2007 Cayman: Intermittent hesitation, CEL, P0341, P0344, P0016

First time around: Noticed intermittent sharp hesitation while cruising on level ground 2500-3000 RPM. Increased engine vibration/noise under load. Rough idle. No CEL. Stored codes: P0341, P0344, P0011, P0016. Cleared codes to see if they'd return. All symptoms went away for a week or so. Second time: Same symptoms. CEL on. Stored codes: P0341, P0344, P0016. Took to dealer. They saw the codes, but didn't notice anything wrong when driving. They cleared the codes and returned the car to me. Ran fine for a couple of weeks. Now: Same symptoms. CEL on. Stored codes: P0344, P0016. So, I'm curious if it's just a bad connection/break in the wiring insulation (P0341), a failed camshaft sensor, or something else. I'm reluctant to take the car in again, just to have them give it back to me since it's an intermittent issue. I searched around for photos of where the sensors are located, but couldn't find any. The sensors aren't expensive ($40-90), but I'd like to check the connector/wiring first. Anyone have photos or other diagnosis recommendations?

BN: I'm not an expert by any stretch and I don't know what those particular codes mean offhand, but the symptoms and my own experience tell me it's probably spark wires and coils. The coils are buried deep in the cylinder head, one for each spark plug. They get pretty hot and mine developed cracked insulators on 4 of 6 coils. They weren't all sparking out but one or two were and it made the car run a little uneven...just a little and made it a bit easy to stall on startup. New wires and plugs fixed it right up. :cheers:

Thanks, six. The first two occurrences were before I did the 60K service, which included new plugs, and the current one was after. I'll have to check if the coil packs were included or just plugs/wires. Following from engine-codes.com P0341 - Camshaft Position Sensor 'A' Circuit Range/Performance P0344 - Camshaft Position Sensor 'A' Circuit Intermittent P0011 - Camshaft Position 'A' Timing Over-Advanced or System Performance Bank 1 P0016 - Crankshaft Position Camshaft Position Correlation Bank 1 Sensor 'A': i.e., mismatch between the signals from the camshaft and crankshaft sensors.

BN: Wondering what oil you put in your Cayman ???? I've heard that heavy oils are not good for the Variocam mechanism. If you're using 15w50 or 20w50 or something like that, consider changing down to a good quality synthetic 5w40 or 0w40. I always believe in trying the simple stuff first. If you can solve it with an oil change? Wahoo!!! If that's not it, I'd say it's the sensor or the connector to the sensor or something. :cheers:

Still using the recommended synthetic 5W40. The oil was changed with the plugs, etc. Yeah, I was hoping that the last service might have taken care of it, but alas I wasn't so lucky. Anyone know the whereabouts of the sensors? Are they accessible from underneath without a bunch of disassembly? I'd like to clean the connectors and maybe swap them to see if the code changes.

First post here. Bought a 2007 Cayman 2.7 at auction (40k miles and looked mint except for the front end looking like a battering ram) with front end damage and replaced everything damaged including steering rack, front alum suspension parts, radiators and condensor assemblies, wiring, coolant and refrig lines head lights etc blah blah blah. I should do a write up since I have never worked on a car before and thought this was pretty simple...and it was - thanks to this incredible forum. Anyhow I have experienced the same thing from OP at 58k miles due to a CEL - didnt write down the codes but yours look familiar. Did the 60k service wtih new filters ((2) air and oil and oil filter) plus new plugs. First ones I ordered where Bosche and had a 4 prong head the only came close to the top of the ceramic tip and no where near the metal tip where the spark comes from. Misfires left and right and flashing CEL. immediately stopped the engine. Did more research and finally discovered the spark plug issue I mention above. I returned those ( pelican parts - you guys are awesome) and PP replace them with NGK 2 prong tipped plugs that were configured better. I erased all codes using durametric, removed the Bosche plugs, put the new NGK plugs in and voila...purred like a kitten. CEL remained off for several weeks. Car seemed to be running smoothly and strongly. Started up the other day and another CEL was thrown. I havent had the time to check the codes but I suspect the codes are the same from the last CEL. Once I check them I will post again. Car seems to be running smoothly and strongly and no unusual sounds. Note that when I replaced the plugs I closely examined the coils and they looked perfect.

Hi TR, Wow, sounds like quite a project you got started with. Yeah, adding some write ups of your experiences to the Articles section adds to the knowledge repository. Looking forward to see them. Let me know what codes you have stored now.

Well, I haven't had any luck finding some reference material on where the camshaft sensor is located and it's started acting up much more often. So, took it in with the hopes that it would continue to hesitate for the tech. Turns out it was indeed the sensor.

I hope the attached sketch would help! Zackman

Thanks, Zachman. Already got it changed, but this will come in handy for locating anything else on the wiring harness, including the camshaft sensor for the other bank whenever it starts to act up. Would you recommend the quality/accuracy/detail of the manual from that site? If so, I'll get one.