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Hoping one of you expert mechanics out there can provide some insight.
My daughter blew up the engine on her '96 4-cyl 5SFE by overheating it (head gasket I think) and then driving about 10 miles down the interstate. Lesson learned for her. Anyway, I decided with 158K but still in great shape, I'd put in a rebuilt engine. Bought a long block from Thunderbolt in Houston, $1600 delivered (plus $400 core charge to be refunded). Nice people. Few minor glitches with external bracket mounts not exactly the same, but overall, very few problems. New oil pump, water pump, belts, radiator. It fired up and ran great. Now, the problem: it's giving an OBD code of P0340, CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR MALFUNCTION. Trouble is, there is no camshaft position sensor on this '96 motor; not the one I took out and not on the one I put in. No plugs not plugged in. It has a distributor (but no points). There is a crankshaft sensor, but no camshaft sensor. Search of these forums yielded no help except a link to a great Autozone website that had a picture of the camshaft sensor on later 5SFE engines.
Took it by the local dealer today and had Yoda (25 years of wrenching Toyotas) look it over - he was stumped (though he solved another little problem easily).
The P0340 comes up instantly; when I reset the check engine light it comes right back immediately.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has question about the engine swap, post a reply and I'll answer. Thanks.
I really appreciate you responding, cause I'm grasping for a clue. I heard that from another person too. Perhaps a minor fault in the crank sensor will cause this code. If the crank sensor was inop, I don't think it would run. But maybe a tooth on the main pulley ring got dinged or something. If so, I'll probably leave it alone. The thought of diving back into that timing cover again, with the engine in the car, is not appealling; it's running fine.
As for the sensor in the distributor housing, I don't think that's true. If so, there are no wires from it. In this design, where it still has a rotor to distribute the spark mechanically and the timing is adjusted conventionally by turing the distributor, what would the sensor do?
Ok, from experience, worked on a 5sfe camry w/ p0340. had a bad tensioner that caused timing to skip (note, base timing was still right on @ 10 deg btdc on this one). Had another w/ a p0340 that was off 2 teeth, customer recently had timing belt service done( info that could have been very useful at the time when I was diagnosing it.) So, if the timing belt is off, it will set this particular code.
Toyo_Tech02: OK, but where does the signal go? Where's the wire? For that matter, where's the sensor in the distributor?
OEMonkey: Thanks much. I checked the timing, and it was right on. I assumed that meant there was no way I could have messed up the belt install. I also installed a new tensioner spring, but I'll surely check the timing belt again. Based upon FOOMPLA's post, I should pull the belt and check the camshaft signal ring on the main pully too.
I was really hoping for something simpler... I just hate the thought of diving back in there when it's running OK.
good thinking oemonkey, i have never ran into a slipped t-belt on a 4 cylinder throwing a code but i will keep it in mind for future reference.... btw jeff, the wire from the distribtor goes to the ecm and is used, among other things to time the injectors and the sensor in the distibutor is nonservicable and if you determine that is the problem the whole assembly will have to be replaced, but i doubt it is because i think oem is correct about the belt.
Ya, I would have never known that to be a fix for that particular code either. Not saying it would fix Jeff's prob., but there's a lot of possibilities for every DTC.
sorry fellas i don't mean to highjack this thread but i have the same p0340 code on my
Prizm which is a 1.6 liter.
would i be looking for the same to do to my Car.
It is a 96 Geo Prizm
any help would be appreciated.
The cam sensor can be in the distributor or external (at the cam pulley). If in the distributor, there would be wires (the harness) sending the signal from the cam sensor to the ECU. Toyota calls it the G signal. There may be 2 cam sensors in the distributor (opposite each other), hence 2 G signal wires (G1 and G2). You should see these if you pull off the cap.
The signals from the cam sensor(s) and crank sensor go to the ECU, which determines when to power the igniter.
Check the distributor for presents of the sensor(s), determine if the new distributor is the same model, style, etc as the old one. Check the wiring between distributor and ECU.
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