Hello,

I have a 1996 Neon SOHC: 84K miles. Replaced the head gasket and water pump at 72K.
I have replaced the Cam Position Sensor three times over the last year. I get a 'Maintenance' light, read the code with a reader and it always says "Cam Position Sensor #1 Circuit Malfunction". I have checked the wiring many times, and eventually replaced the sensor, which cures the problem for a few months. Then it happens again, like yesterday. Wife's car, and when it happened, she was pulling out into traffic and the engine just dies. Not too safe.

Anybody have any ideas? I find it hard to believe that many sensors have gone bad, but...

Thanks,
Dan

 

Did this start happening after the gasket and water pump replacement? If so, your timing may be off. I would suggest rechecking your timing marks.

Also, you should have replaced the idler pulley as well.

 

No. I did the head gasket and all else about 2 years ago. This car is driven very little.

Like I said, this started happening about a year ago. The last two occurrences were about 3 months ago and 2 days ago. We live on a very rough dirt road. It's about a mile to the pavement, but I can't imagine that would do anything to the sensor since it's basically encased in a solid block of plastic. The connections are all tight and the gasket is not damaged. I believe the sensor feeds the PCM and I could not find any cracks or damage in the wiring harness that leads to the PCM. In fact, I really do not know if the Cam Position Sensor is really bad or if there is something else going on. I just know that if I replace it, the problem goes away for some time period.

 

See if you can get the "P" code. This may help narrow your search.

 

This may not help, but it only takes time to try it.

Check the connector to the sensor. If the pins are loose and not making good contact or corroded or covered with dirt and other yuck, give it a good cleaning.

It could very well be that the rough road is vibrating the connector enough to make the connection weaker and then over time, fail. When you pull it to check it, it is possible that by simply reconnecting it (I will assume you cleaned it too), the problem "goes away".

 

Well, it happened again. Rough road, car quits running. Code reader says the same thing; Malfunction in Cam Position Sensor #1 Circuit Malfunction. I've checked the connections over and over. They are always clean and tight.

Question - Could a timing belt that is just on the verge of being too loose (stretched) cause this??

Thanks,
Dan