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more MISFIRES?!? ..nope! ->P0340

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32K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  GS_3G  
#1 ·
Firstly, I'm hesitating to post this up right now, as I'm just wrapping up a LONG day of bus riding, rental car, and working overtime.... need :sleep:
Bear with me if I omit something crucial or just seem a little incoherent.

Alright, so my car is stalling.... FREQUENTLY! At first I suspected it was a return of a misfire issue I worked through when I bought the car 10 months ago. After scanning the ECU (took me a few days of FORCING the car to get me to work before limping to nearest auto parts store), I found the code it's throwing: P0340. I understand if you're not inclined to look it up, so basically it's an issue with the Camshaft Position Sensor (circuit malfunction).
Specifically, what the OBD II readout spat back at me was TWO codes, both identical.... "P0340 Camshaft Position Sensor A -Bank 1 circuit malfunction.

I was wondering if anyone has any first-hand experience with this issue, and would be willing to share. Second-hand knowledge is fine, too, but understand I'll take it for what it is.... educated "guessing"! :p
Actually, any and all input is welcomed. For now I must get some rest.... :sleep:
 
#4 ·
AM wrap-up (for me's needz sleepp...


Hope it's that simple. :)
...I'll have to remove the airbox, however, right?. ..a task I'm not up to ATM. :yawn:

*****************************
Hopefully, more of you will have posted responses by the time I wake back up this evening. I'll be doing more searches and reading into my Haynes manual later. It's icey and snowing outside, so I can't tend to the problem now like I'd hoped. I have a rental to get me around for the weekend, if need be. I just hope the weather clears some before this all .... "snowballs". :cool2:

......:twitch:
 
#3 ·
HISTORY of (related?) recent failures and SYMPTOMS

One more moment.... before I wind down completely.
I should outline the progression of this problem up to this point.

The first stall was minor:
After making a "run for the border" :sam:, I cranked a good song and pulled out of Toxic Hell to make the short trip back home. When the car died 1/4 mile down the road, I chalked it up to paying more attention to the music than my clutch/throttle work. It fired right back up and was fine for the last couple blocks to my apartments.... aside from a slight sputter which I assumed was some residual oil from the misfire days that'd crept onto the spark plug(s).
This was just a bit before Thanksgiving, and the occasional jerkiness returned a few times the next couple days. I figured I needed to give her a tune-up and a little attention. (no SES light)
Had a whole four-day weekend coming up to do so....

Then, bigger issues arose:
On THANKSGIVING DAY, as I was driving home form work in the early AM with the cruise set to 69, the car began to slow on it's own. I immediately cancelled CC and put my foot on the throttle, which I found to be "spongy"... giving me less resistance than I'd come to expect. I clutched out..... and the engine DIED.... in the middle of the interstate! Luckily, I had enough speed to get over to the side of the road, where numerous attempts to restart ended in FAILURE! (the car wouldn't hold an idle, and barely responded to throttle pressure) SERVICE ENGINE SOON, the dash light implored me. I was worried about my aging TIMING BELT, but I could tell by flashlight it hadn't been thrown.
After a while, I got her to turn over and hold. I got half the distance to my home before another stall.... this one in the center lane of a merging bridge. :scared:
After parking a block or so from home to lift the hood and inspect, it died again and didn't seem to want to restart. I decided to hoof it the last block and get some sleep in preparation for the upcoming turkey dinner. :yum:
I managed to get the car home later while in "warm-up" mode (high revving), but figured I should disconnect the battery to reset the ECU and find alternate transportation for the days festivities.

Should I go on? I think I'm digressing into a sleepytime rant now.... the issue has now been suffieciently expounded upon. At the very least, I've layed out an entertainingly tragic story. :mecry: :ugh2:
 
#5 ·
6 PM :btt:.
....it's getting dark, but snow has passed at least. :happysad:
Anyone else have some input now that I'm awake and could look into this more?
 
D
#6 ·
A car needs 3 things to run Gas, Spark and compression. It sounds to me like you don't have spark either from a failed sensor or bad wire.
 
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#7 ·
^ Thanks for the reminder of "the basics"! :)

1. gas --> check. got almost a full tank, which seems to be making it's way to the engine just fine.

2. compression --> think I'm good. I haven't done a comp. test, though everyone I talk to suggests I do so. Of course, they told me the same when I was misfiring. A new coilpack and clean plugs had me back in business! :ugh2:

3. spark --> judging solely from the ECU's detections, I'd say the problem's electrical. Are you telling me a loose/shorted wire or faulty Cam pos. sensor could cause a loss of spark within the combustion chamber?!? I didn't realize the two were so closely linked! :shock:
 
#8 ·
Lest someone get the wrong idea....

