First off, Hi everyone, I'm new to the site and I am in the process of getting my truck ready for my daughter to take to college. My husband used to come to this site to get info for our vehicle repairs but he has since passed so it's up to me to get this ball rolling. Don't want to go to a mechanic because I have found that they are telling me I need things done that don't coincide with the code I'm receiving. I had worked on our vehicles with my husband in the past so I do know a bit about our vehicles (both Fords) any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a couple questions for a 98 Ranger 4.0L engine throwing a P1309 code:
1st: Did some research and then I purchased a camshaft synchronizer (Duralast) thinking that this was possibly the only part I will need to get the truck up and running again for my daughter but from what I have been reading, am I going to need the camshaft position sensor as well? I am assuming these are two separate parts according to Autozone.

2nd: Is this an easy fix? some videos say 5-10min some say 20-30min and some say possibly over 45min. I need to know what I'm setting myself up for since I am doing the repair myself. Also, none of the videos I've seen showed my year vehicle so I'm assuming time frame will be off.

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

First, my sincere condolences on the loss of your husband. Time doesn't completely heal all wounds, but perhaps it lessons the pain.
Now, my $.02 on your P1390 code. You said you got a Duralast replacement part. It was always my (and others) opinion to replace a camshaft syncronizer with a genuine Ford part, but since the "national crises" has hit, it seems that Ford has discontinued a lot of parts that we used to take for granted, including a lot of their camshaft syncronizers. .
So, Duralast it is. Anyway, the biggest obstacle that you might encounter is that it's located at the back of the engine block close to the firewall. Yes, there are some plastic alignment tools that come in handy, but if you bring the engine up on TDC (top dead center) you may not need one. Or, sometimes they come with your new unit and sometimes you can "rent-one-for-free" from your local auto parts store.
When you say "camshaft position sensor as well", did they also try to sell you the crankshaft position sensor, or are they talking about the plastic alignment tool that sometimes comes with the replacement camshaft position sensor?
BTW, there are a few videos on YouTube describing this procedure. They may or may not come in handy for you.
If you do get somebody else to do this, get an estimate ahead of time. It's really not too long of a procedure and they shouldn't charge you too much for the repair. Good luck to your repair and best wishes on your daughter's college degree.

 

Thank you Kruse,

I went looking for answers for the code and came across the camshaft synchronizer so I found a website called repairpal.com and they let you know Repair shops in your area that will fix your problem and they give you a price that those shops will honor so i called one of the shops closest to me after i had already got time allotments for the job from other websites and the guy quoted me $300 quoting 2.5hrs for the job just for labor alone, I explained that they were a part of the repairpal.com program and he said "then go find someone else to fix your problem" I think it's because I was a female and I did my homework on time frame for the fix, at that point it was for the camshaft position sensor. I've already put $3500 into the vehicle, new transmission, radiator, sparkplug and wires, now it has this code so I am hoping to keep costs down.