Passat engine light , N205 valve fault

[gkm24]

I have a Passat 2002/3 ALT engine which quite frequently puts up the Engine fault light which points to the N205 valve being at fault. The price of the valve is £332 from VW so I am not keen to change it.
Whether I drive the car hard or normal, I cannot make the light come on, it just sometimes comes on but mainly after starting and pulling away. Once established on a journey, it will stay off until restart but not all the time.
A friend had the same fault with his 52 plate S3 and he also was not keen to change the valve. His car developed a misfire one day so he changed all the coils. Since that day( approx. a year ago now) the light has never come on again!
Anyone else had that sort of experience? A set of coils are about £130 for an OE set as opposed to £332 for the valve. Now I'm in a dilemma!!!
Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Crasher]

What is the fault code number? The thing is, it could be the valve, the adjuster, wiring or low oil pressure so the code will help us. You say your friend had the same fault but was this the exact same code or just that the light came on as this will come on for dozens of different reasons. I have had a faulty thermostat and ECU relay give me problems with the N205 valve on the ALT.

[gkm24]

Thanks for the reply. Im afraid I did not plug my VagCom in but the generic code is P0011"A camshaft Position timing over-advanced or system performance bank 1"
I will try the VagCom tomorrow and also my Autel and see what comes up. That is the only code stored.

[Crasher]

16395 (P0011) - Bank 1: Camshaft A (Intake): Retard Set point not Reached (Over-Advanced)

[gkm24]

16395 (P0011) - Bank 1: Camshaft A (Intake): Retard Set point not Reached (Over-Advanced)

Would you agree that it is referring to the N205?

[Crasher]

Well what do VW say the N205 is? On an ETKA search it only shows the adjuster on the cam but in ELSA it is the valve on the head which is what it should be referring to. The thing is that code is not so much saying the the N205 valve or the adjuster is faulty but more saying that the ECU is not seeing the expected result from the G28 and G40 sensor relationship. This means it could be that the any part of the system is not working and that includes oil pressure which is how it moves.