I have a 96 ls400 and i love it! I have had it about a month and i wouldnt trade it for nothing. I recently did a minor tune up on the car and i got a p0340 code which is a camshaft position sensor bank a code. i cleared the code and it didnt come back for over a week. When it did come back i cleared it again and it hasnt come back yet. Im thinking it needs a timing belt and water pump change. My car has 238,xxxK. After the tune up it spudders really bad when cold but clears up after it warms up. It only spudders when driving at 3000rpms or higher. Would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks

 

The tune up i did was plugs and wires. Didnt do the distributor cap or rotors.

 

caps and rotors are a good idea to do esp when doing the timing belt and water pump change. your spudder is related to your CEL code. it would be ideal to change the sensor.

 

i was considering it but i have heard alot of people with similar problems say they changed the sensor and it didnt help and light was still on

 

Better to replace the sensor and take it from there. If the car is saying it's bad, chances are good it is probably correct. Fishing around trying to find something other than what the ECU is saying is just peeing in the wind. =)

 

well when i do the timing belt and water pump im going to replace the sensor and the disty caps and rotors when i get in there. I also read on there that our ls's require at least 91 octane. i had been putting 87 in it but i just filled up with 93 and some lucas fuel injector cleaner and it made a serious difference. also replaced the fuel filter. doing the timing belt this sat and will report back with results

 

Ok so today i did my timing belt.Turns out it was a tooth off on one of the can pulleys. that may be what was causing my cam sensor code. Anyways while in there i replaced the tensionser and the bearings. also replaced the cam and crank seals. new caps and rotors. also put a new water pump. while in there i put a new thermostat in and after seeing many threads about the ECT sensor i replaced it too. i am proud to say it is running so much better. more power, runs alot smoother and all together better driveability. i had order cam sensors but the ones that came were not the correct ones so i will be returning them. so far no codes or no issues. i will be interested to see how she runs in the morning from a cold start. Will report any issues.

 

almost 100% chance of what is causing the cam sensor code - the ECU doesn't like the cam sensor information streams not to logically match up! - and a cam pulley, one tooth off, would do exactly that!


you are actually spending much more money using 87 octane than 93, here is why - normally putting 87 in this engine would cause detonation (knocking) but you have two knock sensors and they let the ECU know you screwed up and it makes the corresponding retardation of the ignition timing and other adjustments to keep you from damaging your engine, however this comes at a huge loss in fuel economy, power, and emissions - so the cost savings via increased fuel mileage by using 93 octane over 87 greatly exceeds the cost savings from the cheaper gas, if you do the math, and is much safer for the car!


hey where in Alabama are you? - I also have a '96 - I am in the Birmingham area near Hoover

 

thats exactly what i thought thats why i wasnt too worried about the sensors being the wrong ones. Cold start was drastically improved and she is running like a new car. i didnt realize the car required 93. once i read that post and researched it i have been using 93 since.

 

yep, luxury car requires luxury gas haha. doesn't it say "premium unleaded fuel only" behind the gas filler door? mine does.

 

to be honest i never payed it any attention... haha

 

Well i have put over 200 miles on my car and no issues. No service light. I would recommend to anyone with a camshaft position sensor malfunction code to change the timing belt first if it is overdue to be done. Next is a thorough brake job with slotted and crossed drilled rotors and ceramic brake pads.