Buick died on the way to work today..had to tow..cam sensor??

A

Adrian87

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2002
Guys,
I've been having problems when I get into boost she'll start to swing up to 8psi or so, makes a loud pop, and loses all boost, dies back down to idle and keeps going. Well I was on the way to work today, I go to pass a car and lean into it slightly, boost raises up, POP, dies..coasting down the road..try to hit the gas (wasn't sure if car was running at this point or not) and would make a pop out the exhaust every time I'd touch the gas.

Coasted to a safe spot, suspected the cam sensor because I installed the RJC reluctor ring fix kit that never did seem to fir correctly, pulled the cap off the cam sensor (I had planned to pull the ring and see if the hole had become misaligned with the tab) and the cam sensor rotated pretty freely.

Does that mean the gear at the end of the sensor down in the engine has stripped or what could have happened? I got the car flatbedded to the house so now she sits..again. I swear I've had this thing for 5 years, spent $10k on drivetrain and it never has run correctly.

If anyone has any ideas to throw at me, I'd appreciate it..also I started this thread a little while back to help address the popping issue http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/ge...-fine-hits-about-10psi-huge-pop-dies-out.html , didn't get anywhere besides got a set of plug wires on the way hoping to help with the popping. Didn't even get to install them and this happened today.


Also, when I started it to warm up today for work, it had a surging idle like an alcohol fed injected big block..or like a broken vacuum hose somewhere..however this went away after a few minutes..I did notice also a tip in stumble all the way to work..
 
You shouldn't be able to move the ring under the cam sensor cap at all by hand. If you can move it I'd take the sensor out and inspect it to see what the problem is. My guess would be with the fasteners holding the ring to the shaft in the sensor and that the gears are most likely in fine shape.
 
If just the ring is turning, then you probably broke the tab off. If the ring and the entire shaft is turning, then you probably shered the pin in the distributor gear. Did you oil light come one also?
 
Hmm...it felt more like the entire shaft was turning, because I felt some resistance..if I remember correctly, when just the tab broke off, it was pretty obvious what happened, and you could see that only the ring moved (hole in shaft stayed put) however the oil light did not come on that I noticed, although the car was dead and I was more interested in finding a place to pull over as I coasted over a bridge in 4 lane traffic and may not have noticed what idiot lights were on..hmm..if it's the gear what do I do? Does that mean the entire cam sensor has to be replaced?
 
I'm amazed that you drove the car as long as you did with such an obviously bad problem. I hope you're not the least bit surprised it's now broke, probably real good!
That loud pop and backfire were putting tremendous forces on the engine internals!! :eek:
You'll probably find more damage behind that front cover than you bargained for. :mad:
 
TurboDave,

What kind of damage can a backfire cause on the internals?

I have recently had timing issues and the car backfired 3 or 4 times. 1 time was so loud that it shook the entire car.

Thanks
 
Stock maf. I tried to unplug it, no luck.

TurboDave, what could have possibly happened internally? If the cam sensor failed how can that cause damage? No one suggested any damage in my popping thread, can you please elaborate?
 
Crank sensor? It's the cam sensor that has failed because it spins when it shouldn't..can this also cause the crank sensor to fail?
 
No It can not cause the crank sensor to fail. 2 different sensors in two different locations.
 
Maybe and I mean Maybe,

Are you positive that the cam sen is fully flush with the hole? The o-ring on the cam pos sen can make it feel as if the cam sensor is fully in, and the bolt can be tightened without the sensor fully being engaged.
 
GNDriven, I'm with you, but unfortunately I think the tab is still lined up with the hole, I'll dig into it this weekend. Please keep throwing suggestions out there guys...and what's this damage that could have happened?

One thing I forgot to mention, after I pulled the car off the side of the road (not running) I would crank it and it would try to fire a few pulses, I then opened the cam sensor for inspection and it moved as soon as I touched it pretty much, thus moving something out of wack and then it fired no more. Is this any help?
 
dan lephart said:
:smile: I have a new cam sensor $50 plus shipping. :smile:
email onefastt@ameritech.net
Click to expand...

Dan, if you'll hold it through the weekend for me I would appreciate it, I may very well need it, I'll let you know. It's dark by the time I get off work now that the time has changed and I don't have any sort of shelter or lighting to work on the car.
 
Big backfires like that, can and often do brake things like timing chanes, cam gears, cranks, cams, etc. Depending on what's causing it, and whether it's internal or intake, it's likely putting some pretty severe stress on the rotating assembly, trying to reverse it's direction (which of course it can't do, but tries).
 
TurboDave said:
Big backfires like that, can and often do brake things like timing chanes, cam gears, cranks, cams, etc. Depending on what's causing it, and whether it's internal or intake, it's likely putting some pretty severe stress on the rotating assembly, trying to reverse it's direction (which of course it can't do, but tries).
Click to expand...



Gotcha. Since it DID fire occasionally when I cranked it before I moved the cam sensor, shouldn't this indicate that the serious stuff is fine? *fingers crossed* I just had this motor built!!
 
Adrian -

My GN did the exact same thing today.. Must be in the planets or something.? Anyway, UNLIKE you, I have not monkeyed with my cam sensor recently - but - same symptoms. I suspect a dying ignition control module, or coil pack. This morning, it died 4 or 5 times on me. It would restart after short break. I eventually got it to the parking lot at work, and walked in a little frustrated. After it sat for a couple hours, I came out, it started fine & off we went.. I romped on it, and everything worked fine. 22 psi boost, no stuttering, no backfiring.. After I got things wrapped up at the other facility, I decided to risk taking it home.. Well.. not 3 miles into the return trip - sputtering, backfiring, pop pop pop - dies... and you could smell unburned fuel in the exhaust.. Did you get the same thing.??

From what I remember - the cam sensor is only used to initiate the SFI injection sequence at start up.. Once the car is running, it will not die if the cam sensor is unplugged.. ..or fails..

Got the car onto a flatbed, hauled it home, rolled it off, and - nada!! wouldn't start.. So.. now it's time to whip out the handy dandy Caspers ignition tester & see what I get..


Will keep ya posted & will watch this thread!!!

Linc
 
I have found some great information on the website below.
Well written info.

FAQ-Buick Turbo Regal Chips - Thrasher Engineered Performance

This might be old news to some, but I recently found the web site and I loved the Q&A section on Turbo Buicks.

Below is an example of a question which they provide an excellent answer to; helped me big time.

So what exactly is the relationship between the cam and crank sensor? And how is the spark and fuel delivery tied into them? How exactly does this Distributorless Ignition System (DIS) work?
 
Well I just pulled the sensor but I guess I don't know what I'm looking for. One odd thing is the entire shaft will move up and down quite a bit within the assembly, could this be the problem? It feels like I could easily pull it all the way out.
 
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