Tick Tick Tick... Goes The Cam Sensor.

[motorhead]

Well,
After dropping $140 on a new alternator in my search for the "tick"... upon start up it was STILL THERE!!!

Well... I re-'scoped the engine... to find the source: the cam sensor. I put the tube to the cap and sure enough... tick-tick-tick... give it throttle and sure enough it speeds up with the RPM.

It started to quiet down after a few minutes of running. <fearing the worst >

The sensor itself is a B/N Delco unit with less than 70kms on it... and appears to be properly seated.

What could be causing this?

Thanks,

 

[DKREDT]

Mike:

Been there done that with the alternator.

My car had 77k on it and the cam sensor was shot. The "wave" washer loses its "spring" and causes the shaft to move too much and create that hideous ticking noise. It tends to go away when the engine heats up and the tolerences close up.

I ordered a new cam sensor from GM and installed it and all is good!

Some have pulled the cam sensor and shimmed it with distributor washers to tighten up the clearances.

Either should fix the problem.

Good luck!

Joel

 

[GS70350]

HEY!! ive thought i have had a SERIOUS engine problem ever since i got my car. the car has a tick, sounds like a lifter or somethin, at least thats what i thought it was. when you start it up, its fairly loud, then when the oil psi comes up to 20, it quiets back down, and at 80, its completely quiet, then, about 1 minute later, the tick is there again, and its there at the same consistency, speeds up when the engine does, and it doesnt go away till the engine is hot for a while. then, the car sounds fine. i reset the cam sensor a while back, it pretty much fixed my tip in stumble, but no the tick. now, its stumbling again, and still ticking. where can i get distributor shims so i can try to make use of the same cam sensor i got?
thanks

 

[motorhead]

Originally posted by DKREDT
Mike:

Been there done that with the alternator.

My car had 77k on it and the cam sensor was shot. The "wave" washer loses its "spring" and causes the shaft to move too much and create that hideous ticking noise. It tends to go away when the engine heats up and the tolerences close up.

I ordered a new cam sensor from GM and installed it and all is good!

Some have pulled the cam sensor and shimmed it with distributor washers to tighten up the clearances.

Either should fix the problem.

Good luck!

Joel

Sweet Joel.

One question: did you replace the WHOLE assembly, or just the cap? I trust you replaced the whole thing... the very expensive shaft/drive assembly... I hope not because I am mucho broke at this point.

I never saw a "wave washer" under the sensor shaft when I pulled it... I guess some distributor shims are the trick in the interm.

Thanks.

 

[DKREDT]

The wave washer rides right on top of the gear thing (what ever it is called) on the cam sensor that is driven by the gear (again, whatever it is called) on the end of the cam shaft. When the wave washer is tired the shaft rides up and down on the cam shaft gear and gets a little "slappy" when cold. ( as you know)

Yes, I replaced the whole thing for like $125 or so US dollars. I was going to try and shim it but got frustrated and wanted to go the route of least troubles (for me) the first time.

Do a search here on shimming the cam sensor. There should be some old threads here in which I posed the same questions.

I also bought the CASPERS electronics cam sensor setting tool for like $30 to help set the new sensor right.

HTH

Joel