Matthew Hicks

Hi everyone,

My car recently just stalled while driving and won't crank. I read the code, which is P1338 and that apparently means a camshaft senor failure. My question is this: Is the timing belt supposed to be turning as I try to crank the car? My serpentine belt turns but not the timing belt. Does this mean my engine is seized, or is this normal and I just need to replace the camshaft sensor?

Thanks!!

Prospeeder

Unfortunatly the timing belt shredded off the teeth at the crankshaft and the crank spins but not he cam, hence the code for the cam sensor, since its not getting a signal since its not turning.

This leads to the point that the valves are now bent, you need to remove the head, have the valves replaced and replace all the timing belt parts and seals in there.. Good luck.

Matthew Hicks

Thank you so much for the information. So you're saying that even though the timing belt is still in tact that it is missing some of its teeth? Or that another part is missing teeth? Any idea what would cause such a thing to happen?

Again thank you!

Prospeeder

Timing belt is too old or too many miles and just started to deteriorate, and it will shred the teeth off the belt and thats it. Most of the timing belt failures I have come in are not snapped, just shredded the teeth off. The valves are bent, they bend usually 16-18 of the 20 valve lol.

Always good to change the belt, the tensioner, and rollers every 80-90k miles and use good quality parts. If you dont, this happens. You have options, you can just buy a good used cylinder head and replace the head or you can pull the head and have a machine shop replace all the valves.