My ride is a 1995 Ranger, 3.0 liter, auto transmission, 152,000 mi. Still runs good and I give it TLC. Today my check engine light came on. I had about 16 miles to reach home and the truck continued to run great. I noticed no problems. I ran my code reader and it showed a PO340 . It read a CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR A. BANK 1 CIRCUIT MALFUNCTION. I cleared the error and upon restarting the truck the check engine light stayed off. My guess is that it will probably come back on. My manual shows this item consisting of two parts....The camshaft position sensor and the synchronizer assembly. Is this a complicated repair or something I may be able to fix? Do I just need to replace the sensor or the synchronizer or both? The accessibility of the part looks rather challenging. Any suggestiions will be appreciated.

 

the best thing to do is replace the whole shaft and sensor. if you search the forums there are a number of threads pertaining to this. its really straight forward, get cyl #1 to top dead center, pull the old one out, and put the new one in, the catch is you have to get a special tool to do it, its an alignment tool. all this assembly does it is tell the computer when number 1 cyl is at top dead center and to fire the fuel injectors. the shaft is a dealer only item and its kinda pricey i picked mine up for $180+-.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/2...light=camshaft

 

I was able to pick the shaft up at autozone I forget the price right now. the hardest part for me was taking off the the upper intake and all the associated attachments. I also had some confusion regarding aligning the synch. with the tool but most of that was in my mind

 

wow you took off the intake? i was able to get my hands around it, glad to here its all done.

 

use a ford syncro part, aftermarket ones are questionable to their durability, and you dont need the tool, i did mine and im fine 20k miles later

just mark with chalk on the firewall the position of the numb that comes off it, and notes where it is when u pull it out bc it turns bc of the gear then just stick the new one back in and i just checked my timing to make sure it was 10bdtc then ur good to go

 

I've been hearing the same thing. Apparantly the Dorman brand synchro assemblies are junk.

See: http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/inde...howtopic=53152

 

I'm flummoxed! My Clintion manual says to put No. 1 cylinder at 10º ATDC. My Haynes manual say to put No. 1 cylinder at TDC. Second, I can't even see the pointer on the crankcase timer pulley. Where is that thing? Third, I can't get the plastic cover off the camshaft position sensor without breaking it. Does it just pop off? Fourth, No one including Ford carries the syncro positioning tool. Maybe I should just let the stealership fix it. I'm just reluctant to put out the $525.

 

Regarding the pastic cover, if there aren't a couple of scews holding down the sensor, then your engine has a CMP sensor that is integral to the synchro assembly. In other words, the sensor and syncronizer shaft are one piece.

 

Does it require the exact same replacement or can I use the two piece CMP? Since it's one piece I evidently wouldn't need a syncro alignment tool or would I? Ford Parts Service said they have never heard of a one piece unit, but then they are not mechanics, only computer operators

 

I don't believe the one-piece and the two-piece assemblies are interchangeable. The connectors are different, among other things.

This is a shot of the one-piece unit:



Does yours look like this?

 

My camshaft sensor looks different. It has a small round plastic cap that can be rotated. I have a hunch mine is really a two piece unit with a plastic cap cover plate. I am reluctant to try and pry this cap off for fear of breaking something. Thanks for the good picture. I have resolved to let Ford do the repair work.

 

Hey, I'm new to the forum here. I made some posts about my camshaft position sensor at truckforum.org. I just discovered this forum today. I found a lot of helpful partaining to my particular problem.

My cam sensor has been out for about 3 or four years now, haha. Only recently have I decided to replace it in hopes that my gas mileage might go up. I've got a 1994 B4000 4.0L V6 Mazda Pick-up. I was confused about whether I even had a cam sensor at first since my Chilton Manual said my particular year of make and model didn't have one. After a long search under my hood today, I finally found the thing hiding behind my intake manifold way in the back of the engine just under the firewall. It seems to be in a bit of a tight spot... I don't have to take my intake manifold off to get to it, do I? I'm hoping I might be able to sneek in with a u-joint tool to get the clamping bolt off, then hopefully I can just pull it out of there.

I believe I have the one piece sensor that looks like the one posted above. I'm wondering, is it just the two piece sensor that requires the special alignment tool? What do I need to align my particular sensor?

And everybody speaks as if how to put the #1 cylinder at top dead center is a given... I have no idea how to do that.