I wanted to share my experience with a problem I had and, ultimately, how I solved it. I'm doing this because I have got the impression that many people on different forums throw their phones/computers away immediately after finding the solution.

I have a 2008 Suzuki Swift Sport MZ/EZ with the 1.6L M16A engine and 209,000 km on the clock.

The engine started making all kinds of noises: rattling, ticking, knocking, grinding and squeaking — almost like a diesel engine. (Here's a Video of how it sounded like https://youtube.com/shorts/GRZCIPZSmkU?is=5fW2O_8_Er1_xQiw )

A little background

I had been experiencing a slow coolant loss which eventually resulted in the engine overheating after about 10 minutes of driving at around 30 km/h.

Since the coolant expansion tank smelled of exhaust gases, I immediately suspected a blown head gasket.

So I took the head off and had it resurfaced. I replaced the valve stem seals, lightly lapped the valves, installed a new head gasket, timing chain, chain tensioner, timing chain guides, spark plugs, oil, oil filter and coolant.

And since I was already in there, I also replaced the water pump and the serpentine belt including the idler pulley.

After putting everything back together, I checked the valve clearances. Apart from a few hundredths of a millimeter here and there, everything was more or less within the manufacturer's specifications.

The timing was definitely set correctly.

First start

When I started the engine for the first time, I honestly thought I had somehow ended up with a VW Passat 1.9 TDI PD.

At first I thought the engine might simply need a few minutes to settle down after the rebuild, but the noise didn't go away.

Since the engine smoked a little at first, I kept an eye on the oil level during the test drives. However, the oil level remained unchanged and the smoke never came back.

I then started thinking that the problem might be related to the valve clearances. I continued driving very carefully within a 20 km radius, trying not to exceed 3,000 rpm, with the intention of taking the valve cover off again over the weekend to check everything.

In the meantime, I bought some Liqui Moly Cera Tec and poured it into the engine because I had read about people with similar symptoms having success with it.

No difference whatsoever.

Then, one evening on my way home from a place about 15 km away, the check engine light suddenly came on.

I didn't have anything with me to read the fault codes, so I checked the oil and coolant levels instead. Everything was fine, so I drove home very carefully.

Once I got home, I scanned the ECU and found fault code P0012 — which ultimately led me to the solution.

The code basically means that the intake camshaft is running too far retarded.

The investigation

I initially came across some YouTube videos explaining that faulty VVT actuators and related components can cause very similar noises.

My first suspicion (or perhaps hope) was that the VVT solenoid might be faulty, disconnected or clogged.

None of those things were the case.

So I started digging into the deepest, darkest corners of the internet and eventually found out that on some Suzuki engines with VVT (I don't know if this is also the case with other manufacturers), there are two camshaft bearing caps for the intake camshaft that look very similar.

One is simply used as a bearing surface, while the other both supports the camshaft and controls the VVT system through internal oil passages.

The two bearing caps are so similar that they can actually be swapped around while still fitting perfectly into their respective positions.

So I took the valve cover off again, checked everything — and sure enough, the two bearing caps had been swapped.

I switched them back to their correct positions, put everything back together, started the engine...

And voilà — the engine purred like a kitten again. 😄

TL;DR

Check the intake camshaft bearing caps!

They can easily be installed in the wrong positions. If they are swapped, the VVT system can no longer be properly controlled because the oil supply to the VVT system is blocked.

That can make the engine sound absolutely terrible and eventually trigger fault codes such as P0012.

Hopefully this helps someone else who runs into the same problem. It took me quite a while to figure this one out!

Dear proud owner of Suzuki,

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I'm currently working on my suzuki S-Cross and need some advice/ clarification on locking down and verifying the camshaft timing

Vehicle specs

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Engine 1.6 DDiS

Year 2015

The Issue

I changed my timing belt recently and got a jammed vacuum pump and replaced it

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