P0642 / P0341 / Service Electronic Throttle Control

[Ovis]

Hi there.

I have a 2014 2500 w/ 6.7. Truck is deleted.
Been dealing with the 5v reference circuit is low (p0642) and camshaft position sensor (p0341) along with getting the service electronic throttle control light.

Issue is intermittent. I do not see any change in performance or fuel consumption. Sometimes the lights/codes will go away on their own and then reappear. I have also cleared the codes and things will be good a couple days, other times I’ll clear them and they’ll come back on immediately.

First thing I did was change both my batteries out. It didn’t resolve the issue but I did keep them anyways.

I had my shop swap out the camshaft position sensor a couple weeks ago with one I purchased from autozone. Tech said wiring looked good - no damage. Everything was copacetic for a week then re-appeared.

Returned the truck to the shop primarily for another issue (heater core replacement) but also had them readdress the code issue. They swapped the autozone sensor I gave them two weeks ago out with a mopar. They didn’t promise it would resolve the issue. They explained the ram design for the 5v issue is horrible and there are about a 1/2 dozen sensors on this circuit and that it could be any of them. I also know that the PCM could be the culprit. I addressed the possibility of the issue being with the actual camshaft and they said very unlikely.

Leaning on you guys for some ideas. I have the truck back in my possession. I’ll do as many of the sensor swaps as I can on my own until the ass pain outweighs my patience.

Was leaning towards the crankshaft sensor but have read where some are unable to get their rig started afterwards and that a scanner might be needed - anyone with clarification on that?

 

[Cummins12V98]

I am curious why the heater core needed replacement? Sorry no help on the other concerns.

 

[Ovis]

I am curious why the heater core needed replacement? Sorry no help on the other concerns.

Had a slow leak. Coolant dripped down into the blend door. Bad enough that it was breaking the actuator. K-Seal didn’t resolve the core leak.

 

[sag2]

Not sure why the shop said having multiple sensors on the 5v is bad. Most manufacturers do the same thing. If one of the sensors is causing the 5v to get pulled down, disconnect each sensor and watch for the 5v to come back. Will not work if the problem is intermittent. A crank sensor would be a good guess on a gas truck, but not sure I have seen it do the same thing on a diesel. If they are inexpensive it wouldn't hurt to try one.

 

[Topzide]

Our trucks use a network communications that use 5v for their bus. Not that much different from a wired home network. As @sag2 has mentioned, you go through each network nod, (sensors in our case) by nod. Yes, very time consuming! I know that when I had to chase down network issues with computers, you need to look at what was connected, and was the software up to date.

So with all that being said, due to you having a "deleted" truck, you could be fighting sensors, software conflict, (tune/factory), or both! Good luck finding the issue.

 

[Grumpy8811]

generally when you see multiple sensor issues on a shared circuit you start thinking wiring harness problems and not individual sensor problems...
basic engine ECM wiring revolves around 2 separate harnesses , one ECM with two ports for those two harnesses.
one harness provides input and output functions for anything on the engine itself , the other harness revolves around wiring that may be on the chassis or cab ( CEL, emissions etc) and has inputs and outputs that interact with both the ECM, the body and devices not on the engine itself.

thinking about it fully, throttle control comes thru the body harness or whatever Mopar calls it
while devices like the cam position or crank position sensor run thru the engine harness..

so it look like there are two separate harnesses involved in mulitple electronic problems..
the only thing these two harness share is that one ECM.
so the question is the problem at the connection point at the ECM or is it something in the ECM or is it an outlier?