Regardless of the weather or outside temperature, this little 2013 Seat Ibiza 1.4 would normally start at the first flick of the ignition. The engine, recently on a couple of occasions, had simply spun over without any effort at firing.

Because the motor was normally so reliable, and this kind of thing was rare, the owner decided to see if I could offer a quick solution. On the journey to my garage, the engine management light (EML) illuminated. This convinced her she was doing the right thing by coming to see me.

It also made things much simpler for me, as with the EML glowing, I knew there were going to be some code in the ECU that I could retrieve and this should give me a clue.

Plugging in my scanner, I retrieved two codes: the VAG specific 00740 and the EOBD code P3007. Both of these were directing me to the camshaft sensor, which is conveniently located at the very top of the engine.

After checking that the connecting plug was secure, and that the feeds were correct, I decided the best option would be to replace the sensor. Being so accessible, this was a simple job. With the camshaft sensor costing under €40, it was not going to break the bank.

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