P1259 VTEC System Malfunction
 

I found instructions here, here, and here. Thirty-four steps. I think replacing the head gasket on my Forester was twice as many, but endless parts were omitted or neglected. The part that concerns me is:

and:

How much would a shop charge to do this?

Thanks! :)

99.9% Of the time, it's the vtec solenoid that goes bad, or the screen gets clogged up. The solenoid is on the back left of the block and isn't too hard to get to. Look up tutorials on YouTube. I would start with replacing the gasket and cleaning the valve, then replacing the valve.

First, check your oil level...

I've got a bad oil leak right now. If it gets too low, P1259 is the code that comes up, causing it to go in limp mode. It goes away when I fill it back up and clear the codes.

You are seriously damaging your engine. It's because when you go into vtec and it starts pumping oil (and suppose to have more oil pressure) the oil just foams and causes oil pressure to drop, who has triggers the code and disables vtec until the code is cleared. I have seen this code go ignored on a couple insights and it results in dead engines.

Balto, that seems like great advice, and I \thanked you.

Darcane, come on, man! Take care of your car! Thank you for sharing, though. I have some stuff to figure out, but I was low! I topped off, turned off the CEL, and let it idle a bit, before revving past 4,000. It is after midnight, so I did not want to rev too much, or just go cruising, so I will look into it further tomorrow, but Balto, I will check that stuff!

Thanks!

I have the same type of issue with my cts. If the oil level drops there is inadequate oil pressure to fully engage the cam phasers. I haven't had any codes but when the engine starts pinging i know i went too long without checking the oil.

It will start to do this at just 1/2 to 1 quart low, 6qt engine.

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say here.

Yes, running the engine low on oil is bad and not good for the engine. I don't recommend this at all.

The first symptom, even before it gets low enough to trip the low oil pressure light, is that it fails to operate the VTEC system. Are you suggesting that he ignore a possible low oil level issue and go straight to spending money on parts that may not need to be replaced?

I'm working on it, but more stuff is breaking on it than I have time to fix. To fix the oil leak, I believe I need to pull the engine. Again.

Hopefully your issue is just the oil level. Keep an eye on it for further symptoms and keep that oil level up.