Car stopped and engine code P0340

tauman · 08-18-2012, 07:02 PM

I have a 99 GSX with 90K miles which is in modest shape. It is generally stock (and at the point where I need to fix things), but something unexpected happened today.

I was driving back from work when the engine sputtered and cut out (died) while I was doing about 65 mph on the highway. There was no warning, just suddenly the engine didn't respond to the gas and quit. After sitting at the side of the road for a few minutes, I tried to restart it and managed. I got about 1-2 miles up the highway when it happened again. At that point, I waited again and got it started (pretty much first try each time) then limped it home (about 10 miles) but off the highway in case it died again. However, I kept the RPMs down as I wondered if the cause was the fuel pump dying and cutting out at high demand. However, I managed to get it home with no further incidents.

Later, I took it out as I wanted to see if I could figure out what was going on, but it died again about 1/2 mile from my apartment. After waiting a little, it wouldn't really restart and the check engine light came on from which I got the P0340 code. Later (and hour or so) I went back and restarted it successfully twice (but didn't try to drive it and stopped it after only a few seconds).

Back in December I changed the timing belt (and water pump and pulleys and tensioners) and I wondered (based on what I read on here) if the connector got loose. I re-inserted the plug before I started the car the last two times, but who knows if that did anything. Anyway, I've done 12K miles and 8 months on the new timing belt, so I kind of assumed that if I screwed anything up, it would have manifested before.

Does anyone have any ideas beyond the obvious (i.e. the P0340 code). I find it strange that the light didn't come on pretty quickly and wonder if it is a symptom of a different problem.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

synthetek · 08-18-2012, 07:16 PM

Have you tried testing the cam angle sensor?

bryanwheat · 08-18-2012, 07:16 PM

Test the cam position sensor.

tauman · 08-18-2012, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bryanwheat

Test the cam position sensor.

Is there an easy way to do that? I mean, without taking it off (because if I'm going to go through all that trouble, I'll just replace it while I've got everything apart).

Note, I'm good at following directions (and my friend and I have successfully changed my timing belt and the clutch and the radiator on his Lancer Evo), but sometimes the really obvious stuff goes right by me because I'm not a hardcore tuner. (If I actually had a garage and a driveway I would be, but I live in a hi-rise in the city).

Thanks!

bryanwheat · 08-18-2012, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tauman

Is there an easy way to do that? I mean, without taking it off (because if I'm going to go through all that trouble, I'll just replace it while I've got everything apart).

Note, I'm good at following directions (and my friend and I have successfully changed my timing belt and the clutch and the radiator on his Lancer Evo), but sometimes the really obvious stuff goes right by me because I'm not a hardcore tuner. (If I actually had a garage and a driveway I would be, but I live in a hi-rise in the city).

Thanks!

It takes literally a few minutes to remove the cam sensor on a 97-99 car. Just unbolt the sensor from the housing and test it. I wouldn't just go buy a new one because it could be in the wiring also. You will need to test all of that though.

96talon420a · 08-18-2012, 07:28 PM

I had the exact same problem with my car when i first bought it and all I had to do was clean the cam sensor and mainly the Crank sensor cause they were gunked and oiled up a bit and it ran perfect after
-I just used some QD electrical contact cleaner on the sensor and the plug in
see if it helps

tauman · 08-18-2012, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 96talon420a

I had the exact same problem with my car when i first bought it and all I had to do was clean the cam sensor and mainly the Crank sensor cause they were gunked and oiled up a bit and it ran perfect after
-I just used some QD electrical contact cleaner on the sensor and the plug in
see if it helps

Thanks! I'll give it a shot!

Steve

delta448 · 08-18-2012, 08:35 PM

The CAS is held into the housing by one bolt on the backside. Take it out and carefully clean the pickup end. Also take off the triangular plate on the CAS housing and clean out the inside of the housing the best you can. I blamed a leak there for killing the sensor on mine.

bryanwheat · 08-18-2012, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by delta448

The CAS is held into the housing by one bolt on the backside. Take it out and carefully clean the pickup end. Also take off the triangular plate on the CAS housing and clean out the inside of the housing the best you can. I blamed a leak there for killing the sensor on mine.

What do you mean clean the inside of the housing? It is meant to have oil inside of it so cleaning the oil out of it will do no good.

delta448 · 08-20-2012, 08:28 AM

Was not aware of that, yet again you've taught me something then. But what I don't understand is why there should be oil in there. Mine had a very small amount of liquid oil in it, but a significant amount of thick sludge built up around the sensor pickup hole. IIRC, I didn't see a drain path back into the head either?

tauman · 08-22-2012, 07:20 PM

So I thought I'd follow up on all of this so that anyone who reads this can learn from my moment of idiocy.

After my car stalled the last time (on Sunday), I started thinking and searching online and one of the posts I remembered was something that someone said about the Camshaft and Crankshaft sensor code coming up when you have low oil. Now I knew that the seal on my oil-pan is completely shot, so I wondered and checked my oil level. I guess that the extra driving I've been doing (city and highway each way--welcome to the DC metro area) sped things along and my oil level was REALLY low (not low enough for the oil light to come on, though).

Anyway, I topped off the oil (more than 2.5 quarts

) and started up the car. It started okay, but the engine light came on with the 0135 code (O2 sensor) and I noticed that white smoke was coming out of the back. I let it warm up, but the white smoke continued. One thing I noticed thought, was that it smelled more like burning hydrocarbons than I would expect if coolant was in the engine. Needless to say, I was "somewhat concerned".

Well, after letting it run for awhile to see if the smoke would go away when the engine warmed up (it didn't), I cleared the code and turned off the engine. Later, at night, I went back to get my car (it was parked two blocks away from the high-rise where I live) to drive it back to my garage. I made it back without any stalling or engine light coming on. When I parked in my garage, I let the car idle and looked--no white smoke from the exhaust.

The next day, I started the car up again and drove it around my garage--still no white smoke. Anyway, yesterday, I did an oil change and drove it to the local AutoZone (to dispose of the oil) and back--still no white smoke (or engine light).

Today, after work (I've been driving a rental), I took my car out and ran around for a few miles to ensure that the engine was completely warm, and pushed it a little to ensure that it went through a more typical range of driving conditions (i.e. reasonably high RPMs with the turbo working, etc.) and I didn't have any problems.

As a tangential note, but one that I think helps explain things, I had thought that lately (before all of this) that the lifters seemed a little noisier than usual. Yesterday, it all came home to me when I looked online about changing my lifters and saw that they are hydraulic--i.e. they use the engine oil to operate.

So my theory is that the oil level had become low enough to impact the operation of the lifters which caused the stalling problem. Fortunately, that seems to be the only thing it did...

I plan to change my oil again in two weeks to "rinse" things out. I'd also like to change my lifters to get rid of the annoying clicking I've endured for a few years, but that's another story...

I'll update this if I run into any more problems (which is possible, because tomorrow I'll be driving my car to work).

The moral of the story is that being an idiot like I was and letting things happen like the oil getting low can screw up your car in ways you don't even realize...

Steve