I took my 92 se, 169,000 mi. to my mechanic because "my check engine" light came on. When the light came it immediately started to idle rough, as well as, hesitate and sometimes stall during acceleration from a stop. He informed me my camshaft sensor went bad and needed replaced. He replaced it and when he started the car, the light immediately came back on. He now informs me the camshaft bearings are bad causing the camshaft to slide forward causing damage to the sensor. He tells me it'* time to give up the Bonneville. :( I hate to do this for I just had my tranny rebuilt and driver'* leather seat reupolstered. Is there a way around this via modifications or reprogramming the computer? Or am I just pissing in the wind.

Thank you in advance for your insight!

Malatu

I'm sorry but there is noway around a bad bearing, and if its shot enough to take out the cam sensor you dont want to leave it in there causing more damage?
You could do the cam job and save the rest of the motor, heck it may be a opportunity to cam' up for a little more performance?

Moving this from 2000 to the 92-99 forum. Please post in the proper forum, or your post may go unanswered.

Thanks for the reply. What would one expect to pay for the camshaft work.


Thanks,

Malatu

This doesn't sound like the cam sensor at all. If the cam sensor fails while the engine is running, there will be NO difference in performance. However, next time you try to start the car, there will be a 1 in 6 chance that your car will start for each time you turn the key. This is because the cam sensor is responsible for sequencing the injectors on engine startup, and there are 6 possible sequences; one of them is right. Perhaps the bad bearings are screwing up the valve timing? i don't know, i'm just sayin the cam sensor won't cause those problems.

Is it worth making this repair? If I make this repair, are there other major parts that should be repaird or rebuilt. Would it be more logical (economical) to get a rebuild engine instead of making individual repairs? Or should I say a sorrow fairwell to a car that served me very very well for 11 years.

Actually the engine will start everytime with the lack of a cam signal. The cam signal just allows the engine to know where TDC of Cylinder #1 at injection time before the complete first revolution of the engine (for injection). This will just aid in starting the vehicle quicker. Without the cam signal the engine must be timed soley off of the crank sensor which means that the engine must have 2 complete revolutions to figure out where it is. While running, the engine does not require the cam signal. I have personally worked on a bonneville that lost the cam signal (which is conditioned in the ignition module). The problem with that car is actually in the ignition module but not a big deal as it still starts fine.

Do you have the old cam sensor. Is it actually damaged? The cam signal is not going to cause an engine to run rough. It could be a problem with the ignition module itself. The module conditions the crank signal and the cam signal from an AC sine wave into a DC signal. Check the ignition module. I think that you may have to do a little more looking into this. Has your mechanic offered to take the car off your hands for a good price? Really, look into this further - pull out the new cam sensor and see if it is indeed damaged.

That was insightful. Yes, my mechanic showed me the cam sensor. it was scratched. He also stated he could felt the camshaft and there was play in it. Thanks much for the info. I will follow up!

Malatu

sorry for the misinformation. i found it here when i got code 41 last year, but my problem ended up being the crank sensor.

http://www.kemparts.com/TechTalk/tt17.asp