Can anyone tell me if a cam position sensor can be rebuilt in a 95 S. And is it difficult to replace.

Thanks

 

no and no.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda...Q5fAccessories

however, if you wash the engine, it is easy to fubar the sensor.

 

Kennin

Thanks for the reply, you may have something with the engine wash. I just did a wash with Gunk but covered the elect parts as well as I could. Just before cleaning the engine I was haveing a problem with the car dying then starting again when it cooled. I pulled a code that said it was the cam position sensor so I checked the wires to the sensor from the wiring harness that also goes to the Alt. They were rerouted a few days before when I had a dealer replace the Alt. The coating was melted and the wires were sitting on the block.

I checked the wires and retaped and ran them correctly. The car ran well for about a week with no new codes. Than I washed the engine drove it a few miles and it died. Had it towed home and is started a few hours later. Do these sensors go often ? the car has 165,000 on it. I read somewhere you can check the sensor buy running the engine and heating the sensor with a blow dryer or heat gun to see if it fails. Have you ever done this ?

I have put so much money into this car at this point I am hoping to avoid a 350 dollar sensor. New Trans 3,500 new Alt 600 starter,radiator, brakes, new tires last week.

When it runs its a great car. Is there a market on this forum for a 95 s with 160K and many new parts ?

 

Don't give up on the sensor yet. They are of very simple and robust construction, but their protection from the environment is crude. Water ingress attenuates the output signal causing DTCs such as yours. A quick fix for a wet sensor is give it a good spraying with methyl (wood) alcohol in a squirt bottle, flooding it. Alcohol sucks up the water and carries it away with it. The residual alcohol evaporates quickly (use the hair dryer to speed things up if you want, but remember the stuff's inflammable).
Tape ups of damaged wiring sucks. Do a professional job and use heat shrink sleeving (plus the hair dryer again); it won't unwind, go brittle,turn into snot etc; it's permanent and heat and oil resistant.
Use gunk to clean detached engine parts only; it's very aggressive to many components and while water soluble like alcohol, unlike alcohol, it leaves a conductive residue behind.
When used as a whole engine cleaner gunk and similar cleaners also strip every vestige of lubricant from places where a bit of lube is essential (linkages, hinges, pivots and actuator cables).
Finally, in stripping the oil film from everything, it leaves the car (including chassis members) much more vulnerable to rusting, electrical ground point corrosion etc. etc. Adhesive tapes used for cable bundling etc. will be destroyed.
Gunk was designed to be put in a bucket and diluted with kerosene , varsol, diesel fuel or whatever for stripping grease and dirt from mechanical parts prior to inspection/ rework. So keep it in the bucket where it belongs; it's great.

P.S. If you want to keep water gremlins away from sensors and stuff, use a silicon spray lubricant; it causes water to break up into non-adhering droplets which your car shakes off like a wet dog. Don't ever use this stuff as a contact cleaner though because it's an insulator.

 

that sensor on ebay is 35 bucks, and there are several. personally, i have never had one go out. very easy to change, 2 bolts, one connector, and done. resale on a millenia is in the toilet. the only way to get any sort of return on this car is to drive it till the wheels fall off. preventative maintenance is the key to this car's survival. we have 2 99's, one since new, the other used, about 6 years ago. both are in excellent condition, but not worth squat. i think they are very well made. however, if you have to pay someone to fix your car, it will eat your lunch.

 

Thanks guys, I will try the alcohol and check e-bay. Sure would like to keep it running since I have so much into it.