1996 5SFE code P0340 Distributor w/ external coil

[foxkw]

Car - 1996 Camry Le 4cyl 5sfe engine. US manufacture.
Has distributor with external coil.
319000 Miles on original engine

Getting a P0340 error after disconnecting battery and working on EGR System. The error indicates that there is a Camshaft Position sensor error; however, there doesn't appear to be a Cam Sensor on the engine. Other information on the web indicates that the Cam sensor might be in the distributor housing but the primary side of the distributor only has a two-wire connector. The diagnostics in both the Haynes manual and the official service manual (1994) show a completely different connector configuration with 4 terminals and a requirement to measure the resistance across various combinations of them. Since I'm short a few terminals I'm looking for a little insight from anyone who’s run across the phenomenon.

I am under the assumption that I broke something while working on the EGR system.

Some additional information.

Over the past few years I have gotten the Insufficient EGR flow error and corrected the problem in various ways because the car won't pass emissions with MIL status indicator (a.k.a. Check engine light. I looked under the hood. It's still there.) The short version is that I took out the air cleaner, resonator-air tube, and Throttle body to get at the EGR valve. The hose connecting the port on the bottom of Vacuum solenoid (a.k.a. Vacuum Modulator) to the port on the EGR valve but below the 'gate' that allows or denies exhaust gas to flow into the intake manifold was plugged with carbon. As were the port on the EGR valve and the vacuum Modulator. I cleaned out all that crap and also checked all the other hoses and ports and cleaner those where needed.

I disconnected the battery to clear the codes, put all the remaining bits back in place, and hooked the battery back up. The engine started instantly, and the Check engine light came on almost immediately. At this point, I figured that I had failed to connect something or that something wasn't seated properly, therefore I checked all the connections I could find, and reset the error light again. (Note that I did not have my ELM Scan available to read the codes because the laptop was having stepson related issues at the time which have since been rectified.) Since it was running fine, I took it for a test drive and it operated flawlessly but the MIL never went out.

I was fairly certain it wasn't the EGR problem because that took about 25 miles of driving to manifest itself. Out of time and daylight I packed it in for that day until I could pull the codes again.

When I finally could retrieve the codes, it was just the cam position sensor error. Of course, I can't locate a cam position sensor. Once it stops raining, I'm going to pull the distributor and check it out. Perhaps it's possible that one of the wires in the harness are bad, and moving them around to get at the EGR valve has caused a fault. Additionally, perhaps it's possible that my particular revision ignition system eliminated two of the 4 wires in the diagram by sharing the common chassis (distributor to engine block) ground?

Any help, experience or suggestions would be appreciated.

[haux]

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...gname,Ignition

There seems to be a Crankshaft position sensor, but no Camshaft position sensor listed.

From http://www.prostreetonline.com/o/cam...ion_sensor.asp :

Q. Where is my camshaft position sensor?
A. We would recommend taking a look at the front of your motor, by either of the camshafts and where they exit the head(s). The sensor is either a optical or hall effect sensor, so try and find a housing that is near or around your intake or exhaust camshaft ( or just single camshaft) for the location of your camshaft position sensor

EDIT: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0340 , Causes/Possible Solutions might give you some ideas. And here's a Camshaft Sensor on eBay, listed as being for a 96 -> http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=220443057551 ... maybe there is one? Although eBay listings could always be wrong.

[foxkw]

Haux - the eBay link was for a V6 Cam Sensor.

I think the CPS is in the distributor, when I figure this out I will post a reply. Honestly I think it's a bad wire but without an accurate wiring diagram, I'm not sure.

[foxkw]

Checked the Hall effect sensor in the distributor and it was 165 Ohms -- right in the range. Additionally the air gap was OK. I pretty much expected that the distributor would check out OK since the car runs fine.

still haven't found a Camshaft sensor but did locate the Crankshaft sensor, and it registered at 1365 ohms and and specs for for that (although not listed for my motor) are 800 -2000 Ohms.

checked all the wiresand they seem OK but the wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual don't match my car -- the color codes are wrong.

could the ECU be bad?

[foxkw]

bump

[mlass]

I'm lost here, too P0340. Toyota SI shows the same with 4 wires going to distributor, but only 2 on distributor.

Originally Posted by foxkw

Car - 1996 Camry Le 4cyl 5sfe engine. US manufacture.

