First of all, I have been getting the P0015 code which means the vvt solenoid. recently the car seems to have a hard time starting or cold startup. It starts, but takes a a good 5-6 cranks before it catches.

Could the hard starts be connected to the vvt solenoid going bad? And If I were to clean the vvt solenoid, can I use carb cleaner to clean it?

I already bought a vvt solenoid from the dealer but I am not going to replace it until I am sure it has something to do with the hard cold starts

Thanks

 

Fix whatever is wrong first and then reevaluate after the code is gone.