Girlfriend's 05 ES quit coming home last night...
 

Said she came to a stop felt a thud and the car died. Towed it home and pulled the codes says P0340 Camshaft Position Sensor circuit malfunction? A cat below threshold code and a small evap leak code.

Fearing the worse I pulled off the upper timing cover of the 4G94 belt appeared OK with about 1" of slack. Felt down far as I could without removing lower cover P/S pump etc.. teeth felt fine. To my un expert ears the Car cranks like it's not getting fuel, the thing that scares me is the timing belt doesn't move when I crank. Isn't it supposed to?

Need advice in next steps..after reading some posts here I'm thinking I'm going to have to remove the lower timing cover to thuroughly inspect the belt and timing marks? or is it possible the CAPS simply failed at a stop light?

TY FOR ANY HELP! or LINKS for MORE reading!

Yes it sure is supposed to move.

Bad news sounds like the teeth on the timing belt sheared off at the bottom without actually breaking the belt. You got the cam code because the camshaft stopped spinning as soon as it happened. You need to pull the crank pulley off and get to the timing belt. you can either buy a new engine now or put a new belt on and pray you got lucky as we have an intereference engine meaning when this happens you can have pistons and valves collide. Sorry for the bad news bro :(

Edited.

AH Thanks man! double thanks for the fast reply! After doing so much reading I feared the timing belt sheared teeth as well. Is there any danger that it's currently out of timing and cranking it over OR replacing a new belt on there and trying it will cause damage if no damage has been done yet? If it sheared teeth will it immediately jump timing and cause damage or does the CAPS shut it all down first? Also if I inspect the belt and all is OK, do I proceed to check the timing marks? Maybe it just jumped teeth?

She said she made a complete stop at a stop light(whole time car was running fine) and went to take off and the car was dead and never started again, she never heard or a noise or felt anything. So my bad on the thud part mentioned in the OP!

Also if anyone could tell me where the camshaft position sensor on the 4g94 is located, that'd be awesome!

Here is what I would do. After you pull the old timing belt off rotate the bottom end to TDC. Then turn it back a 1/4 turn. This will keep all the pistons below the block surface so incase you were lucky enough not to do damage in the initial event you wont do anymore. Make sure you DO NOT rotate the top end until the bottom end is set. Next turn the cam shaft to get it to TDC. Then turn the bottom end back up to TDC and install the new timing belt.

Its most definately out of time right now. The top end stopped instantly when this happened but the bottom end turned for a little longer. Not to menion you have cranked on it since then ;) You cannot do anymore damage than is already done using my method above. Good luck man hit me up if you have any questions I have done this lots and lots of times :)

Haha ty ty man! You're definitely my shining star in this dark auto period. but ya dun goofed'! asking me to pm you? im full of questions! Indeed I have questions but I won't bother you to answer them all, if You could link me a place to find out info on finding TDC on bot/top? You seriously made me feel ignorant and out of my league with this problem with all your TDC top end bot end talk hahaha. However I'm one of those types if I have a laptop next to me and patience I can do anything.

SO yea I know there are marks on the covers and sprockets? but where exactly and how exactly to line them all up is the info I need maybe with diagrams..

would a haynes manual or something have all that? or alldata?

Type "senate service manuals" in the search bar. You can download the full factory service manual from his thread that will help alot.

Ahh sweet, found'em! ty so much for your help..

we'll see how it goes!

Anytime bro I've been there lol. Luckily this was on my wifes (then girlfriend) dodge daytona many years ago. Same thing happened with the teeth shearing off the bottom. I say luckily because this had a non interference engine so no engine damage just a matter of slapping on the new belt and off she went.

Sorry. Next time take the belt replacement interval more seriously. Bent valves in this situation are almost inevitable. Contrary to what many think, the speed of the engine at the time of belt failure is irrelevant to the chance of damage. The piston goes up just as far, and the valves down just as far, at 650rpms or 6000 rpms. The good news is the cylinder head isn't particularly hard to remove, and from what I've seen, only the intake valves bend on most Mitsubishis.

my valves didn't bend when i stripped mine...save yourself a headache, check compression, and if it's good, replace the belt and tensioner....

don't crank the motor anymore to minimize damage, they are interference motors, but mine made minimal contact with the pistons...

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/04...d-rebuild.html

Sheesh a month later and i finally got time and space for this. Thank goodness for having more than one vehicle.

My initial plan was to do what 03lances said and get TDC put a new belt on and fire it up and see what happens, as long as I lined up my marks, no further damage will occur at this point right? If all goes well, the belt comes back off, and ill do a new water pump. and tensioner

I can check the compression on the cold motor? What should it read, I assume after I acquire a pressure gauge I'll turn the motor over manually @ the crank?

Appreciate the info, gutting it now

using http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBaVA4Xh8-g and FSMs, and this thread for reference!

Yes do exactly as I described and you wont cause anymore damage than may have already occured. As far as a compression testor is concerned just go to like harbor freight or something they are pretty cheap. You will want to thread the testor into the spark plug whole then crank the starter so its gets a few revolutions of the engine in. Also make sure if you dont have the other plugs out at least disconnect them from the coil and hold the throttle to the floor as well (this shuts the injectors off during cranking so your not drowning the plugs in fuel) You dont want to hand crank it that wont give a valid reading.

crank motor by hand 5 or 6 times, or until the marks all line up again, after installing the timing belt...this will ensure nothing is out of whack...then go ahead and crank away for a compression test...

Just to clarify there is no actual 0 degree mark. Just 10/Bottom TDC and TD(0deg i assume). I turned it to the TD mark(going clockwise only) then back a quarter turn ending up at the 10 degree/Bottom TDC mark. At first I couldnt tell if I was looking at the timing mark or just a tiny piece of chipped flywheel heh.

Also does any of this matter BEFORE i remove the old belt? Or can the crank be wherever I want while I work on getting the pully off...

I cant get to the timing belt it seems untill the crank pulley is off

can i bump the car with that cheater bar to break the crank pulley loose, I ask because of my timing issue, and I have all my other belts off and some sensors unplugged but I just need a lil start juice to break that bolt loose I guess. No air tools :(

edit: yesss got that ***** off. and created some spiffy right angle screw drivers in the process. smooth sailing from here hopefully boys.

edit2: got the timing belt off, u guys were dead on, about 8 teeth sheared off at the bottom, not sure how that is belt failure in my imagination a frozen gear does that but oh well.

off to the auto store