74 replies to this topic

[NPiekarski]

This past weekend I had the joy of being plagued with cam sensor issues (read: I did not say failure). Mine resulted after 5-6 laps and once after a "hard" bump draft after the carosel and the kink, the sensor was not the issue, its been purely the factory plug that clips in to the sensor that results in a misfire and no power. I have heard numerous others that have had the problem as in the past and this weekend. After talking to my motor builder, there is a fix available that will solve this issue once and for all. The factory plug slid back (to the lock) and was not making a good enough connection. A simple push of the plug and it fired right back up with no issues.

 

It seems to happen at the worst time and even though nothing bad has happened yet, having the sensor stop working on the start (or in the kink) can be a very dangerous situation.

 

Dan Tiley has a fix (others may as well) but is not legal as you are altering the factory harness/plug end. By hard wiring the sensor with a pigtail and installing in a deutsch connector (or weather pack type connector) will solve this. I believe Dan had talked with Todd Lamb about addressing this during a SMAC meeting. Maybe Todd can chime in.

 

I am going to send in a letter to the CRB asking for the fix to this common issue, I hope you all do as well.

 

Just my .02, trying to keep this fun and keep us from pulling our hair out (what little is left for some of us) and being proactive.

 

I might be wrong...if so flame away.

[Todd Lamb]

see update below

[Bench Racer]

Something needs to balance out that torque below 5,500 rpm.

[tynor]

Need a letter to get the ball rolling....

 

crbscca.com 

 

I've sent in mine... 

[Todd Lamb]

Apparently this was in the works already and was supposed to be in Fasttrack a while back - we are tracking it down and will have resolution shortly. No additional letters needed. Thanks.

[NPiekarski]

Todd, thanks for taking the time to jump in and help us resolve the issue.

[38bfast]

You can replace the factory plug with a new OEM plug/connector as per factory repair procedures. 

[FTodaro]

educate me, is the cam sensor an issue with the plug, are they going bad due to the plug connector? or is the connector an  issue in addition to the cam sensor failing?

[NPiekarski]

My issue was/is purely the plug walking back (still locked in on the sensor). I originally thought it was a coil but turned out it was not. Cam sensor was good, during the misfire, you can push the cam sensor plug with your thumb tight and the car came right back. Others may have had sensors fail but I did not experience that...yet. Should mention, my sensor was a new Mazda sensor that only had 4 sessions on it when the issue first arose.

[Keith Andrews]

You can replace the factory plug with a new OEM plug/connector as per factory repair procedures. 

 

 

Ralph - does OEM equivalent apply here?

[38bfast]

I believe it would.

[38bfast]

Frank we have seen bad sensors as well as plugs going bad.

[Diller]

Same problem here, zip tied it to match the rest of my car and problem solved.

[Ron Alan]

In any kind of misfire, pop, stumble or no start...always suspect plugs!!! The male and female plugs are just not designed to come off and on as much as we are doing!

That said...more times than I can remember I've encountered a sudden no start situation on my car or someone else's. My go to first move is to carefully unplug and plug back in every connector that I can get to in the engine bay. This has worked more than once! Granted, it may fix temporarily what may become a reoccurring problem.

This weekend we had a 94 car with bad missing/popping...I had a spare cam sensor harness plug and we replaced it...never another miss! It was free to my friend until it saved his weekend...then it became a really expensive connector

Also spent 6 hrs with a no start situation on a 99 this weekend with no fuel pressure. Turned out to be the connector that plugs into the fuel pump relay under the dash. Not an electrical guy but my understanding was to much resistance? A small gauge wire shoved in the back of 2 of the wires in the connector (bypassing the relay?)and the car fired. And continued to run after it was removed and start several times. Next morning no start...wire back in and the car fired! This stuff will make you go gray fast!

[38bfast]

CAS plugs 

 

http://www.bmotorspo...roducts_id/2257

[Todd Lamb]

Effective immediately:

http://cdn.growasset....pdf?1438809477

[Tom Sager]

Effective immediately:

http://cdn.growasset....pdf?1438809477

Hope that makes a difference.  The speed with which this has been adopted is appreciated and impressive.  

[Keith Andrews]

Wow wow wow Todd and all thank you for getting this done!

[tynor]

Effective immediately:

http://cdn.growasset....pdf?1438809477

 

Woo hoo!   Thanks SMAC/CRB!

[Dan Tiley]

educate me, is the cam sensor an issue with the plug, are they going bad due to the plug connector? or is the connector an  issue in addition to the cam sensor failing?

 

Frank (and anyone else who may be interested)

 

Last year, we had a customer car with the incessant "cam sensor popping" issue.  Over the course of several months, we (and OPM) changed out half a dozen cam sensors, the engine harness 3 times, and eventually rewired the entire car stem to stern.  The issue kept coming back.  

 

So we put the car on the car to the dyno and put an oscilliscope on the cam sensor signal wire.  What we found was the signal showed a perfect square wave with virtually zero noise when the engine was cold.  As it heated up, however, the signal would start to pick up noise, yet still represented a square wave.  After about 10 mins though, the signal became almost completely unrecognizable, and the car started popping.  At first I thought the sensor was failing with temperature, but then I just pushed the plug in and held it with my hand.  The signal returned to a perfect square wave, as if it was cold.

 

So we tried soldering a pigtail directly to the pins of the cam sensor.  In fact we purposely used a sensor we had labeled as "BAD", as it was swapped out at the track.  The square wave remained noise free through the remainder of the dyno session regardless of temperature.  

 

Here's a pic of how we're doing the fix.... although the new rule purposefully allows you to use any 3 pin connector you want.   

 

THANK YOU SMAC & CRB MEMBERS FOR PUSHING THIS THROUGH!