# ABA OBD1 00515 Camshaft position (hall) sensor (G40)



## tenthousandfeet (Jul 25, 2010)

My Golf MkIII 2.0 8v OBD1 has been giving me headaches for months now. It is at reduced power, and throwing a 00515 fault code: camshaft position (hall) sensor (G40). I believe it was open/short to plus, but my ECU is out of the car right now so confirming that may be difficult.

I scratched my head nearly off a few months ago when this started happening, so I replaced the hall sensor to no avail. I started checking the wiring for continuity and resistance, and for some reason or another - with no fault found - it started working perfectly again. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and the fault has come back. Low power after the engine has been running for a few minutes (seems ok when it's very cold), code 00515. 

I jumped into the wiring again - checked all grounds good, check for continuity and resistance in the wires, and all seems okay. The only thing I can find that seems off is that I'm getting a little bit of continuity between the sensor signal to ECU and ground. It's not in the wiring - it seems to be in the ECU itself. Pin 44 (camshaft position sensor) has continuity to pin 19 - which is a pin not even used in this vehicle application. For other applications this is "Power for MAP and Acceleration Sensors". There is also slight continuity between the ECU case and pin 19 - measured at ~10kOhm on my crappy multimeter.

So that's it then - right? Faulty ECU. Well, not so much. I randomly have an OBDII ECU, with essentially the same pin layout, and this same behaviour of pin 44, 19, and ECU case is present. 

Where do I go from here? I'm somewhat at a loss for FI troubleshooting, and any leads you may have to offer for me to pursue would really help me out.


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## tenthousandfeet (Jul 25, 2010)

tenthousandfeet said:


> .. after the engine has been running for a few minutes (seems ok when it's very cold)


I thought about that after I wrote it, and considered that it might be a heat-exacerbated short in the wiring somewhere. To test this theory, I reassembled everything and went for a test drive to heat everything up.

Of course, now it has decided to fix itself again!

I'm pretty sure there's a short in there that gets worse with heat, but reshuffling the harness has put it in a good contact position, temporarily fixing things again.


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## [email protected] Parts (Nov 27, 2006)

:::::ALERT FORUM ACTION EMERGENCY MESSAGE:::::

THIS POST MOVED/VACATED BY JACK TO PROTECT CONTENT FALLING INTO THE GAPING HOLE OF THE VORTEX

IT SEEMS NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaoySOGlZ_U 

Just email or PM John [email protected] as to why I have chosen to do this for a modification answer to these posts.....
Ultimately this is his fault for how the account was handled.
[email protected]
You could say I feel insulted and abused..........


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## tenthousandfeet (Jul 25, 2010)

Well, you're a friendly chap! Scan data, for your pleasure:



> Address 01: Engine Labels: 037-906-258.LBL
> Controller: 037 906 258 AE
> Component: MOTOR PMC 2
> Coding: 0261204018
> ...


You can disregard the 01247 code, my evap canister is in a box in my basement. As for the 00553, it's really intermittent. If I clear the code it won't come back for a while. Might be related, however.

A little continuation of the story: After thinking the problem fixed, it of course came back. 
I directly wired the hall sensor to the ECU to eliminate the possibility of bad wiring. 
I retimed the engine. 
I replaced the timing belt, just in case it was stretched. 
I cleaned up the engine block sensor grounds.

I'm really not sure what else it could possibly be... The only remaining possibilities that I can see are:
1. Bad hall sensor (what are the chances that BOTH the original and the junkyard replacement were both bad?)
2. Bad ECU (I isolated it from body ground to see if that would help - it didn't)

Any help on this one would be much appreciated. I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out this damn sensor problem.


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## [email protected] Parts (Nov 27, 2006)

Why hello Semi Noobs


Such a wonderful day here in the VCDS forum.
Its Friday oh thank goodness.

I bet your still out of time silly in correlation to the G28 to G40.
I bet your harmonic has floated on the rubber misleading you.

Happy days! yay


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## tenthousandfeet (Jul 25, 2010)

[email protected] Parts said:


> Why hello Semi Noobs
> 
> 
> Such a wonderful day here in the VCDS forum.
> ...


Why hello Banner Advertiser!

Well, the harmonic may have slipped a bit indeed, because the closest I can get its timing mark is about 1/2" forward of the mark on the timing cover (which is why I suspected stretched t-belt). Double-checking TDC with a pencil in the plug hole confirms that it is timed to true TDC. The timing is good.

I appreciate the input. Any other leads?


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## [email protected] Parts (Nov 27, 2006)

:::::ALERT FORUM ACTION EMERGENCY MESSAGE:::::

THIS POST MOVED/VACATED BY JACK TO PROTECT CONTENT FALLING INTO THE GAPING HOLE OF THE VORTEX

IT SEEMS NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaoySOGlZ_U 

Just email or PM John [email protected] as to why I have chosen to do this for a modification answer to these posts.....
Ultimately this is his fault for how the account was handled.
[email protected]
You could say I feel insulted and abused..........


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