Cam Position Sensor change with timing belt? (1 Viewer)

[Charles63]

Just trying to think of everything that I should change on my 2003 300k miles GX when it's in the shop this week. It looks like the crank sensor can be changed from underneath the vehicle; can the cam sensor be changed without tearing everything back off the front of the engine? I haven't seen many reports of either of these parts failing often, although I did read one story here about a cam sensor failure occuring during a timing belt change. Thanks ahead of time.
Tom

 

[Jstawgn]

Very rare the sensor itself is the issue. Usually previous timing belt job did not route the wire properly and cause it to get cut by Serpentine belt. Never heard anybody replacing it during timing belt change.

 

[Charles63]

Very rare the sensor itself is the issue. Usually previous timing belt job did not route the wire properly and cause it to get cut by Serpentine belt. Never heard anybody replacing it during timing belt change.

Thanks, I’ll sleep better. Ready to start driving

 

[Stickgunner]

Just changed one on a family members car, though it wasn't a Toyota. IMHO, they are cheap (his was $20), so if its an easy swap like his was, you may as well do it. It took me longer to walk out to the shop than it did for him to change his.

 

[Charles63]

I’m not sure I can get one by Thursday, not sure what brand I should get ( I don’t see the familiar aisin , denso brands). I’ll check at Toyota dealer, but I think it’s accessible by removing the driver side upper timing belt cover. There are not a lot of reports online about failure. It’s not really a moving part and I have heard of some being dead out of the box on other cars. I’ll check with my mechanic and see what he thinks also

 

[Rednexus]

They don't usually fail one these - I've never had one fail on a Japanese call at all actually (Denso makes good stuff).

IMO, the biggest risk is actually the nearly 20-year old plastic connector - simply disconnecting it may break the connector itself or cause a poor connection and lead to an issue in the future. I ran into this when I replaced my starter and broke connectors on one of the knock sensors and the coolant sensor, just due to the age of the plastic. I was able to repair the knock sensor connector but had to order a new pigtail for the coolant sensor. Then I ran into it again with the MAF connector when I put in a cold air intake and spent a lot of time/effort diagnosing CEL's before replacing the connector itself, per the recommendation of another forum member. For whatever reason the OEM engine harness plastic on these vehicles gets brittle worse than other vehicles I've worked on.

So, based on my experience I'd just leave it alone, to avoid having the replacement cause another issue.

 

[Charles63]

They don't usually fail one these - I've never had one fail on a Japanese call at all actually (Denso makes good stuff).

IMO, the biggest risk is actually the nearly 20-year old plastic connector - simply disconnecting it may break the connector itself or cause a poor connection and lead to an issue in the future. I ran into this when I replaced my starter and broke connectors on one of the knock sensors and the coolant sensor, just due to the age of the plastic. I was able to repair the knock sensor connector but had to order a new pigtail for the coolant sensor. Then I ran into it again with the MAF connector when I put in a cold air intake and spent a lot of time/effort diagnosing CEL's before replacing the connector itself, per the recommendation of another forum member. For whatever reason the OEM engine harness plastic on these vehicles gets brittle worse than other vehicles I've worked on.

So, based on my experience I'd just leave it alone, to avoid having the replacement cause another issue.

I just replaced one of my low beam pigtails, and the one on the other side was also scabbed onto; but I’m going with the previous owner just yanked them apart because the wire was broken at the connector