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Best Brand to replace camshaft position sensor


untouchablz
08-01-2009, 04:58 PM
91 3800 v6 vin "L". I know that 91 regals are plagued with the stupid camshaft positions sensor magnet falling off. What is a reliable, replacement brand. Autozone simply has duralast, however, I do not want to have to do another costly repair simply because duralast brand camshaft sensor didn't durably last.

3800Regal92
08-02-2009, 10:45 AM
i would look for your local AC/DELCO parts dealer. after doing a fuel pump twice in the rain(because i bought an after market AIRTEX pump from autozone, i learned the hard way! it burned out in 25min! i no longer buy electrical or mechanical moving parts unless they are dealer/factory...ie:AC/DELCO. i'll pull brake pads, oilfilters,wipers,ect. these sort of parts from AZ. good luck

Ruley73
08-04-2009, 08:06 PM
Duralast is just AutoZone's in-house nameplate. Their engine management parts are supplied by Wells/Airtex who also makes the AC Delco engine management parts. AC Delco is also just a nameplate, all of their parts are outsourced by a company of their choice and rebranded "AC Delco".

Using a Duralast part would be fine.

I used to work at AutoZone and I'm an ASE Certified Parts Specialist with 7 years of parts experience.

2000gpgtx
08-05-2009, 08:14 AM
And to follow up, the magnet gets ejected from the cam gear and has nothing to do with the sensor .. this requires replacing the timing gear, not the sensor .. a complete tear down of the front of the engine. Furthermore, although it will diminish the fuel economy by a negligible factor, the ECM will compensate for the lack of cam sensor input and will continue to run fine without it, simply leaving the MIL illuminated with a cam position code if you're not confident enough in your abilities to do a timing gear tear down.

Ruley73
08-05-2009, 09:41 PM
And to follow up, the magnet gets ejected from the cam gear and has nothing to do with the sensor .. this requires replacing the timing gear, not the sensor .. a complete tear down of the front of the engine. Furthermore, although it will diminish the fuel economy by a negligible factor, the ECM will compensate for the lack of cam sensor input and will continue to run fine without it, simply leaving the MIL illuminated with a cam position code if you're not confident enough in your abilities to do a timing gear tear down.

Yes, all of this is true. I can't believe I didn't catch that.

The magnet is a $9 part (Airtex p/n 5S1231). It is possible to replace it without pulling the timing cover off, but it's still a PITA if you attempt to do it that way. You'd have to access it through the camshaft sensor hole in the timing cover and line up the magnet on the camshaft sprocket with that hole.

untouchablz
08-17-2009, 10:06 AM
Thanks for all info guys very helpful info!

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