I just want to clarify: The ONLY reason I'm not under the hood and am online instead is because it's creeping into single digit temps outside! :sad:
My car's about a block away, near the carwash, while my rental's right outside. As soon as the temp creeps over freezing (hopefully sometime tomorrow..), I'll clean the engine bay thoroughly so I can start testing electrical signals. Until then, I'm getting a better working knowledge of what I'm dealing with.
<a href="http://www.meaa-mea.com/products/p_crankshaft.asp">The suspected culprit
<img src="http://www.meaa-mea.com/images/productphotos/crank.jpg"></a>
 
#9 ·
Why arnt you fixing it suck it up and work on it. its only 6 here lol jk
Let me know if you need help and you have a pm
Call me if theres anything I can do. ill probably be sleeping or working cause I just got off work and gota work tonight so if you wana call me try after 1:30 to like 3:30 I should be semi-alive

Eric
 
#10 · (Edited)
UPDATE

I ordered a new CPS from The PartsBin.com, and it arrived at my door today. It looks IDENTICAL to the picture I provided above (post #8), but is completely different from the assembly I and amnbrueckner (above) were running electrical current tests on yesterday.:ugh2:

So..... isn't there ANYBODY out there who's swapped out this part before? I could use some advice. I'll see if I can get a pic of the area/part we were messing with yesterday. I'll have to look into borrowing a digicam & data cable, first. Any further advice in the meantime would be useful. I'm clueless on wher to install this part, and I'm not even sure it's the right one anyway! :sad:

EDIT: Upon further inspection, this migh not be the part I ordered! :mad: My box here says "Part No. J005T23071A" I'm pretty sure I ordered the part I linked above, "#A4015-170014".
They (ThePartsBin.com) offer "Live Help", but this computer lacks the necessary plug-in. I need more sleep to be functional for work tonight, so I'm taking a nap. I'll be back on after I wake up and go visit the library to contact TPB.com about this....
 
#14 ·
Quick update

I installed the new Camshaft position Sensor on Thursday afternoon. I also sanded down the grounds and section of engine block they screwed to.
Disconnected battery for a few hours to reset SES light.

Now, two days later.... car's running strong with no return of SES light or noticeable symptoms. :wiggle:

:burnout:
 
#16 ·
Thanks, Dre! :)

Actually, I spoke to soon as far as the SES light. Seems it's a compounded problem. Now I'm getting a misfire code again... (cyl.4).

I WILL fix this!!
 
I
#17 ·
Sorry for reviving an old thread but my car is throwing the same code. Heres the story. A couple of weeks ago I washed out my engine bay and when i started up my car the SES light came on. I neglected to bring it to autozone to find out the code and eventually light just went off. Yesterday I washed out my engine bay and the SES light returned. I decided that I had to find out what the problem was so I just took it up to autozone and it was a P0340 Camshaft Position Sensor Circuit Malfunction, the same thing as tampa. The thing is that my car isn't stalling or sputtering. It has no symptoms of anything being wrong at all actually. Could it just be that i got it wet when I washed my engine bay? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#19 ·
IriS- No worries on reviving the thread. It's always best to post in an existing thread. You obviously SEARCHed, so thanks for that.
It occurs to me that I had begun to pressure wash my engine compartment more often before my sensor went bad. If you're not experiencing any symptoms, though, it's likely you just had some water causing some temporary arcing or shorting of the wires. It's just a thought, but you might look into wrapping the wire harness in electrical tape to protect the wiring. I might do the same, now that I've thought about it.

Bitter- Are you suggesting the CPS is somehow tied to the ignition system itself? It was my understanding that the CPS is only there to relay the wave pattern from the turning camshaft to the ECU, thereby telling the system whether to advance or retard the timing. With a faulty one, it was sening the incorrect signal or none at all at times. This caused the car to lose power and/or stall.

Now.... I AM seeing a return of a misfire. It's throwing a new code, though. I think that might warrant a new thread.....
 
#21 ·
well if the CPS tells the PCM the wrong thing it could fire spark or inject fuel at the wrong time causing misfires.

the CPS IS what the PCM uses to determine where in 360 degrees the pistons are at so that it knows what injector to energize and what coil to fire. without that signal you disable fuel and spark, with a bad signal its entirely possible that fuel and spark could happen at the wrong time, causing misfire and even causing the engine to stall and not restart. if you're working on the car and need to bump the engine with the starter but dont want it to start, you unplug the cps.
 
