Question, Loud bearings and some codes

[aeb28]

2003 V8, 160k miles

We got some flooding from heavy rains a couple days ago. I ran through a few puddles probably a little faster than I should have, as the wheel well covers have some holes that would have let water into the engine bay. About 50 miles of driving and I am getting some crazy bearing noise coming from the front of the engine.

To describe the bearing noise: It sounds similar to a power steering pump with no fluid as a car turns. It hase a very loud and distinct bearing "whine", no sqeaking or chirping. The bearing noise is consistant with RPMs.

I am hoping it is just an idle/tension pulley bearing that went bad, but I just get a CEL and pulled the following codes:

P0340- Cam position sensor circuit malfunction

P0335- Crank position sensor malfuntion

C1201- Engine control system malfunction

The engine starts intermittantly. In other words, turning the ignition starts the car 1 out of maybe 3-4 times. When it does start, engine runs perfectly smooth. Probably the result of the cam/crank sensors malfunctioning? I did some reading, and it seems those codes are not necessarily an indication of a bad sensor, but could also be bad connections.

Should I be concerned about the timing belt and crank/cam sensos? Obvioiusly there is no way to know which bearing has gone without further investigation. How should I start on this without throwing parts at it? I *think* it is the original timing belt at 160k. I seem to remember reading the carfax that it was changed at 100k, but I cannot confirm.



Thank you in advance.

 

[gm350reratliff]

You probably got water into the idler pulley bearings and/or the AC compressor clutch. Also sounds like you got water into the cam sensor plugs or the wiring harness is chaffed somewhere and there is water there.

Knock on wood, the only thing I messed up while pretending to be a submarine was the rear wheel bearings.

 

[aeb28]

Alright thank you, I guess that is a start. Will I be able to isolate a bad bearing on the pullys/AC clutch the same way as bad wheel bearings, can try and wobble it back and forth when it is not running to check for play indicating the bad bearing?

I cleared the codes and ran the car for a minute, they haven't come back. It is my understanding that there is a threshold of bad readings that has to be reached to the CEL to come on and a cam/crank position sensor code throws. Fingers crossed it will dry out and correct on its own.

I probably need to repack the wheel bearings soon anyway, I guess now would be a good time.