I replaced the camshaft sensor on the passenger side. Check engine light came up w/ the same code error. After careful insepction of the sensor, I noticed that there was a groove grinded out from the center of the sensor (sorry, it was thrown out before we wanted to take a picture of it). Any ideas what might have caused this? I'm guessing what ever grinded it, may be now messed up inside the valve cover.

Thanks,

 

bbt. anyone?

 

Replaced my cam phasers today and noticed that on the face of one of them there was marking where it had been rubbing against the cam sensor. That's really the only thing there to hit it. The sensor sits in empty space facing the phaser with maybe 1/4" clearance. 2 of the 3 pins on my driver's side phaser were busted I suppose letting it wobble with enough play that it could hit the sensor. My sensor wasn't grooved but you could see where it had rubbed.

 

how much did a new phaser cost you? how long of a job was it?

 

I got lucky and found two cheap - $150 for the pair but can't really go by that. Think the dealer wanted ~$275 each.

If you have some mechanical ability then it's not a hard job to change out the phaser. Getting to it is the time-consuming part. You need to get everything out of the way so that you can get the valve cover off. From there it's a relatively straight-forward job. Unless you've done it before count on pretty much a full day taking your time. Search for "cam phaser DIY" and you'll find a good write-up with pictures. You don't have to disconnect the AC line if you unbolt the dryer and where the other AC line is bolted to the block at the front of the motor. Also unbolt the trans dipstick tube from the block. Easier to get to that and some of the back/lower valve cover bolts if you pull the wheel liner.

If you decide to do it, then I'd suggest replacing the lash adjusters while you're in there if you've got some miles on the truck. Probably 1/4 of mine were pretty much shot at 150K and that was what was causing most of the tapping in mine. You'll need the wedge (or similar) and the tool to compress the valve springs. Search for "shopfreedomracing" for tool rental and a detailed write-up re how to pull the cam. You don't need to pull it completely but the adjusters won't clear without at least lifting it.

All of this is assuming that you have the 5.4 3V and I don't know for sure that's what caused the "groove." But as I said there's not much else there that I can think would contact the sensor and I know that mine was at least rubbing it. If you don't have any other symptoms of phaser problems, then you might want to pull the new sensor after driving it some and see if you have the same grooving. If not then it could be that it was marked before it was installed or something like that.