P1531 and Camshaft Deviations
 

I have a 99 986 with 43,000 miles. I was driving in town the other day and got a CEL. I scanned the car when I got home and it showed a P1531 code which I understand is for a camshaft adjustment bank 1. From reading other posts, this looks like it could be a solenoid or a actuator problem? I also checked my camshaft deviations and got a reading of 3 for camshaft position 1 deviation and -6 for camshaft position 2. I cleared the code and I have not had another CEL in the last 100 miles or so of driving with several startups. The car still runs great and idles smooth.

Should I be proactive and have this diagnosed further since I have a deviation that is right at the limit or should I just not worry much yet unless it keeps throwing codes? I understand that replacing the actuator or the Vario Cam pads require a lot of labor to remove the cam covers and other bits. I would not do the work myself, so I was wondering what the ballpark cost of having the pads/chains replaced and possibly an actuator or solenoid? The car still has the original IMS as far as I know and I wasn't going to worry about it until I needed to replace the clutch.

its always good to state what the code means when asking for help, not making others go look it up .

As far as prices go I got a quote of 4-5G CAD to do this work here in Canada which i found insane. Sounds like this is certainly not causing your issue , but may be a while you are in there project if those covers have to come off.

BTW i did mine myself with the engine in the car so it wasn't too bad.

if you do need a new solenoid, they are 800.00 USD from pelican, so id want to make sure that's it. some guy recently one a Boxster forum had a failure of the actuator and is rebuilding it, its a great read.