RTH - CEL On My Way Back From Colorado

[TheForger]

Long story short - my family and I are about 2300miles into a trip to Colorado and back to Arkansas. The trip itself went great, now for the drive home: Our halfway point where we got a hotel for the night is Salina, Kansas. Drove here from Golden today with no issues whatsoever. Parked, drop the camper in the parking lot, then went to dinner still with no issues. After dinner I start the car to head back to the hotel and noticed I have a check engine, VSC Trac, & VSC Off lights on. Read codes via Scangauge and came back with one - P0340 cam shaft position sensor. However, I had no issues getting back to the hotel other than the dash lights. It started up at the restaurant just fine, no engine stutter indicative of a bad coil pack, no rough idle, no lack/loss of power, no symptoms of any kind. It ran smooth as butter even when I got it up to 65mph. Only thing different was putting in a lower octane gas when we stopped at a station in Hays, Kansas (I think it was 87 and I have been running 91 for the past 2wks while in Colorado). Cleared the codes via Scangauge, turned the car off, then back on and now I don't have any of those lights on anymore as if it has corrected itself. I will continue to pay close attention to it to see if I throw a code on the way back to Little Rock tomorrow, but should I be worried about anything? Specifically being able to make it all ~500miles back home? I'm staying at a Holiday Inn here in Salina for the night and will do some research on it later (I've read a couple threads on this issue but nothing helpful). I am willing to do a parking lot R&R of the sensor if that's necessary, its just a pain to get to. Should I just forget about it and keep driving? Not having any adverse symptoms seems to be a good thing...Timing belt was done exactly 1yr ago but this is the first time I've experienced this issue.

 

[ibrahim83]

The only time i would tell you to stop would be if the check engine light is flashing or if you notice a problem with the way it runs.

I'm not sure how it's set up on our cars, but you might want to check the wiring to the camshaft position sensor. Make sure it's not loose, frayed, etc...

Good luck!

 

[TheForger]

The only time i would tell you to stop would be if the check engine light is flashing or if you notice a problem with the way it runs.

I'm not sure how it's set up on our cars, but you might want to check the wiring to the camshaft position sensor. Make sure it's not loose, frayed, etc...

Good luck!

*Ding ding* we have a winner! Looks like the CPS wire harness was cut by the serpentine belt and caused a short. I threw some electrical tape over the exposed wires and zip tied them up out of the way until I can get back home and properly fix it. Thanks!

Does anyone know a good way of fixing this? I’m thinking about cutting the small section of damaged wire out, soldering some new wire(s) in its place, and then heat shrink tube all of it and tuck it away so it doesn’t happen again. It appears as though there’s only a positive and negative wire in this harness so I think it’d be easy to go that route, as opposed to the engine harness that has several different wires all bundled together.

 

[87warrior]

@TheForger - I live 45 minutes east of Salina and from the sounds of your travel you might be coming through. If you'd like a place to fix the wiring other than a parking lot, my door is open.

 

[TheForger]

@TheForger - I live 45 minutes east of Salina and from the sounds of your travel you might be coming through. If you'd like a place to fix the wiring other than a parking lot, my door is open.

I truly appreciate that offer! Fortunately I am not experiencing any issues after quickly taping it up and tucking it away last night. I don’t see any reason why this wouldn’t get me home but if I do have any problems I’ll be sure to give you a shout! We just got back on the road so I’ll keep my fingers crossed

 

[ibrahim83]

Awesome! i'm glad you got that sorted!

 

[abuck99]

*Ding ding* we have a winner! Looks like the CPS wire harness was cut by the serpentine belt and caused a short. I threw some electrical tape over the exposed wires and zip tied them up out of the way until I can get back home and properly fix it. Thanks!

View attachment 1763409

Does anyone know a good way of fixing this? I’m thinking about cutting the small section of damaged wire out, soldering some new wire(s) in its place, and then heat shrink tube all of it and tuck it away so it doesn’t happen again. It appears as though there’s only a positive and negative wire in this harness so I think it’d be easy to go that route, as opposed to the engine harness that has several different wires all bundled together.

Soldering would be the best solution- cut it, place a section of heat shrink in line and out of the way from soldering heat, splice solder and then slide the heatshrink back and shrink in place. That should protect the splice and wire.

That cam sensor wire is puny, I noticed it while doing my TB service, also noticed if it wasnt routed correctly it could get hung up in the accessory belt. I would look for the connector its meant to be secured to and ziptie it back inplace after you fix it.

 

[diego355]

Same thing happened to me after my TB replacement, I replaced the Cam sensor because the wire was almost gone.
My current issue is that I went with a aftermarket sensor (Napa) and the p0340 comes and goes. It tends to happen when I step on the gas after 100 km/h, sometimes it will disappear after I shut the engine off and sometimes it doesn't.
I see that there is really no way to install this backwards or in the wrong position, the wires are all tucked behind that cooler tube. Should I replace the sensor with a OEM?