clarity on code 211 please

[tommyturbo]

My searches on here are not leading me to a clearly defined answer.

My car lost tach function at freeway speed for a few seconds stumbled, and then resumed as nothing was wrong. Had an issue a month ago with it dying after a hot restart and being very difficult to restart. It set no codes at that time, but today gave me a 211 and 542. So Some folks say it's a cam sensor and others crank sensor. Just want to know which way to look first.
Thanks

 

[zoomlater]

I had the same symptom, running on the freeway and engine stumbled and then picked right up again. It took a few months before it threw the 211 code, but I was mainly driving short distances so my engine never got that hot. By the time I had it get it fixed, the car would only drive a couple of miles before dying.

Do you know when the last time the CPS was changed or had the front 60K done.

 

[tommyturbo]

I got this car in 2007, did the full 60K (valve adjustments and all) on it then, but don't recall dealing with the cam sensor. Car has only added about 35K on it since. It's a 95 MTX btw.

 

[Mikey]

Some one please correct me if I'm wrong....if the crank sensor is bad the engine will not start. So with that said IMHO your looking at cam position sensor.

Hopefully a member will chime in because the question is does the crank sensor fail all at once or does it fail in stages.

 

[zoomlater]

I had to have my crankshaft position sensor replaced. I had changed my cam position sensor a couple of times before that, but it was throwing a different code for that one. When the 211 code came up, I had never seen that one before, but after changing the crankshaft sensor the problem went away

 

[tommyturbo]

see what I mean about having two different opinions...lol
some threads say, some say the other.
might just do the cam as it is easier to get at, and see what happens. if it comes back then I will know.

 

[Mikey]

Agree with change the cam sensor just because it's about 100times more accessible thank the crank sensor.

One way to check would be to probe the voltage output at each sensor.

 

[tommyturbo]

well it only messed up for a few seconds on a 2 hour drive. runs fine otherwise, so my guess would be that it's gonna be fine when you try and test it and mess up when cruising. but thanks for the thoughts!

But I do recall on my 90 when it acted up bucking and such that it was the crank sensor. my 95 atx had a weird power loss at a very specific rpm and that turned out to be a cam sensor. I had an 89 that constantly threw cid faults, and it was a bad pcm.

 

[Mikey]

Oh one last maybe. What about a lose ground: starter, ground straps, battery terminals/cables?

I am only speaking from my experience with my gen 1 and gen 2's. Had the tach drop off and it was the ground on the bolt between the bellhouseing and block. I know I'm reaching here just throwing it out there.

Wish you well in your repairs, keep us posted. Best of luck!

 

[zoomlater]

It does get confusing, I have had to read a lot of past threads to be sure what to try next. When my car starting bucking, it was the cam sensor that failed. My car was a daily driver, but I kept holding off since I had two other SHOs to drive and I had a pretty short commute.

 

[tommyturbo]

mine didn't buck too much, just like the power was lost, and the tach went to zero and check engine light came on. few seconds later, picked back up and continued on. I have spent a few hours here searching and literally have sen equal numbers of folks say it is the cam sensor, and other with crank, for that code and symptoms.

I will check the grounds tomorrow, too dark and cold right now.

 

[rubydist]

code 211 is "PIP circuit fault", which is the crank sensor.

I have yet to see a crank sensor code that was not due to a sick crank sensor.