Q: Camshaft position sensor and spark plugs

asked by on May 12, 2017

The car is eating $10/$15 worth of gas per day, and running very rough and stalled when idling. Replaced throttle body, ignition coil. The car runs some what better. Gas has gotten a little better but not much. I'm now getting codes saying I need camshaft position sensor, plugs and/or wires. Could this simply be a timing belt issue?? What's your opinion??

My car has 173000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

Hi There, This is definitely a timing issue and most likely related to a camshaft position sensor failing and potentially bad spark plugs and/or wires. The camshaft position sensor is a magnetic sensor that monitors camshaft speed to regulate ignition timing and fuel injection timing. It gathers and sends information about the car’s camshaft speed to the car’s electronic control module. This information is used by the computer to further calculate the time of ignition and the timing of fuel injection required by the engine. When this is not working properly, you may experience a drop in power, poor idling, poor fuel mileage and problems starting the vehicle. As the sensor begins to fail and gets worse over time as the signal it provides to the computer weakens. I would recommend having a professional from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose your camshaft position sensor and install a new set of spark plugs and spark plug wires.

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