My 2000 toyota 3.4 v6, everything goes dark, tach drops, everything gone! then it comes back to life and will keep on going? It seems to happen more when i hit a Large bump or dip in the freeway. any one had this problem?

I had advanced auto store run the check engine light and the codes were as follows:

PO335
Crankshaft Position
Sensor A
Circuit Malfunction

PO340
Camshaft Position
Sensor A - Bank 1
Circuit Malfunction

Can anyone tell me what or where these sensors are? I would REALLY appreciate it!
Joe

 

Those are quite unusual codes to have at the same time. Any history on this vehicle? Recent maintenance on it? Did this happen all of a sudden or has it been getting slowly worse?

Sounds like maybe a short or bad ground somewhere, but very hard to say at this point and we need more info.

For the P0335 code the FSM says "no crankshaft position sensor signal to ECM with engine speed of 600 RPM or more".

So your options are:
*Open or short in crankshaft position sensor circuit
*Crankshaft position sensor
*Starter (if the truck is not starting)
*ECU


For the P0340 code the FSM says "no camshaft position sensor signal to ECM with engine running".

So your options are:
*Open or short in camshaft position sensor circuit
*Camshaft position sensor
*Starter (if the truck is not starting)
*ECU

There's a connector right on the front of the timing cover that sometimes they forget to clip back on after doing a timing belt and it is dangerously close to the power steering pulley. That might be your problem area right there since I believe it carries signal from both of those sensors.

 

MTL_4runner thanks for getting back to me, sorry it took me so long, i just got married yesterday!

I had a short with a battery a few weeks ago. then a week after that, it would die out on me on the freeway, but for a split second, and everything would come back to life like nothing happened. from then on it got progressively worse and more often until friday when i almost didnt make it home from work. I talked to a fiend on mine at my wedding and he thought i may have fried something in my ecm. i hope this is something i can take care of w/out taking it to a dealership.

joe

 

So, I got the problem figured out. after looking the engine bay over a few times, I noticed a wire that ran from the back of the engine head to the body that was fried in two. obviously it was a ground, so i replaced it and i have now been driving it for 5 days without any problems. However, i am suprised that nothing else, like a fuse didnt go if the short was powerful enough to fry 4 inches out of a ground wire!