Hey everyone, I am trying to find out what's up with my brother's 2001 Chrysler Sebring.

Today he was driving down the interstate and it died. Said it just shut off. Sat there for about 45 minutes, tried to start it a few times, and then got it running again. Drove it the remaining 2 hours to my house, and the service engine soon light has been on ever since. I drove it to O'Rielly to get diagnosed...it seemed to run fine, maybe a little surging but nothing major.

They hooked it up, and said the code showed a CAMSHAFT POSITIONING SENSOR CIRCUIT MALFUNCTION. (P0340).

Anyone know where this sensor is, what it looks like, or what the possible problem could be? Maybe it's just a bad or corroded connection?...but I'm not sure where to even look.

Or if we have to end up buying a new sensor, is it easy enough to replace? Any info or advice is greatly needed.

Thanks in advance...Cory

 

Here's what it looks like.
http://www.carspartsguide.com/img/26827.jpg

What engine is in the car ?

 

What size motor? These sensors tend to fail when the get hot and then work again whaen they cool off. This will happen more frequently till it goes completely. I have some books here and I work at the sebring factory. Glad to help.

 

it's a 2.4L 16 valve 4 banger.

Thanks for the help so far....

so do you think we should just replace it then?

and is it easy enough to get to?

or any other options?

 

Not to sound like an *** but is it plugged in ? If its plugged in and your still getting the code, change it.

 

heck I don't know...I don't even know where to look! If it came unplugged, will the engine even run?

 

http://www.ptcruizer.com/pt-cruiser/...or-repair.html Heres a pictorial how-to for you. Still, this is no substitute for actually doing the troubleshooting. I'm too broke to be a parts changer, do your homework and save your money, change only whats proven bad. Good luck. Easy fix.

 

Even if it's an intermittent problem like Scotty said, change it anyway. I am not exactly sure where it would be on that motor, I am thinking up top somewhere near the cam bro.

 

Thanks for the link. As far as the trouble shooting, like I said we had the local parts store run the little handheld diagnostic thingy they have on the car and they said the code was showing that part had a malfuntion. I'm not sure what more troubleshooting I should be doing, ya know? I'm thinking either that part is the problem or maybe the wiring to it....

what do you think?

 

Had similar problem with the crank sensor in my 99 cirrus. Would start by missing once in a while, then die once in a while and restart immediatly, then die and wait a few hours, the die and wait a day. Finally got it to die in the driveway. Learned through the manual to "backprobe" the crank sensor and see if it was generating signal pulses when i cranked the car. Pulse would go HI and not come down. Removed crank sensor and saw visible heat damage. Part was 80 bucks and didnt want to change it on a hunch. This is done with a DMM . Its in the manual, you did invest 25 bucks in a manual, right? My haynes manual has saved me thousands on this car. Matter of fact, I bought another car just like it cause I already had the book!

 

just had the exact same prob. on my dodge ram. replaced the sensor and now its great. replace it.

 

Got it fixed yet staledog?