Good day everyone! I've run into an interesting electrical issue with my 04 AP2. It's been running very well w/no issues whatsoever, save for about 6 weeks ago when on startup after being parked for 4 hrs it instantly threw a cam position sensor intermittent signal code. That code locks the engine into limp mode as far as I can tell limiting power and rpm to 3k. I was right around the corner from the auto parts store so I scanned it to get the code and reset it. After that all was good in my world, she ran just as smoothly and with full power like before. (Sadly I didn't write down the code, I believe it was a P033X for cam sensor 1)

I pulled the cam sensors out that evening to examine them and noticed that one has a small "dent" in the front side near the edge approx. 1/10th of an inch across/deep. I reinstalled them due to not having a spare available near by and she ran fine. *note* these are replacement OEM sensors, the previous owner had let me know that he had swapped them out about a year ago.

Last night I pulled my valve cover off to replace the seal and the spark plug tube seals and paint the cover/coil cover. I had the car in the garage and had taped a trashbag over the exposed cams/valves to prevent anything falling in while I worked on the cover. When I got up this morning I put everything back in place (coils numbered in the same order, cam sensors in the same positions they came from, etc..). At first I was getting no spark whatsoever, from I'm assuming no cam signal whatsoever to the ECM. I realized that I hadn't disconnected the battery during reassembly so I disconnected it and removed and wiped down the cam sensors and reinstalled them make sure they were properly set and the clips were snug and then reattached the battery.

This time she fired right up and idled smoothly for about 20 seconds before throwing a code. The car was doing the exact same thing it did when I first had the cam sensor code, limiting RPM and power. I don't have my code reader at the moment so I double checked the connections one last time, same thing. I cleared the code by pulling the 7.5 amp backup fuse and tried again. Same code (I assume...and yes I realize that's a terrible thing to do), at idle after 20 seconds.

I disconnected the battery again and tried swapping the sensors with each other to see if that helped, and ended up with the same result. I took her for a test drive after clearing the code again and made sure to keep the revs up over 1000 even when stopping (Gotta love heel/toeing at a stopsign..) and she drove fine. It seems that anything over idle and the cam sensors are reading perfectly. I had to be at class and used that driving method to drive the 20 mile trip, she ran flawlessly.

TLR if the car is allowed to idle she throws a cam sensor intermittent signal code, if you keep the revs just above idle and up she runs as intended. I've ordered the sensor but it won't be in until tomorrow afternoon and I was hoping to have her up and running at full steam tonight.

Thanks in advance!
Jeremy