My son drives a 2014 Highlander with about 75k miles on it. The CEL came on yesterday afternoon so he took it to Autozone. The scanner showed code P0015. He says the vehicle is operating normally. No rough idle, acceleration differences, or anything else out of the norm.

Is getting this code cleared a pretty easy DIY for someone who doesn't have much experience, but isn't afraid to work on their car, or should he just take it to a mechanic?

Some Googling says to start with an oil change and then replace camshaft position sensors or solenoids if the CEL doesn't go away. He got the oil changed yesterday and the light is still on. Replacement of the camshaft sensors seems pretty straight forward, but maybe there are some other things to check before doing that. Is there anything else to check or do?

You might be chasing problems for a while if you take that approach... but then again, it might work.

How consistent was the oil changed on the car? Synthetic or no? Running extended intervals? Then it might be related to some sludge and a sensor won't fix it.

If you do decide to start by changing the sensor, if it's anything like Nissan, you'll want to buy OEM and not aftermarket from autozone or whatever. Usually swapping sensor is not too difficult and doesn't require any special tools (usually just disconnect wiring sensor and remove one bolt), but as stated above this may well be a more extensive issue.

I did something similar to correct a CEL on an old nissan maxima that my daughter had... It cleared the CEL but other issues remained - long crank at start, timing chain rattle - just nissan crap. Toyota may be different.

Does this get regular oil changes with a good oil or has it been sporadic/extended? The solenoid will get clogged if it's Been run extended with subpar oil?

You can try to pull the solenoid and clean it with brake clean. Or carb cleaner or just replace.

We've always used full synthetic oil and it typically gets changed at 7500 miles. It had just passed 7,500 when the CEL came on. He got oil changed yesterday. If that was the issue, does it need to run for some time before CEL goes away?

Also, is this something that needs to be addressed immediately? He's off at school and won't be home for a week or 2. He says there is no difference in how the car is running.

Probably ok for a few weeks but I wouldn't ignore it.

I'd look into more frequent changes if I were you.

Every 7500 miles on a car with 75k means 10 oil changes in 9 years.

Disregard if it saw for a while and now he's putting normal mileage.

87IE said:

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I'd look into more frequent changes if I were you.

Every 7500 miles on a car with 75k means 10 oil changes in 9 years.

Disregard if it saw for a while and now he's putting normal mileage.

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I'd agree with this. I don't think 3000 mile changes are Needed unless you Drive very little, but I don't like 7500 plus mile intervals.

I average 5-6K miles a month and change oil around that interval except for Hybrids where I use engine mileage ,
Not chassis.

That's a good point. We bought it brand new in 2014. it is used daily, but doesn't travel very far. It only averages around 8,000 miles a year.

I assume that staying with synthetic oil would be a waste of money if we start doing oil changes every 3k miles?

TexAg2001 said:

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That's a good point. We bought it brand new in 2014. it is used daily, but doesn't travel very far. It only averages around 8,000 miles a year.

I assume that staying with synthetic oil would be a waste of money if we start doing oil changes every 3k miles?

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Do 5K intervals and use any synthetic.

My son said the CEL was off when he turned on the car on this morning, so I guess the oil changed fixed whatever it was sensing. We'll go to more frequent oil changes. Thanks for the advice!

Low oil level will cause this code too.

Glad it fixed itself.