Other information on the web indicates that the Cam sensor might be in the distributor housing but the primary side of the distributor only has a two-wire connector. The diagnostics in both the Haynes manual and the official service manual (1994) show a completely different connector configuration with 4 terminals and a requirement to measure the resistance across various combinations of them.

[foxkw]

BAck at the end of 2009 or early 2010 I acquired and installed a different ECU - the car ran fine but the trouble code still manifests itself.

<< this is bruce he's happy . This is me with this issue>>

So I pulled the distributor again (alzheimers) and verified that the hall effect sensor works and is in spec. (170 Ohms and fluctuates when the shaft is rotated.

Still haven't found good documentation on the wiring. Google is your friend until SEO kicks in.

I'm of the mind that this variant (seems like its a ty-49 distributor) only has a CPS and no other sensors (my car is mfg 6/96) even though the 34 tooth wheel is there.

(yes it really took this long to circle back to this problem...)

I'm going to reinstall the distributor and see if it runs w/o being connected. if it does I kinds know what's up, if it doesn't then I've kinda sorta eliminated a culprit ...

Any clues or links to accurate documentation would be *helpful*

TIA & Cheer's
ken

[foxkw]

P0340 is the DTC that caused this Freeze Frame Data to be Stored
Camshaft Position Sensor Circuit Malfunction


Fuel System 1 StatusOpen Loop Control - Warmup
Calculated Load34.1 %
Coolant Temperature99 Deg C210.2 Deg F
Short Term Fuel Trim Bank 10.00 %
Long Term Fuel Trim Bank 17.03 %Lean (-)
Intake Manifold Pressure34 kPaA4.9 PsiA
Engine Speed1194.50 Rpm
Vehicle Speed0 Kmh0 Mph
Intake Air Temperature27 Deg C80.6 Deg F
Freeze Frame Data


Note that the upsteam O2 sensor is toast (0.0VDC output) but the p0340 is present regardless of the O2 Sensor since I cannibalized the good one out of this camry to fix the other Camry on wednesday...

As we can see the poor thing is seriously confused: 34% load at 0mph... it's the "anti-Prius"(tm) ... going nowhere at full power.

[foxkw]

I think I figured this out. Some late production I4's have a distributor that ONLY has the Camshaft Position Sensor (CPS).

I believe his because:
1. using a DMM I was able to observe variations in voltage and resistance that corresponded to the CPS while the distributor was out. Looking at the various diagrams availble on line, the CPS only triggers once per camshaft revolution, and that is what I observed.
2. The toothed wheel should have created multiple pulses per rotation but did not.

3. I reinstalled the distributor and connected the sparkplug wire and coil wire but not the sensor wire, and I was able to start the car.

Since the I4 distributor is fixed and has no mechanically actuated advance mechanism, it makes sense that the engine would run w/o the CPS connected. IF however (guess) the pulses form the distributor were necessary for the ignition to fire, the car would not have started. therefore I have concluded that the sensor in the distributor is the CPS.

We're going to trace the wiring in the harness tomorrow to see if we can find the issue (BTW I sort of figured that theis was the problem earlier on in the troubleshooting process) ...

Updates tomorrow.

[foxkw]

On certain later build camrys with the 5sfe motor, the distributor has only two wires although all the documentation and manuals (Haynes and the FSM) indicate that the thing should have four wires.

The cam position sensor (CPS) is in the distributor. If you split the harness open, you'll find that there are a pair of blue wires with different color stripes on the connector, and a short distances from the connector it goes into a blue sheilded conductor, where it passes through the harness and into the body behind the glove box. Within that big bundle of crap the blue shield is bonded a couple of ground wires. The blue wire with the green stripe goes into pinn 5 of the E11 connector on the ECU. Note that the pictures/drawings in the manuals show you the pinouts from the wire side not the connection side.

There is also a Crankshaft position sensor that is mounted on the front of the engine adjacent to the timing belt. Similar to the above configuration, the Crank sensor wire is also shielded but the shield is black instead of blue.

I verified this by tearing apart my wiring harness and tracing everything out because I thouight I had a broken wire between the ECU and the CPS. I verified continuity and operation of all the wires and connectors & put it all back together and started the car. I need to clear the codes and check to see what's going on because I still have an MIL/CEL condition.

I'll post photos later. I'd like to ge this information pushed into the FAQ if possible.

[foxkw]

It's been a long time since you posted to the camry forum, but there's new information about Distributor in case you are interested. P0340.