Crank angle sensor HELP!!!!! NEED SERIOUS HELP NOW

[lucas]

hey guys went to the junk yard and picked up a new cam angle sensor got back home tried to take mine off and the blot snapped bout 1/4'' down... awesome i thought no big deal just pb blast it and use a puller tomorrow.

Then i go to take the sensor out and it also snaps in half, now I'm totally Fu&*ed. looks like its never been changed and basically "welded" i guess would be the term in there by all kinds of nasty crap.

How the heck am i gonna get it out? Seriously terrible day because of this.

Im trying to avoid having to take the timing cover off because i don't have the tools to retighten the cam pulley or the extra arm

[Legacy777]

Unless someone has another idea, I think removing the cam pulley would be the only way that I can think of doing it.

[Binford]

Don't feel too bad, you're not the only one that has had this happen. It happened to me a couple years ago, and I remember reading on here that it happened to some others also.

I don't remember exactly what I did, but I did not remove the cam pulley or anything that involved. Have you taken the timing cover off on that side? You might gain enough access to get a screwdriver or something in there and hammer out whats left. I'm thinking that's what I did?

Good luck, hope this helps!

[lucas]

Botched that one correction crank angle sensor

[Binford]

Botched that one correction crank angle sensor

Hahaha, I find that that funny cuz right after I posted that I realized it was the crank sensor that broke apart on me! lol

But in that case, if you have a tiny screwdriver or pick you can get in there between the sensor body and the hole and then pry on it, then take some needle nose pliers and give a twist it may come out that way.

Probably need to remove the alternator to gain some decent access to it too.

[Legacy777]

That makes it easier actually. You can just remove the t-belt and crank gear. You might be able to get it off without removing the belt & gear by taking the cover off and tapping it out from the bottom side.

[lucas]

Ya I wanna avoid taking any of the timing crap off because I just don't have the tools to put it back together, I'll try finagling the broken part out with a screw driver and scribe broke most of it out already anyway

[lucas]

went from bad to worse. Tried to tap a hole on the top of the broken bolt to try and extract it and the first hit broke the whole housing in half.

[cal_look_zero]

Since it's not really a structural part of the engine, you can more than likely get away with a 2 part metal "weld" like JB or similar to get it back together. Take your time, clean the area really well, and give it plenty of time to cure.

[lucas]

thats what i was gonna plan on doing first the only thing that would make that difficult is the fact that its aluminum and the inside has to stay totally clean. might be kinda difficult, trying to jb weld it that way.

Still haven't got the broken bolt out either so it might just be better to go ahead and replace the whole oil pump.

[Legacy777]

That part is just part of the oil pump. Just get a new or used oil pump and you'll be fine.

[lucas]

ya freaking sucks I neither have the tools or know how to try and replace it, I'm sure i could figure it out. Just no tools to redo all the timing crap. Anyone know what a shop would charge for just a oil pump

Anyone think i can just zip tie it all together to limp it over to the shop??

[Binford]

The sensor should stay in the hole by itself enough to get you to a shop I would think, no zip ties needed. I have no idea how much any shop would charge tho.

[lucas]

Awd auto in Auburn quoted me 700 -_- balls

[vrg3]

Ouch, this sucks.

As far as I can remember, the only special tools you need to do the oil pump job is a 22mm or 7/8" socket on a breaker bar with a long pipe on it, to get the crank pulley loose, and a big vise or C-clamp to compress the timing belt tensioner, plus a 2mm (I think?) allen wrench to stick in the tensioner to keep it compressed.

Aside from that, a basic 3/8"-drive ratchet set should do the trick, if you're willing to go slow as you learn how to do it.

A service manual can walk you through it, and we can help. As an overview: You have to take off the accessory belts, take off the radiator fans, remove the crank pulley, remove the timing belt covers, and then unbolt the timing belt tensioner. Then you can get the belt off and wiggle off the crank pulley. The oil pump is right behind it. Undo the oil pump bolts and pry it off, scrape off the old gasket, put some fresh Ultra Grey RTV down as a new gasket, and bolt it all back together. To reinstall the timing belt tensioner, you have to very slowly push its rod back in with a vise or C-clamp and stick a small allen key in the hole to lock it in. You pull the allen key out after the tensioner is bolted in.

If you need a ghetto fix, you can stuff a rag in the hole, spray the area clean with brake cleaner, and then use a bit of JB weld to "repair" the crack and to hold the sensor in (rather than bothering with the bolt). It'll probably hold for a while... Of course, it could fail at an inopportune time.

[lucas]

Ya I helped a guy do my timing belt in August and I could probably get it all back together except the figuring out what stroke its on.
If anyone is willing to help me I Hook someone up with like 50 bucks and some Christmas beer.

[vrg3]

You don't need to figure out what stroke anything's on.

Take a look at your belt and make sure you can see three markings on the top of it. One of those markings is for the crank and the other two are for the cams.

The crank sprocket and the cam sprockets have little notches on them. Every two revolutions, all three of them point straight upwards (and actually line up with notches behind them, on the oil pump and rear timing covers). When you get the timing covers off, turn the crank (by putting the crank bolt back into the crankshaft) and take a look.

All you have to do when you put the belt back on is make sure all three sprockets have their notches pointing straight upwards, and get the marks on the belt lined up with those three notches. Note that they won't be lined up before you disassemble, because the belt marks only line up every several dozen rotations or something.

If your belt doesn't have marks, you'll have to make some before disassembly. Just turn the crank until all three notches are pointing straight up, and use some white-out or something to mark the spot on the belt that lines up with each notch. If I remember right, the passenger-side cam and crank notches both line up between two teeth and the driver-side cam notch lines up in the middle of a tooth.

[lucas]

Ya shouldn't be hard. Just need some help doing it