camshaft position sensor

[ozarksman]

Hello,
The engine on my 1999 Windstar 3.8L has been idling very roughly, sputtering and dying on cold starts; after it is warm it runs fine. It set off the check engine light, I stopped by autozone and they ran the codes and said it needed a camshaft position sensor replaced. Does that sound correct to any of you? Where is the camshaft position sensor? Can I replace it myself? It has 115,000 miles on it and hasn't had the plugs changed in it as far as I know, could that make it idle rough and then set off the sensor? Thanks for any suggestions!

[rodeo02]

Check this post: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...light=camshaft
G/luck
Joel

[lewisnc100]

Autozone is a great place to get the codes read and get a printout of the specific error code, but it is a terrible place to get advice on the repair. They might be exactly right in this case, but do you have the specific error code that was triggered? If you have that then it's very easy to go through the Ford diagnostic chart for that error code.

I can give you two quick examples of bad advice from Autozone from personal experience. I had codes for automatic transmission gear ratio errors and they immediately said that was bad news for my tranny and I needed to get it into a transmission shop immediately. Ended up being a 5 minute adjustment of my throttle position sensor. Another time the code was for a knock sensor and they immediately stated it needed to be replaced ($250 part located on top of engine under upper intake manifold so costly item to replace). Well it turns out that Nissans will trigger knock sensor error codes along with other EVAP codes when nothing is wrong with the sensor. Fixed the other EVAP codes and it went away.

Autozone will tell you any error code means that component needs to be replaced, but go through the diagnostic process first to determine if that is true.