Trouble codes PO342, crank senors stuck

[Cavibroke]

I am editing this thread so I can start over from the beginning. I have a 98 cavalier with a 2.2l, back in Aug or so I change the plugs and wires just as a routine tune up. Shortly after, the car tossed up a Check Engine Light (CEL), the code was PO122 Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). I cleared it once and it came back again. All I did was remove the sensor and put it back on, the light stayed off for a few weeks. Then the CEL came back on and I am thinking I have to replace the TPS. The code ends up being PO335 and PO342, which are crankshaft position sensor and camshaft sensor codes.

I clear these codes two or three times and each time they would come back randomly. They would even clear themselves sometimes. So I did a little research and pricing on how much it would cost for the sensors because the codes kept coming up. The crankshaft sensor is the cheap one; I figured I would start with that. After three days of hell (you can read the post below), I finally get it replaced. I start the car and it’s running great. Two days later my wife takes it to work and the codes are back. I wiggle some wires and just start thinking I have to replace the camshaft sensor. Before I replace that I wanted to make sure that was the problem.

It is now starting rougher and there seems to be a draw when starting sometimes. Almost like there was a short causing the starter to lose power. My wife takes it to work one day and when she went to leave it would not start. It would crank and crank and crank, but nothing. A lot of those cranks seem to have a drain or slow start. After pumping the pedal (weird cause it’s fuel injected and you shouldn’t have to) I finally get it running and home safely. Note, it only has trouble when starting sometimes. Once it is running it runs without any problems. I had the following week off work so I decided to take the car home 600 miles to my parents where they have a heat garage to find out what is wrong.

I get it home and my family throws me advice. My brother and father believe the starter is going bad because of the slow cranking. I believe the slow cranking may be because of a shorted wire in one of the harnesses causing a loss of power to the starter. At this point the car when starting has a slow crank almost every other time. I take my battery and starter in to have them checked at the auto parts store. The battery is fine and he tells me the starter is no good because it won’t engage. Funny because it still starts my car. So I put it all back on and take it to the store to have the starter checked on the engine. Lucky for me it does the slow start on the first try and the guy said the meter read there was a short somewhere. Woohoo! I was right there is a short in one of the sensors or wires!

The next day I start ripping apart all of the wiring harnesses. I check for a short or loss of continuity in every wire from the crank sensor, to the ignition control module (ICM), to the PCM and as much of the Cam sensor as I can…nothing. All the wires are fine. So I am starting to think I have a bad PCM (or ECM), ICM, or sensor. I finally do some research online and find a few post relating to my problem (I have included the links below). The last thing some of these people talk about is changing the starter. So I decided to change the starter. It has been three days since then and I have not had one code or bad start yet. I am not 100% sure that was my problem, but I am starting to think the starter had a short and was shorting the block causing the sensor to fail or short. Like I said, I have only had a few days to test the car, but it seems to be starting great now.

Here are some of the links with similar problems. I will also post back if a code pops up again or if it just stays running good.

http://www.2carpros.com/questions/ch...sor-code-p0335

http://autoracingsport.com/auto/p/106138644

http://www.automotiveforums.com/t963...or_codes_.html

Edit: I just talked with Xfatcatx (his post is above) on these forums that had the same problem. The last thing he had changed was the starter as well. That car is now problem free.


Good luck and I really hope this helps some people.







I have a 98 cavalier 2.2L that I’ve been having some code trouble with. Every once in a while my wife would go to start it and in mid crank it would just stop. Battery is fine and trouble codes point to cam and crank sensors (PO342 and forgot the crank one). Figured I would drop in the crank sensor because that one was cheap enough and I’ve read that it can affect the cam as well. That’s when the real trouble started. Of course in cavaliers the sensors always get stuck. After tugging and pulling for an hour the outer plastic broke off and left two wires sticking out. Managed to get vise grips on it and keep prying, but finally those broke off and it’s still stuck in there. There is only about 3/16 of rounded off plastic left sticking out. Also, I did try penetrating oil and the sensor still rotates fine, it just won’t come out. It is extremely tight in there so drilling won’t work.

My question now is, how bad would it be if I just pushed it in the oil pan or should I just attempt to remove the oil pan?

[eric_454]

Been there! If you can keep the sensor from rotating by jamming an awl in there to lock it, you can take a stubby and run a short drywall screw into it then pull on that to complete the extraction. Loads of fun; even more so on others. Good luck.

I don't think one can just push it into the pan. Seems like I tried that once and it just stops against the crank.

[Cavibroke]

Ok, so I ended up dropping the oil pan. There is no way I could have gotten it out with a dry wall screw. I had to beat it out of the hole with a hammer and screwdriver. Come to find out it was a little rusty in there, cleaned it with emery cloth and still had to force the new one in. All in all it took me about 8 hours. Probably could have done it in 5 if I had all the right tools.

Anyway, after getting it all back together, started it and everything worked fine...for a few days. Here and there when it starts now it just seems to stop turning or seems like there is excessive drain on the battery. Once it does start it tosses up two codes. It's a crank and cam code, think it was low input voltage if I remember.

What I did notice was oil dripping into the crankshaft sensor connector at the ICM. Thinking this may have been the problem I cleaned it out with some brake clean. Still no go. I am thinking it may be a short now simply because the code is a low voltage. Anyone ever had a similar problem and can point me where to start my search.

[eric_454]

Here's the wiring for a '97. It's the same on '98.
http://www.autolib.diakom.ru/CAR/Che...NG%20DIAGRAMS/

[Cavibroke]

Just an update, still have not fixed the problem but there is a new development. The other day when my wife went to start it, instead of it just sputtering a bit then starting, it started and then shut off. After that she said it would crank but not start. I came to see what I could do, of course she was right. I tried to start it and nothing. I pushed the gas pedal to the floor and it sputtered and tried to start. After doing that one more time I just held the pedal to get it started and pumped it to keep it running. It ran really rough, almost like it had a really bad misfire and after 5 seconds or so it ran like normal. Any thoughts?