98 Riviera misses on hwy

[buickowner98]

My wife has been complaing about her 98 Riviera missing on the hwy. Some days are worse than others.

I took it to the Buick shop and they told me they could not duplicate, but that it had a code 41 stored in the system. They tell me this is a bad cam position sensor and will cost about $300 to replace.

Does a code 41 sound like it could cause the missing?

If so does anyone know where it is located on this car. The engine is the 3.8L supercharged.


Thanks for any help or ideas you can give me.

[52mercury]

The cam sensor is affixed to the front of the engine block behind the crankshaft pully. A special crankshaft pully tool is required in order to remove the pully for access to the sensor. The pully must be held in place in order to remove the nut that is screwed holding pully onto the crankshft. Nut removal is achieved by using a breaker bar and a longer piece of pipe fitted over the breaker bar for leverage while loosening the crankshaft nut.

Upon installation of the cam sensor, car should operate properly. If SES light
(indicating a code 41 in the system) is lit on dashboard, shut engine off and disconnect battery cable in order to clear code

The sensor cost about $45/$55. The $300 for repairs are excessive since the job only requires one half to three quarters of an hour for pully removal, parts replace and reassemble. Find another shop to do your work. Avoid ripoffs.

Hope this helps, Keep me advised.
jb

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by 52mercury

The cam sensor is affixed to the front of the engine block behind the crankshaft pully. A special crankshaft pully tool is required in order to remove the pully for access to the sensor.

Let’s not confuse the cam position sensor (CPS) with the crank position sensor (CKPS) which is located behind the harmonic balancer. The CPS is located above & to the left of the water pump and has one retaining bolt. Code 41 can indicate that the CKPS or the CPS is defective, however, the CPS does not usually cause highway stumbling/missing. The CPS will cause some hesitation off idle and some stumbling, but that will clear up at higher rpm. Ask your wife to watch the tach when the missing starts. If the tach fluctuates, suspect the crank position sensor (CKPS).

[buickowner98]

Thanks for the information. I will have my wife check the tach then next time this happens.