P0344 code

[the Nefyn cat]

Got that code on mine a few times now, just an intermittent fault but annoying when it happens (doesn't want to start, runs like a big bag of something not nice, cuts out at junctions) so changed the inlet cam sensor the other day. Only took a couple of days to get here from Sopers (super chaps) and about half an hour to change. If I was giving out spanner ratings for the job I'd say 2, mainly because that's how many spanners it took to do the job.
Not sure if it's been mentioned around here before, but the sensor lives in an awkward place, right behind the vanos solenoid, can't even see the mounting bolt. Not to worry, one 32mm spanner later the solenoid was unscrewed and then the sensor is nice and easy to get to. All went back together easy, and the test-drive tells me that I should have done the job a while ago when it first started messing about, much smoother and revvier than it was before. Will take a while to see if the fuel consumption is back where it used to be, but hopefully it will be.
Happy days, and in time to get the roof down and enjoy it some more. Sod the investment value, lets go for a six-pot scream.

 

[t-tony]

I did a "How to" on this subject when I changed the one on my Z3 .

Tony

 

[Brian4]

Agree they seem to deteriorate over time until it becomes an issue. Once you have changed the sensor all the performance returns that you hadn't noticed slipping away.

One thing I have noticed is that the exhaust sensor seems to go not long after so worth keeping an eye on the codes for a while.

 

[motco]

Nefyn cat, what sort of mileage is on yours? Mine sits at around 46,000 on a 2.2i Sport and seems okay so far.

 

[Tfp]

Nefyn cat, what sort of mileage is on yours? Mine sits at around 46,000 on a 2.2i Sport and seems okay so far.

I had one done on a car that had only 36,000 miles.

 

[motco]

Thanks Tfp, I wonder whether a pre-emptive replacement is a good idea?

 

[mrscalex]

My 2.2 project car drove like an absolute mutt. In fact I suspect that’s why the trader was struggling to sell it despite the modest price.

I changed both inlet and exhaust, it was throwing both codes anyway. It absolutely transformed it and it runs perfectly now.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Nefyn cat, what sort of mileage is on yours? Mine sits at around 46,000 on a 2.2i Sport and seems okay so far.

Coming up to 140,000, barely run in.The sensor had been messing about for a while, should have done it before but there's always something else to do.

 

[motco]

Thanks Nefyn cat. As an aside I spent a happy week in a guest house in Clynnogfawr in 1965 with my future wife. Separate rooms, obviously!

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Clynnog Fawr? You wouldn't recognise it now, it's got a by-pass. That's how sophisticated we are round here.And on a Saturday we all go in to Pwllheli to watch the lights on the pedestrian crossing change. Red amber green, we've got the lot.

 

[motco]

We felt like explorers when we discovered the ghost village at Llithfaen. A shopkeeper had mentioned it and after a bit of poking about we found it. I fantasised about living there in ignorance of what it would become once the heritage industry moved in on it decades later.

Something else I recall was the huge volume of plastic rubbish on the beach near Clynnogfawr - Belgian, French and German washing up liquid bottles, and other plastic waste items of various kinds - all foreign. Nothing new under the sun they say. Bear in mind this was over fifty years ago. I've fond memories of swimming in the sea off Dinas Dinlle as a teenager (before the advent of the fiancée) and chatting up a girl staying in the next hotel along. She came from Billericay of all God forsaken places. Bryn Mor was our hotel...

Sorry to hijack - *wanders off muttering...*

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Nothing changes and nothing stays the same. Expect Dinas Dinlle has changed a fair bit since your days, the airport (assuming it was there back then) still gets used, by far the quickest way to get to the capital of Wales. Strange how it's quicker to get to London from here than Cardiff, guess that's all part of being here. Nearest motorway is in England, but not complaining really.

 

[motco]

The airport was a derelict WW2 airfield with those steel curled posts (pic below) and rusty barbed wire. I was sixteen and my Dad let me drive his car on the road next to the fence and I got a bit too enthusiastic and drove through the fence. It did very little damage to the car but we were stuck on the airfield and had to try to find a way out! Dinas Dinlle was a cafe and two 'hotels' The big old place next to Bryn Mor and Bryn Mor itself. There may have been a couple of shanty type shacks as well but I'm not sure.

This below is about all there was on the airfield if I recall

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Yep, things have changed. Probably for the best, Dinas Dinlle full of tourists these days, have to try a bit harder to get away from them. Even up in the hills they get in the way of the view.

3000 foot off either side, and still there's people not knowing where they are, those two spoiling the picture thought they were going up one of the tourist tracks.

 

[motco]

One of the Snowdon ridges? My son and daughter, at six and nine years, walked the normal tourist track by the railway to the top in 1983. My Good Lady and I started the Rhyd Ddu side in about 2006 but gave up because we were utterly saturated by the rain.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

That'll be Crib Goch, a fearsome place. Every time I go up there I tell myself it's the last time. And then I do it again. Supposed to get more sensible as you get older, I thought.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Just to get back on-topic, the car has gone through a tank of petrol since I changed the cam sensor. Always used to do around 32 mpg, owned it over five years now and it's pretty much the same every time I do the maths. It dropped to 30 mpg since the sensor started messing about, quick calculation earlier after filling up and it's now doing 34 mpg. At this rate the sensor will pay for itself eventually.Won't be holding my breath till it does, but some improvement is better than no improvement.

 

[motco]

Great news Nefyn Cat. I don't monitor my fuel consumption as it's far thirstier than my other 2.2 litre car and that's bigger, heavier, and used more. That car is a diesel X-Type estate. If I can justify using the Z though, I will!