[ZXT]

Hey all! I recently started working on an 06 Sorento that was bought for my sister. It came from a friend who thought it had a blown head gasket because it was throwing missfire codes on the drivers side bank. It ran horrible, but after replacing the spark plugs that had a .080 gap it ran good. It still had an intermittent miss so I went ahead and changed the coil packs and plug wires since I've read that they can be problematic. That didn't fix the issue.

My sister has been driving the car for about a month and a few nights ago when she was driving it, it started running bad, and it died as she pulled into a parking lot. It would start and stumble around 500 RPM if you held the throttle near the floor. Got the truck and trailer and hauled the thing home and checked the codes on it. It had code P0123 (Which is TPS circuit A high input). Didn't think a TPS would cause it to run quite as bad as it was, but I put a new one on it anyways. No change.

Fast forward to yesterday. From my research I found that these 3.5's are notorious for cam and crank sensor problems. TB didn't appear to have ever been changed either so I pulled it down and did a TB/WP service and replaced the sensors. Got it back together and it started and ran ok for a few seconds until I touched the throttle. It died and wouldn't restart. I let it sit for a while and got it to run, albeit rough, for about 2 minutes before it died out and wouldn't restart.

I didn't see a fuel pressure test port on the rail anywhere, so I plugged my fuel pressure tester directly to the pressure port on the pump. I got 80+ PSI when cranking, so the pump doesn't appear to be bad.


Has anyone had a similar issue? I'm pretty mechanically inclined but this has me stumped. I'd appreciate any input! Thank you!

 

[ZXT]

I'm leaning towards it being the reference ring that attaches to the back of the cam gear/sprocket. I didn't notice it being loose from the gear when I had it apart yesterday, but it seems to be a (yet another) failure point on these cars. I have one on order and will pull the front of the engine back down again shortly.. Fun fun fun.

It's a wonder this thing lasted to 109k miles. Hopefully I can fix it and squeeze a bit more out of it.

 

[ZXT]

Pulled the thing back apart, changed the crank sprocket and I still have the same exact issue.

Like last time, when I got it back together it started and idled. This time, I didn't touch the gas pedal for a while. It sat there and idled somewhat well for about 10 minutes.. I then touched the throttle and that was the end of that. Will not restart now.

I'm not sure what the issue is with this thing, but I'm about ready to push it off of a cliff.

If anyone has ANY suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Any and all of them.

Thank you.

 

[nstoolman1]

Have you pulled any CEL codes or have any popped up?

 

[ZXT]

I currently have missfire codes for cylinders 2,4 and 6.