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Cam Sensor

gplmaster

gplmaster

Active Member
Hello, I am the owner of a Turbo Trans Am. My car is currently at a Pontiac dealership because I wanted to see if they could troubleshoot my cam sensor. The cam sensor code was the only trouble code being flashed. They say my cam sensor is bad and that a new sensor is over $500 and would have to be purchased from another state. They checked with O'Reilly and they sell them for over $600. I was told they still have the car "apart" and are waiting for me to send them the part to have it installed because I told them Casper's Electronics sells them for much cheaper.

So my questions are:

1.) Does a cam sensor go bad? If so, does the cap go bad or what's beneath the cap, or both?

2.) Does Casper's Cap fix a "bad" cam sensor?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Mike
 
Yep can go bad, bottom part might wear out as it's a shaft with bronze bushings like a regular distributor ...

If need a new one contact kirbanperformance.com as they carry the Wells part which is a repakacge GM item for $55 USD or so ... got a spare off them myself earlier this year.
 
Thank you both so much for your replies!

I am so pleasantly surprised at the speedy responses!

I ordered Casper's cam sensor and they shipped overnight so I will have it here on Monday and will take it to the dealer. Hopefully they will follow the installation instructions!

Will let you both know how this turns out.
 
Sometimes all that goes wrong is the washer and or shim on the bottom wears out. You can just get a new washer for it and it's fixed. A broken cap or bad connector could also be another issue. Make sure they give you the old one back. It's a good part to replace but I'm sure you can get the old one repaired as well for a spare. There was a local parts house that was selling them for 29.99. I picked up some spares a few years ago. Kirban cleaned the guy out and that's where his source was coming from. I'll try and hunt down the info again and see if they still have them.
 
Thank you PhillyTurbo6!

I wish I had been using this forum long ago - owning this car has been frustrating because I want so bad for it to just run correctly and don't know where to turn for help because I don't know who I can trust. It is nice to have a community of owners whose only goal is the betterment of others with the same cars/engines.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.

I have many concerns about my car: runs a little rough at idle, problems with brakes - not braking well, possible rear end trouble, wanders a lot on rutted roads, t-tops leak, need to replace heater core and hook hvac back up, headlight raise/lower problems. I need the TT/A makeover.

-Mike
 
OK, here is the latest: The Pontiac dealer has installed Casper's lighted cam sensor cap. They started and ran the car for 20 minutes and they say it ran well. The shut it off and attempted to start it 20 minutes later and it would only crank. They are going to use a different computer (they said brain) to see if that makes it work. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
 
Today is 9/14/2007. I picked up my car from the dealer. Long story short, they replaced the cam sensor with the one I got from Casper's with the light on it. They replaced the crank sensor and also the ECM. I asked for the original parts back and I got them (as far as I know they are the originals). The car now starts restarts after shutting off. They removed a panel held on with 2 screws from the back of the ECM and it appears something has been removed from the old ECM and put in the new one? It was $624 for turning the front rotors and doing the above. They did not charge me for replacing the cam sensor since after further diagnosis it appeared to not be at fault but instead an ECM problem. Please, anyone who knows, reply about the ECM with the mysteriously missing part.
 
Sounds like they just took the old chips out of your original ECM and put them in the one they got you. There is a big chip and a small chip in there. Glad to hear it's running again. The ECM's can and do fail so it's possible you had a failing or bad ECM in it. I don't think the crank sensor would really have much to do with what was wrong with the car but it's good to have a new one. Now call Eric at turbotweak and order a real chip for the car! :) You have your old ECM to study now!
 
OK, now the car starts every time I crank it - this is terrific! Now I can finally

So does anyone know what I need to do next? Here is how the car behaves at present:

Under acceleration, power is good up to 5 psi of oem gauge indicated boost. Near 10 psi of boost, the power drops off and begins to surge - like the engine needs more air or fuel or something. So as rpm's rise the power is there then drops off then is there. It runs as if out of breath - this is the best way I can describe it. Also, there is a clicking sound I can hear while accelerating. It increases as rpm's increase.

Thanks in advance to any who can respond with some advice.
 
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