Malaci

Hello everyone, I'm new to the Forum and am in quite a pickle. I am a delivery driver and I have been having some problems recently that have got my mind blown. I'm no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I know my way around. Problems started when my car cut off randomly while driving, specifically breaking. Check engine light came on and I immediately took it to AutoZone to get the code read. I got P0335. I should also mention that the battery needed to be replaced. I replaced the battery and it ran fine for about an hour. After that it went back into limp mode and the check engine light came back on. I took it to my mechanic after buying a crankshaft position sensor, he put the sensor on and the problem still exists. I replaced spark plugs, spark plug wires, cleaned the throttle body, had the timing checked, checked voltage for all of the wires connecting to the sensor and to the ECU, no issue with any of that. On a slight hunch, I did an oil change, still running into the same problem. The car runs great after it has been sitting all night and I first crank it up to go to work. By the time I get to work and head out for my first delivery, bam, limp mode again. The car hesitates to start and that's how I know it has gone back into limp mode. I cannot reach over 3600 RPMs and gas mileage is dropped drastically. When it cranks up on the first turn I know it is out of limp mode. Funny thing, as long as I have the heat running full blast and through all available vents, the car does not cut off and will stay out of limp mode for the most part, but only at night when it has gotten down below 60 degrees. I broke bad and ordered a distributor from AutoZone. Should be putting that on later this weekend. Just wondering if there are any other suggestions in the event the distributor does not fix the problem. Any help would be much appreciated as I have been dealing with this problem for about two and a half months now and it's driving me crazy. Thanks in advance

Malaci

Oh and the vehicle has 318k miles

ezone

That was not the crankshaft position sensor (CKP).



That should fix the code because THAT is where the CKP sensor is......IF you get a good one

Keep replacing distributors until you get a good one.
Aftermarkets are crap.

Malaci

See thats what I thought, But the guy at AutoZone and a coworker who is in school for auto mechanic insisted that I needed to change the sensor by the timing belt. So I did. Guess I should have gone with my gut, because I wanted to replace the distributor the day I got the CEL but was told otherwise. Like I said, im no mechanic but im not a novice, I have done all the work on it myself up till now. Thanks for the advice. I look forward to helping out on the forum where I can. I don't plan on being a "one poster ghoster". Thanks again, I will post my results when I get the new distributor on.

ezone

Um, yeah LOL......On most other cars that would have been a good guess....but not this car.

You can always find correct information in a real service manual.

Malaci

Yeah, I goofed and left my manual in my father-in-law's car who has been gone at the beach all summer. Funny enough he will be back on this upcoming Monday so I would have had my manual and would have probably come to that conclusion myself. Wish I would have just listened to my instincts before I went through all of the trouble of replacing everything, but then again I guess new parts won't hurt LOL. My spark plugs were at about 26k anyways so they would have needed a change soon. Thanks again for the help.

Malaci

New distributor is on and working. At first I had some misfire issues, but I just needed to separate the connectors on the spark plug wires where they plug into the distributor a little bit to ensure they were making good connection. So far no problems, check engine light is off, idle speed is back to normal, all around seems to be working well. Upon inspecting the old Distributors cap, it seems to be in great condition. The inside of the distributor however had rust and obvious corrosion. A friend of mine said that if the new distributor keeps misfiring, two try using the old cap. I don't think that's really needed now that it's not misfiring, but is that something I could try, or should I avoid that and get a new cap if needed?

ezone

You said the new one is now working fine and the old one is crapped with rust?
Don't eff with it.

Malaci

It was working fine for a little while. But it seems a little sluggish when taking off from a stop. Once I get moving everything is fine, but taking off from a complete stop feels like it's a little bogged down. The cap from the old distributor is in relatively good shape. There is a small crack down the side of where it screws onto the distributor, outside where the screw goes in, like it was tightened down too hard. Other than that the cap looks like it's in great shape. The actual old distributor has two points at which I can see there has been rust and corrosion. I triple checked all of my wires to make sure they are all making connection. The spark plugs and wires are new, so I don't think it would be either of those. I personally would rather buy a new cap then use the old one. Or could I possibly have gotten a bum distributor? It cranks on the first turn with no hesitation, no CEL

Malaci

I've got a buddy who works in the parts department at the Honda dealership up the road from my house, I took it to him and found out apparently I do have VTech. My VTEC oil pressure switch is bad and was told that is most likely what is causing my current running problems. Does that sound legit in your opinion? Just trying to get a second opinion, even though the guy is a friend, but he still works for dealership :P

ezone

If it stumbles under load it's likely ignition (spark) related, like leakage or crossfiring. Sure swap the cap and see what happens.

A bad VTEC pressure switch would leave you with fault codes. I don't remember you saying anything about VTEC related codes, just P0335.

Malaci

Yeah I had no code other than P0335, I think he is trying to get me to spend a bunch of money to fix what seems to be a minor problem. Just to be sure, I unplugged the pressure switch and started my car and it immediately triggered CEL. Im gonna try to change out the cap tomorrow before work and see what happens. If all else fails, the distributor is under warranty so I will try to get another. You did say keep swapping distributors until it works lol and thanks again for the help. Its been driving me crazy and my wife is on the verge of telling my to scrap it, but I love this car too much to do that.

Malaci

Went to AutoZone and bought a new cap. Installed it, there was a slight change but was still slugging in first gear taking off from a stop. My father-in-law helped me adjust my ignition timing, now it runs like a dream. Actually running better than it did before I started having problems lol. Much thanks for the advice and help.

ezone

Oh hell I didn't realize you hadn't set up ignition timing, that's the last step of distributor replacement. Glad you got it figured out

Malaci

Yeah. I did the first time I put it on, but when I took it back off to check if everything was sealed properly, I didn't set it back. I was too antsy to give it a test drive and it slipped my mind. Lesson learned though. Definitely posting any problems I am unable to diagnose myself. This site has been a godsend for me. Much thanks