Error Code: P1354-064 - Synchronisation between crankshaft and camshaft - No camshaft signal (ML 270CDI W163)

[ants-uk]

Hello,

I did a scan of the car last night and recorded the fault codes but didn't get round to looking at them. The problem I'm most concerned about is the car starts first time when cold but really struggles to start when hot. Mostly not starting until after a 2 hour rest.

So just now I went out to find where the CPS is on the car (couldn't find it) and I had a look at the Camshaft Sensor while I was out there. I found that it was held to the sensor with a nylon tie and there are bare wires.

I then looked at the fault codes I had recorded and found: P1354-064 Synchronisation between crankshaft and camshaft - No camshaft signal.

Could this be the cause of the poor starting of the car? Can I buy the connector to solder on as a replacement?

It's a start in problem solving this issue.

Any advice would be great. Thank you

 

[mattkh]

Any advice would be great. Thank you

Well done for the investigation.
You will need a new camshaft position sensor as well.
But first put some insulating tape on the wires individually and test if it improves the hot starting. Your connector looks OK.

 

[ants-uk]

Well done for the investigation.
You will need a new camshaft position sensor as well.
But first put some insulating tape on the wires individually and test if it improves the hot starting. Your connector looks OK.

Thanks for the reply. I will insulate the wires for a test but there appear to be some broken wires and not sure if that will affect voltage (I'm not an electrician)

 

[mattkh]

Thanks for the reply. I will insulate the wires for a test but there appear to be some broken wires and not sure if that will affect voltage (I'm not an electrician)

Do you have a multimeter ?

 

[ants-uk]

Do you have a multimeter ?

I do.

 

[mattkh]

I do.

So, with the key in your pocket, disconnect the connector.
Using the multimeter set to Ohms check the connectivity of each wire to the pin inside the connector.
Once satisfied that there is no break in each wire, insulate each wire. Push the connector back making sure you hear the click.

 

[ants-uk]

So, with the key in your pocket, disconnect the connector.
Using the multimeter set to Ohms check the connectivity of each wire to the pin inside the connector.
Once satisfied that there is no break in each wire, insulate each wire. Push the connector back making sure you hear the click.

So assuming I've done this correctly, I connected the pos to the right connector and the neg to the middle (reading wouldn't settle on anything. very wild) and then the left connector (12.4). Pos to the middle, neg to the left (8.5), to the right (8.5). Pos to the left, neg to the middle (4.4) and to the right (12.9)

Insulating the wires is not very effective ans the wires are so tight together and feel very brittle.

So, I have no idea what any of that means. I'm surprised I got reading for each pos test as I wouldn't expect a reading for the ground wire (but that's me talking out of my hat and no idea which wire would be ground, if any at all.

Can you shed some light on this?

I did manage to find my crankshaft sensor well hidden.

 

[mattkh]

Insulating the wires is not very effective ans the wires are so tight together and feel very brittle.

In that case, you will have to solder on extensions to each of the three wires, a job for a soldering person.
What colour is each of the wires..?

 

[alexanderfoti]

You probably have a failing crankshaft position sensor. The wires on the cam sensor have been damaged by a previous instance of black death, which has eaten the insulation, granted they need to be fixed, but I don't think its the root cause of the proble.m

 

[ants-uk]

In that case, you will have to solder on extensions to each of the three wires, a job for a soldering person.
What colour is each of the wires..?

There's a brown wire, or maybe it was red, and some off coloured (beige) wires. To be honest, there was a bad case of black death which has made everything very fragile/brittle and discoloured the wires.

I'm in the middle of replacing the crankshaft sensor (arrives Friday) and then I'll look at splicing in a new connector even if the solution to the problem was the crankshaft connector and not the camshaft connector.

 

[ants-uk]

You probably have a failing crankshaft position sensor. The wires on the cam sensor have been damaged by a previous instance of black death, which has eaten the insulation, granted they need to be fixed, but I don't think its the root cause of the proble.m

You're right, there was a bad case of black death which has made the wires brittle and discoloured them. I got the crankshaft sensor off today, it was just about reachable, and the new one arrives Fridayish.