I read the thread on the junk Dorman synchronizers.
How are the A1 Cardone's holding up?
I've also noticed that some vendors have them listed under distributors and some under crank angle sensors.

 

i went to ford and got mine.

ford ranger

 

I just had this cam synchronizer sensor changed on my '98 Ranger a couple weeks ago! NOW, I have a bad oil leak coming from near the area of that sensor!!! It just started leaking! Do you guys think the mechanic messed something up while changing it?



Thanks
Mark

 

I hope you understand my English. I found the marks on the harmonic balancer on the crankshat of my Ford Ranger 2000 V6 3.0 but, I don't see the pointer (the nail like) to sinchronize the 0 degrees to find the TDC of piston # 1.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks

Rangerlover

 

You do not need the pointer to find TDC (Top Dead Center) on the #1 piston. Just pull out the #1 spark plug. Put your finger over the hole while somebody turns the crank clockwise with a deep well socket and ratchet with a pipe on the end of the ratchet for leverage. When there is compression, air trying to blow your finger off, stick a slim screw driver in the hole while they are turning the crank. You can tell by the screw driver when the piston gets to the very top then starts to go back down.....that's TDC. You may need to turn the crank back and forth to get the precice TDC. It is very important that the up stroke of the piston is the "Compression Stroke"

Hopes this helps you,
Joe

 

hi all,
who wants to know and what are you going thru? in other words whats going on? cam sensors for a 3.0l v6? i put a camshaft senser in my 4.0l v6 a couple of years ago! they have two types of sensor for the same engine the 3.0l 235 hp motors and 4.0l i think is 245 hp engines! or cubes they are!

ford ranger

 

yes,
0 is top dead center, that is straight up! make sure tha the piston is up not down! you can be 180 out of time @ 0 degrees! one way to find out if your on, is take a phillips screwdriver and put it the spark plug hole and see if you can touch the top of the piston. don't leave the screwdriver in the cylinder just check it. when you do that! you don't want to break it off! and roll it over by hand and bring the piston up that way!

ford ranger

 

I see how old this post is but I'm doing a search on the web now, after replacing my sensor shaft for the 4th time, to see how many others have gotten the "shaft" from this Ford part.

In my opinion, this should have been a recall item. I bought the car when it has 20k miles on it. The check engine light was on when I bought it. It was under warranty and I picked that warranty up. The Ford shop said it was the cam shaft sensor positioner. Well, they supposedly fixed it. Then, the light came on again, I took it back, they fixed it again.

Then, after a few years and no warranty, the check engine light came on again. I had found that the light was faulty and there is no way of knowing how long the light had actually been on.

I pulled the cover and the shaft was all bent up and un-usuable. I bought the necessary stuff and fixed it myself.

Now, a year later, the check engine light is on again. It was the first place I decided to go. Well, I just got the cap off and it's broken again. I can't put in print how mad I am about this stupid design and what problems it's caused me. I"m a mechanic and can fix it myself. But I feel for the consumers who can't and are charged out the "yang-yang" to make this repair, only for it to break again.

When Ford decided to use this piece of equipment, they didn't design it around what they needed, they designed it around the fact that this engine no longer used a distributer shaft. They needed something to plug the hole with and found it...........what a crappy design........

I'm so mad I could chew nails and spit bullets

 

 

Well, I read this entire thread then went out n bought the synchronizer (which came with the sensor) from autozone (about $70). Its Cardone (or whatever). It seems like a good one. The pin is double or triple walled and there is minimal up-n-down play.... Just like the oem one. I signed up to post my experiences....

All n all, I'd say this was NOT an easy job. However, its not a $600 job either! Anyone who'd accept $600 for this job is no different than a common thief. Period.

Also, I'd like to beat the snot out of whoever decided to put the distributor at the back in Fords! I don't know what's up with that.

The main reason I found this particular job to be so difficult (besides it being in the back of the engine) is that the new synchronizer was about .001 too big to fit in the hole. And I didn't know that before trying to tap it in with my rachet. So, I had to spend about 1/2 hr trying to wiggle the thing back out. Then I had to sand down the casting to fit the hole. If you look in the pics I posted, you can see the orginal was machined and the one I got from autozone was just cast to size. Once I had it the right size, it dropped right in. First, it clicked on the oil pump, then it clicked on the cam gear, then the o-ring seated and all was nice n easy.

I stripped off a bit of insulation on the blue/orange wire n hooked up a voltmeter... Turned the key on.... found the spot it switched from 0 to 12 volts n tightened it down. Of course I found 26 degrees after TDC first using a compass for drawing circles. That was easy.

It runs ok. I also changed the DPFE EGR thing (I had that code come up). I still have a rough idle though. Not sure what to think other than the truck has 178,000 miles on it. What should I expect???

Anyway, here's the pics (the last one is the tools I used):

 

Thanks to Rockledge... I replaced my Crank Angle Sensor Yesterday. It took about 1 and a half hours(I've never done one before). I bought it at Autozone for abt $60 plus the core. I got the core value back today. Thanks again for the help. I found the 10mm bolthead to the left(passenger side) of the sensor. With all your help, I didn't even need any books. This is a great site.

 

hey, been there done that! never buy a used one. go to ford and buy a new one.

ford ranger
jack

 

Do you have to remove the intake manifold to get at the synchronizer

 

No. Its a pain to work around, but not worth removing it.

 

I can't even see it