I own a 1994 ford Explorer with the 4.0 push rod engine. I need to know where the cam position sensor is located and exactly what is involved in replacing it. Any help would be appreciated!!

 

I would check with a hayes manual, it is worth the few bucks I think. But from what I read it is like $400 for the part and it is located in the center of the engine towards the back and hidden by the intake manifold. Anyways, I would just get the manual to make sure!

 

I know this is a bit late for the original post but I thought it might be helpful to the general population on this board.

I just replaced the cam position sensor (“CPS”) on my `95 Explorer. It was squeaking and squealing as a belt pulley sounds at start up. After a little warm up it would go away but the colder it was the longer the squeal would last. Thus, the sensor was fine but the drive gear that the sensor sits on was not getting proper lubrication. The drive gear is not available as a separate item.

The CPS sits low in the center of the motor at the very back right where the transmission mounts up. It is directly behind the intake manifold and is located where the distributor was located before these motors became fully electronically managed. In order to access it the upper intake must be removed and the fuel rail. Even after those are out the wiring harness creates a major obstacle. There is a single hold down bolt that must be removed and then it is pulled straight out. It is hard to get a grip on it to pop it loose – I used a hook device that I was able to yank it loose.

The Haynes manual has a detailed step by step procedure on the process of how to take it out and even more important how to get it back in correctly. Highly recommended that it be followed exactly.

I found that the part is available from Ford for about $430, from Advance Auto (Kragen is the same) for about the same, and NAPA for about $275. Then I found that Advance also offered it (Internet purchase only) from another supplier for $245. I wrestled with whether the cheaper one was as well made. Well, they are all the same. Bosch makes the part - and as it turns out the $245 one has the exact same Bosch numbers on it as the original one. So, they are all just re-packaging the Bosch part and putting their markup on it. No reason to pay more for the same part.

Good luck,

Mark

 

MChild,

"the drive gear that the sensor sits on was not getting proper lubrication"
Was it the gear itself worn out causing the noise?
Mine is making the same noise. That is a lot of money to have it replaced.
Is it posssible just take the gear out and repack it with grease and hope for the best?

 

Pax,

No the gear is not the problem but rather the bearing(s) that the shaft rides in. The squeak or squeal you are hearing is from a dry/damaged bearing. I’m not sure if the problem comes from oil supply not being sufficient to begin with or if the drain hole(s) block the return so that ends up choking the oil supply.

When I took the drive assembly out the shaft was tight to rotate by hand so I sprayed some brake clean in the oil hole that flushed out a bunch of crud and stuff. It rotated much easier after doing that. Nonetheless, the bearings were shot so a new one went in.

This is a PITA job so I would not take out the old one without putting a new one back in. Just not worth trying to do anything to the old one just to find out that in a short period of time you have to do the job again.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Good luck,

Mark

 

I know this is an old thread, but I would like to find out if anyone has replaced the camshaft sensor drive without pulling the intake, etc. to get it out.
Is it an issue of room to pull the drive out or is it just an ease of access issue.
I haven't tried to take mine loose, but it appears I can get to it without pulling the intake.
Does it have to be pulled away from the firewall as it is removed from the engine?
Is it being blocked from removal by the intake?
Thanks for your input in advance.
Mark

 

I've replaced one on a 97 4.0 (kinda tight and working mostly by feel) I don't know if the 94 has the same amount of room.

Pete.

 

I was unable to break the hold-down bolt loose with the short, 10mm wrench so I just replaced the sensor by removing the cover and taking the old sensor out and sliding in the new sensor to the original synchronizer body and this corrected my problem.
This corrected the error code and also increase acceleration performance.
Definitely made a difference!
Thanks,
Mark