Cam Sensor Issues

A Nissan in the garage is having trouble while running. Hitting the gas sends the engine in a rumble. The cam sensor when disconnected allows the engine to run well, but when you turn it off, it won't let it start up again.

Anybody knows what gives?

Is it possible that the timing walked on you? When you disconnect the sensor it goes into a default timing. When its connected it signals for a retarded timing... just a guess...

i remember working on a amitma i beleave in class. with a 4 cylinder and opitical sensor inside the distributor. the valve cover gasket leaked just a little bit of oil into the distributor/sensor. it had a miss at idle/rough idle. the tach dropped to zero while the engine was running randomly then when back to normal. my teacher used to work at a nisson dealership and said it was fairly common for that engine, but i can't remember what size it was, it seemed better when warm. the distributor and valve cover gasket needed replaced. i talked to the owner and he said two years ago the distributor was replaced for a simular problem but the valve cover gasket was not.