Personnel manager at our office asked me to take a look at his Nissan sedan. MIL light was on and I read out P0011 camshaft variable timing error. Reset it and looked it up online. He had the oil changed last month at a quick change place near his home. I figured he knew how to check a dipstick when he said the level was right up to the mark. Well, code came back and he took it to a shop nearby. I asked him yesterday how he made out. Said that the shop told him that his oil was three quarts low!
Sort of make me wonder if he was checking the dipstick with the engine idling??? One does not ask the personnel manager that type of question.
From what I understand, the camshaft timing control is an electric control valve that varies oil pressure into the cam timing adjuster. Most likely, when the oil was low, it was getting a lot of foam which affected the loading on the cam adjuster.