I have a 1996 4x4 5.2L dodge dakota. Every now and then it will be running fine then just stall. I coast to a stop and put it in park and it starts right up, drives for a while then does it again. I have a scanner and it says p0340 camshaft position sensor. When I called Napa, auto zone ect. they said the truck is not equipped with one? I searched the first gen. forum with the code # and no results were present. Where is this sensor that is giving me all the trouble....It was doing this about a month ago and the scanner said crankshaft position, sensor which I have changed already. It was working fine until a couple days ago.

 

Howdy,

Unfortunately i don't have any suggestions to offer as far as how to resolve the issue. However, i did look up the code you are getting in the chilton library and this is what it said:

I know it's not much but every little bit helps. Perhaps this info will help someone else make some suggestions.

Good Luck!

 

I just checked the code with the key on key off approach and it says code # 54, no cam signal to pcm.

 

Yes, there is a camshaft position sensor on these trucks. Never listen to the idiots who work at autoparts stores, the majority of them know nothing except how to use a computer to look up parts, and since its not called a camshaft position sensor in their computer, it confuses them.

Go back to an autoparts store and ask for a distributor pickup and that should be what you need.


CamshaftPositionSensor.jpg?t=1276722385

 

Thank you very much. I will do that tomorrow.

 

could this part you are talking about be called a " pickup coil "? The auto parts store is telling me that a distributer pickup is not a valid part or not required on this truck. They also say if it is the "picup coil" that the distributor has to totally be removed to install it. By the diagram above, why do i have to remove the distrib. itself.? Why not just the cap?

 

i looked on all data an it says you have to remove the distributor, good news is flatrate only pays .5hrs so it cant be that hard, set it to tdc on #1 mark it pull the dizzy out and replace the pick up coil/cmp sensor hope this helps

 

camshaft position sensor = pickup coil = secondary ignition coil.
you do have one.
it does not require removal of the distributor, only the cap, rotor button and the plate. if fact - you do NOT want to move the distributor, or else you have to reset the fuel sync, which you cannot do w/o an expensive scan tool.

its sort of hard to get to...

 

Alright, go to NAPA.com, put in 1996 Dodge Dakota, and search the word "pickup" for parts. Then go down to the parts that have a picture that looks like this:




Whether they call it a pickup coil, or distributor pickup, it doesn't much matter... what matters is that ^ is that part you need that contains the camshaft position sensor.