well, i am towards the end of an engine swap and the only thing keeping me and my Sporty Monty from the coast is a small sensor. i believe its called the camshaft interrupter sensor located on the left camshaft sprocket (right side if looking at the motor). Now that sensor needs to be placed. Bought it at autozone for $48 but my question is can that sprocket be removed just like that? or do i have to remove the whole assembly(which would can for removing the clutch, the other belts and so forth, don't really want to do that but if its a must)?

 

Wow, narry a nibble since the second? Do you still own the car?

Are you talking about the camshaft timing sensor? Haven't heard it called an interrupter sensor so maybe it's something else entirely...

 

Wow, narry a nibble since the second? Do you still own the car?

not sure what that means but yeah i think i mean that sensor. down here parts change names with every different store you go into. yeah my motor cranks but doesnt start. i also notice that the "legs" i guess you can call them, the part of the sprocket that go through the sensor, are crooked. they still pass but are really bent? any ideas?

 

I meant that it'd been so long that maybe you no longer still owned your car! Oh well...

So does the part you bought look like this? http://www.amazon.com/Mitsubishi-Cam.../dp/B00357NIDG

I'm not certain about the "bent wings" you were talking about, and did you get an error code that led you to replace this part?

 

yeah that's the part.
well long story short, my first engine had a broken piston arm. instead of doing a rebuild i bought a used engine and performed the swap.

however i noticed the crankshaft sensing blade (i figured out the right name) had a crooked leg, wing, blade(whatever you wanna call it) so when i attached the sensor it broke it upon passing. so with some pliers i straightened it the best i could. then i replaced the sensor and it passes through.

but now i still have an engine that cranks but wont turn on i replaced the spark plugs but no change. any ideas or suggestions?

 

You're no doubt smart to do a swap since piston arms don't generally break of their own accord, methinks, hinting at other, bigger problems with that engine.

I get your bent wings comment now. I think you should be OK as long as the arm you straightened didn't contain the sensing unit that you might have damaged somehow.

So, let's go back to my original question and start there: Are you pulling any error codes?

 

i got the P1603 code. which i think is the battery back up????? huh????? batteries have back ups?

 

No, that's the battery back up to your ECM. That's how it remembers codes when your engine's turned off. It could be that it's sensing an interruption in power when the engine was swapped. I'd clear it and see if it returns.

Otherwise, it would indicate something's not right with your electrical system to keep your ECM powered. It could be a bad ground or maybe the fusible link to your engine control relay is partially shorted. It's on a Yellow wire from your ECM to your relay.

But I'm wondering if or how this could be related to your starting problem.

Are you getting spark to your plugs? Is your battery in good shape? Are you sure this new engine worked to begin with? Was it ever running properly?

 

Well you were right about the code. I erased it and it hasn't come up again. Had a friend come by and he checked it then said that the gas smelled old and that's what preventing the ignition. So now that's my next trial but now I have to drain the fuel tank somehow. Any thoughts?