I've done my searches but can't seem to find the answer to that question. The longer I read this forum, the more you all have convinced me to carry a spare cps. How do I know it will work when that time comes ? It'll be too late to get my money back on it if it doesn't work.

 

Aaahhhhh yes. The short answer is no. I don't think there is any way to test if a new one is DOA. I have my spare and really should install it but have not. That is the only way to know your spare works, it's the old working unit you just took out and the new either works or doesn't. So I guess the answer is uh, no.

Also, curiously, I've noted that my tach does not move at all when cranking my truck. It starts everytime. This is supposed to be a symptom of a failing cps but mine seems fine and runs great. Hmmm.

 

in my CD manual, there is a Camshaft Position Sensor static tester, however it's a special thing probably only at dealers. my guess would be that the dealers aren't smart enough to check the CPS so they would throw money at other things first. in conculsion, i think it is a dealer-only tester however i would think most dont know what it is.

 

Squaredancer......this one FTE member wrote a pretty common-sense piece on the CPS a few months ago (I forgot his handle)......and I've had to replace mine too. He (sensibly) advised to buy a new CPS........run it for a few thousand miles to ensure it's working properly.........If so, throw the one that you took out away...You KNOW that THAT one is no good. Now you have one good CPS installed. Now....Buy ANOTHER CPS........take the one that you just installed out and put it storage as a spare and install the untested one that you just bought. At this point, you have 2 CPSs.....One with a few thousand tested miles that's sitting in storage, and one that's just installed and hasn't been tested yet........Now, drive the NEW one for a few thousand miles, and if THIS one works, then you have a new, workable CPS and one that's in storage with low miles for whenever the other one breaks down (if ever)......

I know it's pretty simple, but the simple, well-laid-out recommendations sometimes come out as brilliant, and I think that a "new" member wrote that piece........But again, I forgot his handle, but if he's reading...take a bow.......

Steve

 

Yeah, what I said pretty much except about the throwing out your old CPS part. If it is working, why can't it be the spare?

 

Tools: 1 - Magnet 1 volt ohm meter and a 5 volt dc power sorce.

connect 5V + to center pin and - to pin A

Ohm across pin a and c when the magnet gets close enuff the circuit will close pull the magnet away and the circuit will open.

 

Because it's a piece of crap that ain't working right and which caused you to run up to International Dealership to get a new/replacement CPS in the first place......You want 1 good one installed....1 good one for a spare.......NOT one good one installed and a piece of crap for a spare.......Mine was so bad that I was stalling while at idle at a stoplight...or when stopping........Or it acted up and was skipping and missing when accelerating from a stop to the point that it took about a half/mile to get to 45mph.......

Obviously, if you're just looking for a new/spare CPS and your current one is still functioning properly...then don't throw the old one away.........My last post was for those replacing a malfunctioning CPS......

 

I think squaredancer was looking for a way to periodically "test" his spare so he would have piece of mind.

 

10-4...missed that.....I wonder where it all started.....how one little part became such a widespread problem and how it brought so many diesels to their knees......do dodges and chevys have this problem?....or is it unique to ford?......it's a pretty easy fix.....but you'd think that after a couple of years of the same old problem bringing thousands of trucks belly up would prompt the pointy-headed engineers in the lab to come up with something different or better.....am I out of line here?.......

 

Gotcha. I think we're all saying the same thing. Just gotta be careful here cause ya never know how someone will interpret info.

As for that marvel of design that is the CPS, I don't know what they've done about it. I do know that I spent a heck of a time and $$ trying to fix a Tbird SC that had CPS issues but I had no idea about it then. I sold the car because it was too unreliable. I figured out what it was only after getting my PSD and reading about it here.

 

Thanks to all of you for your various inputs/suggestions. Being handy on the electronics side, I'll try and build a small test fixture per the circuit 'amiller93' suggested.
again, thanks to all.

squaredancer

 

my $.02: need better info possibly from springerpop as to the internals. typical HALL EFFECT sensor????

I believe that these things have a transistor that needs Vref to excite into oscillation so it can do it's switch thing on wire "C" which is what amiller93 said, but I dont think you need a magnet, just a piece of bar steel, or say 1/2 wrench.

The other difficulty I have is that i believe you kinda need to know if the oscillator is actually doing its thing. Grid dip meter would work well here.

 

No magnet needed just ferous metal (I have a bag of Duct detector test magnets lying around so i use them). I have never bothered to test the voltage feed from the sensor but it should read 0 with no ferous metal near it, as a piece of metal gets in range of the sensor and then passes the face it should rise from 0.3v to 2.8v and back down to 0.3v as the metal passes then 0.0 once out of range