Ever since I decided to give the G to my girlfriend to keep in in the family I have begun to make it more "normal" driving friendly. Replaced the radiator/thermostat and now I have both cooling fans out so they're on order. In the middle of all of this the radiator on the GTO cracked so I ordered a new one and waiting for it to come in, I've been driving the G more. So at 136K miles it finally popped the P0340 code, better known as Camshaft Position Sensor Bank 1 fault. The sign it was coming was the car began to take 2 cranks to start but the SES light didn't come on for a while. The first time it did I cleared the code and lo and behold the car ran fine for about 3 weeks. Since then I have been driving it, clearing the code when it came back and so on. It's been a couple of months and the car will run for a day then throw the code or for a couple of weeks but when it's off the car runs perfectly normal. Starts right away, runs strong and gas mileage is unaffected.

The "experiment" part is running it until the sensor completely gives out, has anyone here tried this and if so how long did it take? I don't believe this is harmful to the car or I wouldn't be doing it. Like I said she runs like a top when the code isn't present so I'll keep it up as long as the car will cooperate. I drive the Goat sporadically for now when I need the rush, but it's been a sort of falling in love with the G again experience for me and one I suppose I needed..........

 

Well after almost 3 months the sensor is starting to need to be reset every couple of days. I'm going to order a new OEM off of Amazon for $73, pull the current one off to see if it can be "cleaned" and if that extends the life any then replace it. It's been a cool experiment...........

 

I wouldn't do this any longer. At the very least buy an auto parts store generic one. Those sensors guide the opening/closing of the valves (thru cam shaft timing) and can screw up emissions. Then you run into cat and O2 sensor problems. No bueno.

 

Thanks for the info. I've already ordered the OEM one this morning and I've only driven about 200 miles since the code popped up. Doubt if I've created any major issues in that time.

 

Despite how common this failure is, that was the one code I never got on my car in ~170K miles of driving.


All the other common G35 ailments I sure got...but not that one

 

Isn't it interesting how different our cars can be even though they're technically identical? 137K here and my OEM compression rods are kicking butt and showing no signs of bushing failure. Replaced my front LCA's at 67K miles for comparison and lord knows I didn't drive my girl delicately for a good percentage of her life..........

 

Yeah, wheel bearings and front suspension parts were my car's weakness.

 

lol I've never had a wheel bearing go bad much less make any sort of noise........(knocks on wood)

I have replaced the radiator and thermostat recently and now appear to need to replace both cooling fans. IIRC it's cheaper to replace the whole fan assembly than just the 2 motors but I'll have to head over to RockAuto to confirm.

 

my car once shut off on its own on the freeway when the sensor was going bad. so i don't recommend leaving the cam sensor on longer than u need to. ur not saving anything by doing that lol

 

It's not about saving $$, the G is no longer my DD. It feeds my curiosity since no one in my almost 9 years here has posted anything like this. Thanks for your input though, must have sucked. Did you have a way to clear the code at the time or was the car totally dead even if you did?

 

I was lucky to have been on the far right lane so I was able to let it cruise to the shoulder. It started right up afterwards so I continued driving not knowing wtf jus happened. It was the first stall. Went home and was in the middle of parking then it happened again. Then I went straight to this forum lol.

 

That's awesome it led you here, we all have our stories of why we came.

 

Mine happened when I was 250 miles from home and in the middle of the ghetto. Car wouldn't start for awhile.. Finally cranked it for awhile and it started up, but then I had to worry for 250 miles about wtf was happening. It's really just unsafe to push it. I mean, who knows if it ever "completely" goes out, but it's really just unsafe. Car can leave you stranded, turn off randomly while moving, etc. I'm sure Nissan did enough testing to warrant the warning lights.