#22 ·
^makes perfect sense, when you put it that way. Thanks for the insight, Bitter.
Now, would it be possible that running the car with such a faulty signal reaching the PCM caused a "cascading" effect? By that, I mean could my current misfiring in cyl4 come from improperly timed fuel and spark I likely had before? With my new CPS, I should have a good signal energizing the coil over bank 4. At least, I would think.
Man, I hope I don't have another damaged coilpack on my hands. They're rather pricey to replace.
 
#23 ·
well check the simple things 1st like the plug. it could just be fouled.

and i actually repeated myself when i meant to explain something.

the cps is what detects misfires, the pcm knows that in this many micro seconds at this rpm that the crankshaft will move from here to there. if it doesnt then a misfire has occured, it can detect very small slow downs in its rotational speed. a code for random multiple misfires can be a bad cps, but a consistent misfire in one cylinder generally indicates a problem with spark or fuel. theres other things, but start with the basics. check the plug wire, the plug, check the wiring into the injector to make sure its not been knocked loose, the injector could just be dirty or sticking.

listen to the injector working, put a screwdriver against the body of it and your ear to the handle of the screwdriver. now listen, you should hear a constant clack clack clack sound coming from. as engine rpm increases so should the speed of that sound, but when you let the throttle snap closed the injector will stop clacking because on decel the injectors are off. if the clacking is irregular or it sounds really muffled it could be a dirty injector.

as i mentioned before, it could just be a fouled plug. pull the plug and check its gap and its condition. regap it to specs or just replace it if its very dirty . black means rich, white means lean, brown means oil.
 
#24 · (Edited)
I just realized I left this thread sorta hanging unresolved. Kinda like ripping the last few chapters out a book is how I see that, so I'm checking back in to (hopefully) "finish the story". ;)
__________________________________________
My car's been running fine for the past week or so!! :)
Last Sunday (Oct. 17th), I unintentionally reset the ECU once more by forgetting to fully tighten the battery cable to the (+)terminal. Since then, I've neither seen nor felt any similar symptoms. My SES light has remained unlit, even through the last few days of snow and ice. (we had a blizzard roll through on the eve of the 20th)

I'm thinking the solution lies in my ECU having time to re-learn the wave pattern from the cam reluctor after the new sensor was put in. Regardless, I'll be checking my plugs and what-not when I get back from my Xmas/New Year's vacation , but for now it's just too nasty out to try to "fix what ain't broke".... *knocking on wood*
 
#25 · (Edited)
Sorry for reviving an old thread, but this was the best thread I could find that related to my problem. To start off the other day as i was driving my car completely shut off while I was driving. I pulled over to try to restart it but nothing. All the electrical was still working when it stopped running (lights, radio, etc.). I tried to restart it but all that would happen is that it would turn over and make a puttering sound and backfire. I let it rest and tried it again and nothing.

Once I got it back to my garage I plugged in an obd scanner and the same code came up listed above. I've checked the fuel to make sure there was fuel pumping and that I wasn't just out of gas and have checked the coils and spark plugs to make sure there is spark getting to the cylinders. And everything seemed ok. Just now, I installed a new sensor, plugged in the obd scanner and no codes came up. I then tried to start my car and now it won't even turn over. The only sound I can hear is a faint winding sound that dies down after a few seconds and then nothing. Before when i tried to start it (before the new sensor) it would turn over and sputter. Now there is no noise. There are no codes coming up and I can't figure out why it won't start. Could it be more than just a camshaft position sensor?

If anyone has any more input as to what else could keep the car from starting that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
#27 · (Edited)
You may be right. I was talking with a friend and he suggested the same thing. In my haste earlier, I completely forgot to think about that. A friend of mine is coming by later with jumper cables. Hopefully that will get it started. Thanks.

**Checked the battery earlier and car does turnover now, but won't start. A friend suggested that maybe the spark plugs are wet and to pull them out and dry them. Going to try that and hopefully get this car started.**
 
#28 ·
This thread is really old but I am having similar symptoms with my car. My car died on me while on the interstate and luckily the car started right back up after I pulled over. I had it check and it said p0340, I bought a new camshaft position sensor from advanced and when i installed it the car would not even start. After multiple attempts i exchanged it for another sensor and the car started right up and my code went away. About 20 minutes later the car started acting up again, hesitating real bad and misfiring. Had it read again and now it is p0300. If anyone can help that would be great. I posted on the new forums but no one seems to be helping.
 
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