Is it bad timing or what?

[DaveMM]

Here is the story...

I have a 2000 Camry CE - 4cyl, 5S-FE, I was driving on the highway at about 65 MPH, I was changing lanes and then *poof* water pump blew. I got a free tow to Tires Plus in Gaithersburg, MD.

They replaced the timing belt and water pump and told me to come get my car. I showed up and drove the car for about 2 min. and took it right back because it was running real rough and had no power. I hooked it up to my OBDII device and the car was giving a 0340 code which was "Camshaft Position Circuit Malfunction". they told me it could be a number of things, but I told them I was convinced it was the timing was way off, or they didn't connect the Camshaft Sensor, or something.

So they took the car back and returned it to me yesterday, and I noticed right away something was wrong, but the engine light was off, so I decided to wait for the engine light to come on so I have something to go on when I take it back to the shop.

The 0340 code is gone. But now I have 0300 (random/multiple cylinder misfire) and 0171 (fuel trim too lean (bank1)).

When the car is in park or neutral, I can rev the engine as hard as I like and it sounds great, but as soon as I put the car in gear, the idle drops to about 400 and when I step on the gas the motor is louder than usual. It doesn't seem to have full acceleration power but it's close to normal.

I did pull all plugs, they look fine. I checked to make sure they had them in the correct firing order too and they are in the correct order.

My question is, since they already screwed up once, is this possibly a timing issue? Or what is going on.

[ShawnTRD]

Take it back. I would guess timing, or maybe the crank position sensor. I know my wifes explorer did something like that.

[hill8570]

Did they say what they did to it when you took it back? My best guess (and it's a pretty big SWAG) is that the timing belt shredded when the water pump went south, and damaged the camshaft sensor. I suspect it still hasn't been properly repaired.

[DaveMM]

Originally Posted by hill8570

Did they say what they did to it when you took it back? My best guess (and it's a pretty big SWAG) is that the timing belt shredded when the water pump went south, and damaged the camshaft sensor. I suspect it still hasn't been properly repaired.

But since the 0340 code is gone, wouldn't that mean it is functioning normally? I mean if the sensor was hosed wouldn't the 0340 still be there?

And no, they didn't tell me exactly what they did that made it go away.

[ShawnTRD]

From another forum

"Ok then from what you tell me the next most likely source of a P0171 is a vacuum leak.
Check all hoses, lines, the throttle body, etc with carb cleaner to see if you can find a leak."

[DaveMM]

Originally Posted by ShawnTRD

From another forum

"Ok then from what you tell me the next most likely source of a P0171 is a vacuum leak.
Check all hoses, lines, the throttle body, etc with carb cleaner to see if you can find a leak."

OK, but what about the 0300 (random/multiple cylinder misfire).

[hill8570]

Originally Posted by DaveMM

But since the 0340 code is gone, wouldn't that mean it is functioning normally? I mean if the sensor was hosed wouldn't the 0340 still be there?

And no, they didn't tell me exactly what they did that made it go away.

DTC detecting conditions for P0340 (from the FSM):

1) No camshaft position sensor signal to ECM during cranking (2 trip detection logic)

OR

2) No camshaft position sensor signal to ECM with engine speed 600 rpm or more

The way I read that, you could still have a cam sensor that's giving bogus / noisy / occasionally missing signal and not have a P0340 thrown. And since the ECM uses the cam and crank signals to determine when to fire, a twitchy cam sensor is going to give you a random misfire (P0300), and a random misfire can easily mess with the exhaust to the point you get a fuel trim DTC.

[carsrus]

Originally Posted by DaveMM

.

When the car is in park or neutral, I can rev the engine as hard as I like and it sounds great, but as soon as I put the car in gear, the idle drops to about 400 and when I step on the gas the motor is louder than usual. It doesn't seem to have full acceleration power but it's close to normal.

Classic symptom of being off a tooth in timing. Maybe cam sensor got knocked when they were working on it (tight space) or crank sensor harness got ripped b/c they were rushing things (trust me they were rushing...).

Shredded riming belt wouldn't do anything to the sensors.

I would take it to a solid mechanic and send the bill to tires whatever. A tire place is the last place I would go for a timing job.