General Information for All... Change Cam Position Sensor

[Hoags]

Hey All,

I just finished changing the Cam Position Sensor in my 1998 3.4L Montana and I wanted to give a brief run-down in the event someone else comes across this on an SES readout.

I looked over the proceedure in my Chilton manual, it helped a little but when I got into it there were some differences. This is how I did the job.

1. Remove the plastic cover over the intake manifold.( twist off the oil cap and extendtion tube, open the wire harness retainer clip on the left side of the cover & move the harness out of the way. slip the cover out)
2. Disconnect negative terminal from the battery.
3. At this point I removed the bolts on the top motor mounts and rotated the brackets up and back to allow room for the engine to rotate forward. With the parking brake set and wheel chocks in place I put the trans in neutral, put a ratchet type tie down strap on the large eyelet by the right side motor mount and ran the strap over the crossframe and down in front of the radiator then I hooked the "S" hook to a stable frame position and tightened the strap to rotate the engine forward to allow room to get a pully puller on the power steering pully.
4. Pull the power steering pully off
5. Remove the metal power steering line from the lower rear of the pump.
6. Remove the 3 bolts holding the power steering pump in place and lift the pump out of the way.
7. remove the bolt holding the Cam Position Sensor and remove the sensor by pulling straight up.
8. Install new sensor (lube the "O" ring with a little oil prior to inserting into the engine block)
9. Unplug the old sensor from the wire harness and plug in the new one.
10. Reassemble by following the steps in reverse order.

Note: The job was not that difficult to do, it took me longer because the Chilton manual said nothing about removing the power steering pump and pully. The manual said to remove the water pump pully if necessary. That step was not needed for my application. After figuring out what the necessary steps are[Listed above] it did not take long. If I had to do it again I think I could do it in about an hour or so.

I hope this helps if someone has to chance their Cam Position Sensor. Using the Chilton manual did help with some of the basic steps as well as listing the torque specs. for the sensor and power steering pump bolts.