with the performance codes. P0013 is electrical, so fresh oil does not repair an open circuit or a contaminated connector. That said, checking oil is free and the VVT system's health depends on it, so do it as part of the job rather than instead of the job.
How urgent is this repair?
Not an emergency, and it is the least alarming code in this group — a P0013 on its own does not indicate a timing chain problem. But GM's described condition includes stalling, which is a safety issue in traffic, and running with incorrect valve timing wastes fuel and loads the catalytic converter over time. Address it, without panicking about it.
Why does my P0013 come and go?
Because the ECM only needs 0.25 second of fault to log it, intermittent P0013 is characteristic of a connection rather than a component — an oily or corroded connector, a marginal terminal, or a chafed wire that only opens under vibration. A solidly failed coil tends to produce a code that stays. Wiggle-testing while watching live data is the right tool for this.
I found oil inside the connector. What now?
Clean the connector thoroughly, inspect the solenoid's sealing lands for damage, and check how far up the harness the oil has travelled — it wicks further than most people expect. Then address the seepage at its source, because a new solenoid plugged into an oily socket will set the same code again.
Does the swap test work for a circuit code?
It works particularly well. Swap the intake and exhaust solenoids and drive it. If the fault moves to P0010, the solenoid is bad. If P0013 stays on the exhaust side, the solenoid is fine and the problem is in that side's wiring or connector. On a circuit code the swap separates component from circuit, which is more than it does on a performance code.
How far can the camshaft actually move?
GM specifies a maximum of 25 degrees of camshaft angle change. The ECM achieves whatever it wants inside that range by varying the pulse width of the 12-volt signal it sends the solenoid, which meters oil flow to the actuator.
Shop the Parts Mentioned
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MOTOPOWER MP69033 OBD2 Scanner — $49, reads and clears P0013 and rechecks I/M readiness after the repair.
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ACDelco GM OE dexos1 GEN 2 Full Synthetic 5W-30 Motor Oil (1 qt) — addresses the oil-related contributing factor.
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VDIAGTOOL BT500 Battery Tester — $57.53, tests battery health, cranking and charging on 6V/12V/24V systems with ripple analysis and a voltage waveform — confirms the battery and charging system are healthy before you chase a sensor or circuit fault.
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95-Piece Mechanics Tool Set (Metric & SAE) — covers the fasteners for this repair.
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ACDelco Gold Negative Battery Cable — for replacing a corroded or damaged negative cable, a common source of intermittent electrical faults.