For several years I have been fighting the trouble code for the cam shaft positioning sensor. It started with the cam shaft actuator being replaced due to a trouble code and the check engine light as well as a rough idle. After fixing that and everything settled down the light came back on and it was the cam shaft sensor. So I replaced it, erased the code and turned off the light. Then a misfire and the catalytic converter went out due to raw fuel that wasn't being burnt being dumped into the cat. So that was replaced. And ever since I have been fighting this trouble code that tells me the cam shaft sensor is bad. A couple months ago it actually gave codes for the cam shaft sensor as well as the cam shaft actuator. So the the third time I replaced both. I'm also fighting a fuse box in the engine compartment. It's gotten brittle over time and a few sockets have broken few below the top cover and are causing issues with the components. And the low beams have started randomly going out. I will be testing and replacing the relay tonight if necessary.
After buying the repair manual for my 03 TB getting the bright idea to test the voltage to the cam shaft sensor. The results was 9 volts and the repair manual said it was to be either 12 volts or battery voltage, I can't specifically remember which. But in either case it appears that the ECM isn't supplying enough voltage to the cam shaft sensor and that is what is throwing the code and triggering the check engine light.
Does anyone know of anything I have missed here or if they're is a way I can verify that this is indeed the issue before I go replacing the ECM? Can I build a jumper and jump the 12 volts over to the line to the cam shaft sensor and clear the trouble code and turn off the light and see if supplying the proper voltage solves the problem. When my OBDII port stopped working (it is powered by the same fuse that powers the cigarette lighter, that was also not working, the fuse socket had broken free below the surface because the plastic fuse box is brittle) I put a piggy back adapter on another fuse socket and wired it to the cigarette lighter under the dash. That supplied power to my cigarette lighter as well as my OBDII port. No problems there since. But I'm concerned about powering the line between the ECM and the cam shaft sensor that way because power flows both ways and I don't know why the ECM isn't supplying the correct voltage to the sensor. When the cigarette lighter and the OBDII port I knew that the line terminated at the fuse socket that was no longer connected. So it was safe to charge that line.
I could also use my Power probe to supply power to the sensor by disconnecting the wire at the ECM and build a wire to plug into that connection when the other end stripped and clip the alligator clip onto the bare wire with the other end plugged into the connector or use a wire piercing probe to leave the wire connected and build a wire with a 4mm male banana plug on one end and stripped bare wire on the other and plug the banana plug into the wire piercing probe and clip the alligator clip to the stripped bare wire then hit the switch to send 12 volts into the wire. If that's the issues then the check engine light should turn off with the issue being resolved, right? If I did erase the trouble code and turn the check engine light off I just don't know what all the engine has to do and how long it has to run to turn it back on if that doesn't resolve the issue.
Does anyone have any thoughts here? Before I blow up both my truck and myself trying to figure this out.
Thanks guys, a really do appreciate any advice you can give here that might help me resolve this issue. I know 250k or a quarter of a million miles is a lot on a vehicle. And I should probably be grateful she made it this far. But I feel like she has a lot more life in her and I can't even think of putting her down. Once I get the engine right I plan on addressing the door panels where the color has been rubbed through and is not also white although was a grey. And the padded panel in the door panel where the glue has let go around the edges and the bezels around the door handles that the clips have broken on all 4 twice so there are none currently installed. And address the issues with the instrument panel that works when it wants to and doesn't even it doesn't want to.
After buying the repair manual for my 03 TB getting the bright idea to test the voltage to the cam shaft sensor. The results was 9 volts and the repair manual said it was to be either 12 volts or battery voltage, I can't specifically remember which. But in either case it appears that the ECM isn't supplying enough voltage to the cam shaft sensor and that is what is throwing the code and triggering the check engine light.
Does anyone know of anything I have missed here or if they're is a way I can verify that this is indeed the issue before I go replacing the ECM? Can I build a jumper and jump the 12 volts over to the line to the cam shaft sensor and clear the trouble code and turn off the light and see if supplying the proper voltage solves the problem. When my OBDII port stopped working (it is powered by the same fuse that powers the cigarette lighter, that was also not working, the fuse socket had broken free below the surface because the plastic fuse box is brittle) I put a piggy back adapter on another fuse socket and wired it to the cigarette lighter under the dash. That supplied power to my cigarette lighter as well as my OBDII port. No problems there since. But I'm concerned about powering the line between the ECM and the cam shaft sensor that way because power flows both ways and I don't know why the ECM isn't supplying the correct voltage to the sensor. When the cigarette lighter and the OBDII port I knew that the line terminated at the fuse socket that was no longer connected. So it was safe to charge that line.
I could also use my Power probe to supply power to the sensor by disconnecting the wire at the ECM and build a wire to plug into that connection when the other end stripped and clip the alligator clip onto the bare wire with the other end plugged into the connector or use a wire piercing probe to leave the wire connected and build a wire with a 4mm male banana plug on one end and stripped bare wire on the other and plug the banana plug into the wire piercing probe and clip the alligator clip to the stripped bare wire then hit the switch to send 12 volts into the wire. If that's the issues then the check engine light should turn off with the issue being resolved, right? If I did erase the trouble code and turn the check engine light off I just don't know what all the engine has to do and how long it has to run to turn it back on if that doesn't resolve the issue.
Does anyone have any thoughts here? Before I blow up both my truck and myself trying to figure this out.
Thanks guys, a really do appreciate any advice you can give here that might help me resolve this issue. I know 250k or a quarter of a million miles is a lot on a vehicle. And I should probably be grateful she made it this far. But I feel like she has a lot more life in her and I can't even think of putting her down. Once I get the engine right I plan on addressing the door panels where the color has been rubbed through and is not also white although was a grey. And the padded panel in the door panel where the glue has let go around the edges and the bezels around the door handles that the clips have broken on all 4 twice so there are none currently installed. And address the issues with the instrument panel that works when it wants to and doesn't even it doesn't want to.
