Camshaft Position Sensor, Code 340

It is a 2000 model Camry 4-cylinder, 115K miles. Yesterday afternoon the engine stalled at driving speed for a couple of seconds. Lost power steering in a turn, felt like the car slid sideways - but it was a dry concrete road with good traction characteristics- after a very bad moment everything was fine. Then about an hour later pulling out of a mall parking lot into traffic the engine missed-hesitated-or whatever again 3 or 4 times in quick succession while I was trying to enter and merge with traffic. This time there was a check engine light. This morning I went by AUTO ZONE and had the codes checked, no 'Check Engine' light or driving problems this morning. The tester showed code

340 still in the computer, "Camshaft Position Sensor." Cost $249.95, no other information.

The questions are: where is the sensor in the engine, is this likely to be loose or corroded wiring connectors, how difficult will it be to remove and replace if that is necessary?

Reply to
Charlie
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The camshaft position sensor is on the rear right corner of the head. If you feel around the top backside of the timing cover you'll find it. You might need a mirror to do a visual inspection, it's in there pretty well. Check the connector and the wiring, too. Mice like to hang out back there sometimes.

Reply to
qslim

Cam position sensor is a very simple magnetic sensor like the ABS sensor. Solid and nothing fancy. As suggested, wiring problem is prorably the primary suspect. You may be able to reach the sensor on the firewall-passenger side of the cylinder head. The sensor looks like the one in Figure 1 for the V6.

For reference in another 5SFE engine (96), AutoZone' free online repair guide on cam position sensor:

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Haynes manual suggested removing it and test it on the bench for proper resistence (~1 K-Ohm). Do check the Haynes manual for your year of Camry. If you need one you can probably pick one up from the junkyard. partsamerica.com lists one for V6 for $100. Crank sensor is about $60 on rockauto.com (they don't list cam sensors), so $250 is kinda expensive for a cam sensor.

Also, there are batches of bad ECMs in the Camry. Problems include hard starting. If the tests on the sensor is OK then you may want to check with the dealer on any goodwill warranty coverage on the ECM.

Charlie wrote:

Reply to
johngdole

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