Just did my 3.0 timing belt, now check engine light is on...

[DarkoNova]

Title is pretty self explanatory. I just scanned it with my snapon scanner, nothing vagcom, but it should still be correct.

Anyway, I got a P0343. I didn't have my phone or anything to write with but it said something like cam angle sensor bank 1- high.

So now what? Do I have to tear everything apart again?

I drove it around the block before I scanned it, it drove fine, seems more peppy than before, but it's been a couple weeks since I've driven it.

So should I stop driving it?

[19jdog]

Cam shaft sensor. Did you use the timing cam shaft locks?? Did you make sure everything was TDC??? probably your sensor went bad.

[DarkoNova]

Yeah, I bought the tools and followed this guide:

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng110.shtml

It said tighten the cam locks to 10 ft lbs, but I went tighter because I was scared they'd move, lol.

Unfortunately when I was tightening the bolts in the ends of the cams, the exhaust cam on the passenger side did move a little. That's why I'm afraid I have to tear everything apart again.

But I had the engine running for at least a half hour while bleeding the cooling system, flushing the power steering, and then going to get gas because my low fuel light was on.

If the cam moved and/or the timing was off, would the engine even be running? I figured the valves would have hit the pistons if it was off...

[MoparFreak69]

If the cam moved and/or the timing was off, would the engine even be running? I figured the valves would have hit the pistons if it was off...

If the cam did move with the cam lock installed, it would be a fraction of a degree at most. Not nearly enough to cause piston to valve contact, and more than likely not enough for a sensor to see it. As long as you performed every step as described then you can be pretty confident that it's probably a sensor on its way out.

[DarkoNova]

If the cam did move with the cam lock installed, it would be a fraction of a degree at most. Not nearly enough to cause piston to valve contact, and more than likely not enough for a sensor to see it. As long as you performed every step as described then you can be pretty confident that it's probably a sensor on its way out.

Well thanks, that makes me feel better.

Which side is bank 1 and which side is bank 2? Google says the driver's side is bank 1, and if that's true, then it probably is the sensor since the cam that moved a little was on the passenger's side.

[old guy]

Bank 1 is on the riders side (same as a 1.8T). Bank 2 is the drivers side.

[19jdog]

[DarkoNova]

Well shit, that doesn't look good. Guess I'll swap sensors from one bank to the other and hope the code changes.

[DarkoNova]

Well I swapped cam sensors, I took the intake cam sensor from the driver side and swapped it with, I think, the intake cam sensor from the passenger's side. I did it while on break at work so I'm not too sure which one I took out of the passenger side.

Anyway, both of them were actually loose. The bolt holding them in was backed out a few threads and I could easily pull them out a millimeter or two. Not sure how that happened since I didn't mess with them during the timing belt job, but I swapped em, tightened em up, cleared the code, and after 40 miles or so, it hasn't come back.

Hopefully it was just because the sensor was loose.