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Going to change the Cam Shaft Position Sensor in my 2000 7.3L. Question is the Ford CPS is grey and the International CPS is blue. Does it matter which one is used?
Ford = Grey (NEW recall CPS)
Ford = Black (Old CPS)
Not certain about INT being blue. However, did you ever get your CPS replaced under the recall? FORD will switch out the OLD black CPS for the NEW Grey CPS.
Welcome to FTE. First I'd like to point out that we have a 7.3 diesel specific section located a little further down the main forum listing. Future questions about your motor, or if you'd like to learn more about it, would be better off in that section.
To answer your question, the old CPS (which was unreliable enough to cause a recall) was black, from both Ford and International. The "new & improved" CPS, from both Ford & International is gray (but it's been known to cause a rough idle or cylinder contribution faults)
The Blue CPS is for a completely different motor than the 7.3 Ford (T444E International). Even before the gray CPS came out there was much debate as to the merit of the blue CPS. Since it is from a different motor than the 7.3, it does have a few different characteristics. Most noteably it changes the timing. On a stock truck this MIGHT get you a little better fuel mileage. If you are running a chip or tuner of any sort, changing the timing with both a CPS and a chip/tuner might be a bad idea.
I hope that's as clear as mud. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.
Like Chris said, the blue CPS is out of a different motor. Its used in Internationals 466 inline six (DT466). All three have their good and bad points. If you can black one from ford or international (pretty much impossible anymore) and its works, run it. The new grey one is made for our engines but can lead to the problems stated in Chris's post.
Sorry, I'm a little confused by thesse comments. Is the original black one actually best? Or is there another black one we should be looking for?
Thanks for your help.
It was meant to show there's no perfect answer. There is only one black CPS. The original OEM black one is what most of us prefer, even though it has a history of failure. There is a different part number for the black CPS for the OBS trucks, but it's interchangeable with the one in our trucks.