Q: Can the extreme cold cause an OBD2 code of P0341 on 07 Honda CRV? Had a little trouble starting before check engine lite came on.

asked by on January 05, 2018

When leaving work yesterday, my car had a bit of trouble turning over in the extreme cold weather we are having. After it started, the check engine light came on. Upon putting my OBD2 reader on the car last night, I got the code P0341 – Camshaft position (CMP) sensor A, bank 1 range/performance problem. The car seems to be running fine. Could this just be caused by a weakening battery in the cold weather? Light is still on this morning. Car is parked overnight in a 50 degree garage, so no trouble starting this morning.

My car has 162000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

Camshaft Position Sensor Replacement $119.59 - $907.58 Get a Quote

The camshaft position sensor measures the rotational position of the camshaft and transmits that information to the engine control computer. To determine which cylinder is in its power stroke, your car’s computer monitors the rotating position of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft position using a camshaft position (CMP) sensor. It uses this information to adjust the spark timing and the operation of the fuel injectors. Thus, the CMP sensor affects fuel economy, emissions control, and engine efficiency. The two most common camshaft sensors you’ll see are the magnetic and Hall-effect types. Both transmit a voltage signal to an electronic control module or to the car’s computer. The magnetic type produces its own AC (alternate current) signal (a sine wave), and you can identify it by its two wires. The Hall-effect type uses an external power source to produce a digital signal (a "square wave," on-or-off) and has three wires. Depending on the specific model of your car, your engine may have one or more cam sensors. When the camshaft sensor fails, you may experience the car jerking while losing power or the car may struggle to move faster than ~35-40 mph. The engine may also stall intermittently, produce poor performance, hard starting, surging or fail to produce an ignition spark. In some cases, extreme weather (hot and cold) may cause a camshaft position sensor to become faulty. I would suggest having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose and inspect your vehicle.

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