P1340 Error Code

[mchristyuk]

Not a plea for help for a change, but hopefully some useful information for fellow 3200 owners...

Car had suddenly started to become reluctant to start, hot or cold. But not always, only occasionally. No error codes though. After about a month of this (car only really being used at weekends) I finally got an error light up on the dash, read it off with the code reader P1340.

Naturally I came here and put it in the search box and didn't really come up with anything.. so then I went to Google. My heart sank.

Nobody seems to have had this code with a 3200 but Audi's, VW's and Peugeots certainly did.. and they all said the same thing. Crank/Cam out of phase, probably owing to the cambelt skipping a tooth. B*gger. All their posts followed a familiar thread, had the cambelt been changed recently?... Mine had... double b*gger.

Before ripping the engine apart I decided to clean the sensor connectors for both the crank and cam sensors.

Error code went, car ran like a dream for 3 weeks. Then back to square one. No amount of cleaning this time would make it go away, nor make the car start.

So fitted a new Crank sensor this weekend. No joy.

Fitted a new Cam sensor today. Hurrrah!.. She lives.

So.. for future reference when a 3200 owner gets this error code and searches for it either via Google or here this may be of use

Mark

 

[Contigo]

Nice work Mark, maybe a nice little few words on how to fit it?

 

[allandwf]

all good. Hopefully it was an easy and straightforward fix.

 

[mchristyuk]

Cam sensor is a piece of cake.

Think there's 4 screws holding the cover over the cam belt on that bank of the engine. So take the screws out, take the cover off, remove the sensor (screwed to the cover), new sensor in.. 4 screws back in. Have a beer.

The crank sensor is a bit of a &!"* as it's buried at the bottom of the car and the dipstick pipe is right in the way. So I removed all pipework that I could on the front of the engine that didn't involve emptying fluids to give me some more room to work. Then took the sensor retaining screw out and started to pull the sensor out. When it hit the dipstick tube I put a long extension piece down the pipe to allow me to just lever it backwards slightly giving enough space to pop the sensor out with some grazed knuckles. Fitting was the reverse.

All in all I'd say a 2 out of 5 stars in terms of difficulty. The only issue being access.. as it always is on these cars! The jobs aren't difficult they're just made a pig of a job because you can't get to anything!

Mark

 

[Contigo]

Agreed, the 3200 is bad but the space to work on the 4200 is even more limited!

 

[redsonnylee]

Not a plea for help for a change, but hopefully some useful information for fellow 3200 owners...

Car had suddenly started to become reluctant to start, hot or cold. But not always, only occasionally. No error codes though. After about a month of this (car only really being used at weekends) I finally got an error light up on the dash, read it off with the code reader P1340.

Naturally I came here and put it in the search box and didn't really come up with anything.. so then I went to Google. My heart sank.

Nobody seems to have had this code with a 3200 but Audi's, VW's and Peugeots certainly did.. and they all said the same thing. Crank/Cam out of phase, probably owing to the cambelt skipping a tooth. B*gger. All their posts followed a familiar thread, had the cambelt been changed recently?... Mine had... double b*gger.

Before ripping the engine apart I decided to clean the sensor connectors for both the crank and cam sensors.

Error code went, car ran like a dream for 3 weeks. Then back to square one. No amount of cleaning this time would make it go away, nor make the car start.

So fitted a new Crank sensor this weekend. No joy.

Fitted a new Cam sensor today. Hurrrah!.. She lives.

So.. for future reference when a 3200 owner gets this error code and searches for it either via Google or here this may be of use

Mark

Thanks, when you say reluctant to start. Do you mean you had to try starting up a few times before the engine fired up. So turning the key then resetting then trying again before firing up? I am asking because sometimes I have to try 2-3 times before it finally fires up. This has been the case ever since I had the car so have got used to it.

 

[mchristyuk]

Yeah just that.. either hot or cold.. that made no difference. It just got worse and worse...

Cam sensors tend to look for a certain number of revolutions to make sure everything is ok before allowing the ignition to fire.. if anything is wrong it won't start. If the Cam and Crank sensors are saying different things.. ditto...

The crank sensor is fairly easy to check with a multimeter, the cam sensor is a hall effect sensor and really needs an oscilloscope and power supply.. so I just bought a new sensor from Eurospares..

Mark

 

[redsonnylee]

Yeah just that.. either hot or cold.. that made no difference. It just got worse and worse...

Cam sensors tend to look for a certain number of revolutions to make sure everything is ok before allowing the ignition to fire.. if anything is wrong it won't start. If the Cam and Crank sensors are saying different things.. ditto...

The crank sensor is fairly easy to check with a multimeter, the cam sensor is a hall effect sensor and really needs an oscilloscope and power supply.. so I just bought a new sensor from Eurospares..

Mark

Thanks very much, Will be checking this asap as its a real pain sometimes when people are asking if it will eventually start.

 

[GeoffCapes]

Agreed, the 3200 is bad but the space to work on the 4200 is even more limited!

I've got that to look forward to on Friday when I change the water temp sensor.