What P0335 means
The crankshaft position sensor is how the computer knows the engine is turning and where each piston is — every spark and injection is timed from it. P0335 means its signal is faulty or missing, and without it many engines simply will not run.
What you’ll notice
- Stalling, sometimes sudden, often when hot
- Cranks but won't start — especially after a heat soak
- Intermittent cutting out that recovers
- Tachometer dropping to zero while running
Likely causes and repair cost
Broad US independent-shop bands, parts and labour.
Can you drive with P0335?
Cautiously and minimally — this fault's signature is stalling without warning, including in traffic. A car that has stalled hot and restarted cold is exhibiting the classic failure and should be repaired before it schedules its own tow.
The misdiagnosis to avoid
Chasing fuel or ignition for a hot-stall pattern. 'Dies when hot, restarts after cooling on the shoulder' is the crank sensor's calling card, and it hides from testing by working perfectly cold in the shop bay. The history you report is the diagnosis; say the pattern out loud.
How P0335 actually gets set
The engine computer continuously compares what its sensors report against what its model of the engine expects. When a reading stays outside the expected window long enough to rule out noise, it stores a code and, if the fault affects emissions, illuminates the check engine light.
What a scan tool shows that the code does not
Freeze-frame data — the snapshot of engine speed, load, coolant temperature and fuel trim captured at the moment the code set. Those conditions frequently identify the cause faster than the code description does, because they tell you what the engine was actually doing when it failed.
The trap with this family of codes
Treating the code as a part number. A diagnostic trouble code names a circuit or a condition the computer observed, not the component that needs replacing. The gap between those two things is where most unnecessary parts spending happens.
What happens when you clear it
Clearing a code also resets the emissions readiness monitors, which inspection stations check. Arriving at a test with incomplete monitors fails just as surely as arriving with the light on, so fix the cause and let the system verify itself over several days of normal driving.
A steady light with no change in how the car drives means read the code within days. A flashing light, or any new symptom alongside the code, raises it immediately.
Describe what it’s doing in your own words and the symptom checker gives you a safe-to-drive verdict, ranked causes with costs, and notes to take to the shop — free, no sign-up.
A basic code reader costs around $25 and usually pays for itself the first time a warning light comes on. We compare them in choosing an OBD2 scanner.
Questions people ask
Why does it start again after sitting for 20 minutes?
Heat. The sensor's internal windings fail at temperature — expand, open the circuit, and the engine dies; cooled on the roadside, the circuit closes and everything works. This maddening pattern is so characteristic of crank sensors that experienced mechanics replace them on the story alone.
Is this the same as a cam position sensor code?
Sibling, not same — the camshaft sensor (P0340 family) tells the computer which stroke each cylinder is on; the crank sensor tracks rotation itself. Many engines limp along without cam data but not without crank data, which is why P0335 leans toward no-start and P0340 leans toward rough-start.