Cam Position Sensor/Manet hard to replace?

[mapolley07 10+ year member]

Had a diagnostic run on my car yesterday, and I found out that the Cam Postion Sensor is sending no signal to the ECM. The guy who did the diagnostic said the car was staying in Open Loop because of the failing sensor.

Anyway, he said its fairly common for the magnet on the cam gear to fall off, and that would make the sensor not send a signal. Or, as would be obvious, the sensor could be bad.

To replace either part, I would have to remove the belt, possibly a couple pulleys, and the timing chain cover. The car is a 1990 Buick LeSabre with the 3800 V6.

anyone know if this is a hard repair? The only tool I don't have that I may need is a pulley puller, i have a belt tensioner tool.

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[mapolley07 10+ year member]

bump? any help here?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

if you are mechanically adept, you can do this with ease.

 

[dcole18 5,000+ posts]

shouldnt be hard to do... thats a good engine btw

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

and you shouldn't have to remove any of those things to do it.....it should IIRC for that motor bolt directly on the outside of the timing cover and have one plug with 2 wires attached

edit: and you can replace the magnet through the hole left after removing the censor

 

[mapolley07 10+ year member]

thanks....the mechanic that did my diagnostic told me it was necessary to remove the timing cover and a bunch of other shit.....don't think he was trying to scare me into paying him to do it, because he did the diagnostic for free

thanks for the help, i'm gonna go outside and look for it and see how easy it is to get to

btw, would that sensor being bad be the cause of hesitation when i accelerate? i had that code and an O2 sensor code, replaced the O2 sensor, but still get a little hesitation

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

thanks....the mechanic that did my diagnostic told me it was necessary to remove the timing cover and a bunch of other shit.....don't think he was trying to scare me into paying him to do it, because he did the diagnostic for free
thanks for the help, i'm gonna go outside and look for it and see how easy it is to get to

btw, would that sensor being bad be the cause of hesitation when i accelerate? i had that code and an O2 sensor code, replaced the O2 sensor, but still get a little hesitation

tis possible...computers will do crazy things with irregular input

 

[15nissen 10+ year member]

i changed one on my old 3800 v6 pontiac. It was a huge pain in the ***. It entailed taking off almost all the accessories, and engine mount if i remember correctly. This was 6 or 7 years ago so i do not remember all the details. What i do remember is that it took awhile and i will never do it agian.

 

[mapolley07 10+ year member]

i changed one on my old 3800 v6 pontiac. It was a huge pain in the ***. It entailed taking off almost all the accessories, and engine mount if i remember correctly. This was 6 or 7 years ago so i do not remember all the details. What i do remember is that it took awhile and i will never do it agian.

****, looks pretty easy, but the guy I bought my parts from at autozone works at a garage also and said that they offer discounted labor for bringing in your own parts, so installing the sensor and interrupter/magnet would be about $40 so I'm just gonna have them do it