Thread: 02 Suburban cam sensor.

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Anyone ever do a 02 Suburban cam sensor?
Any tips or tricks to replacing one of these?
Also where is it located?
In back of the intake manifold next to the oil sending unit?
The motor is a 5.3 or a 350 I believe.
Thanks Kurt

It's in back of the intake close to where the distributor used to be.
One bolt,

Thanks Randywrench; Any tricks or tips or is it just straite forward or easy.
Kurt

Easy job It points straight down>

Thanks Randywrench. Kurt

Well I did the cam sensor today.
It's very tight, but still not as hard as I thought it would be.
I had to remove the cover or gaurd on top of the intake and the three bolt
plate that holds the back of the cover down. The Cam Sensor is to the passanger side of the oil sending unit, right behind the intake manifold. The best way I found to get to it is to take a 10mm socket with a swivel and a couple long extension with a ratchet.
Feed that to the back of the manifold from the drivers side while reaching around the passenger side with your other hand and guide and hold the socket on the bolt.
After you get the bolt out, twist the sensor from side to side while pulling up.
It should pop out, now you can remove the clip with the wires on it.
Now take the new cam sensor and put some clean oil on the o ring, then slide it in to the hole you removed the old one from. You may have to use your socket and extensions to push down on the top of the sensor to get it all the way down into the hole.
It's in a tight spot, so that was the only way I could get the sensor to seat all the way.
Now put the bolt back in and plug the wires back to the sensor, replace the plate that holds the back of the cover down, the put the cover back over the intake manifold.
All done, thats all there is, oh remove negative side on the battery to reset the codes.
This was in a 5.3 chevy Vortec engine, 2002. chevy suburban. Cubic inches is 323

Well I went to auto zone after I had replaced the cam sensor.
I tried to get them to reset the engine service light on the dash that had come on after I started having trouble with the cam sensor. I was informed by one of thier employees that they are not allowed to reset set the light. Anyway I drove it to the store with my wife and the car shut down on me about 4 times on the way home. So I went to my friend Bob's house who is a 76 year old retired mech. he realy know his stuff when it comes to electronics too. He said the problem was the dash light on the dash was not turned off like it should have been. He said that that with the light on it causes the brain to stop and look at the light and then stumble. This in turn was causing the car to shut down even though I had fixed the cam sensor. In a system that should be a closed loop system, now with the light on became a open loop system causing it to trip itself up and causing the car to stall. Make sure you get the dash light shut off or you may have some more problems. Kurt

if that sensor is adjustable, like an old distributor, its probably not synced up. this is done with a scanner. i think it has to be at 0 degrees plus or minus 2...if i remember right. dont quote me on that, check first. set it like you would base timing, but instead of a timing light on the balancer, you use the scanner to watch cam timing.

bob

Thanks turbo Bob; I don't think it has to be timed,but I could be wrong.
It can only go in one way and only has one bolt holding it down.
The thing pulls like a raped ape just once in awhile it would just die.
But since my 76 year old buddy Bob turned the dash light off I have
not had any more problems with it and the light has not come back on.
Bob is a Ford lover like me and has not worked on a bunch of chevy's,
so you could be right. I asked on here but didn't get a lot of reply's back
about it. You can not turn the cam sensor at all, it's locked into one place.
But maybe you still have to set something in the computer, I didn't even
think of that so thanks for the heads up. I chime in some times, probably
when I should not and guys get mad at me But if you don't say what
your thinking how are you supposed to learn? Anyway I am here to learn
so I keep asking. Thanks again you gave me something new to think about.
Kurt

if the sensor goes in one way only, and will not rotate at all, it cant be adjusted. i know the older style had the adjustable type. and hell, for that matter, the ford 3.0 vulcan up until 2006 when the fleet old body taurus was last made.

bob

I guess from reading this you changed the cam sensor because you got a service engine soon light? maybe code p0341 or p0342? What are the symptoms? Are you just having a engine light or do you have driveabilty issues?.... BTW...the ppl at Vato Zone..do NOT know what they are doing when it comes to diagnosing a car.

no it is not adjustable. It sets above a reluctor ring and basicly tells the computer were the camshaft is in correlation to the crankshaft so computer nows when to fire spark plug.

Yes moter the service light came on and thru a code for the cam sensor.
The bad part was I was on my way to my grandfathers funeral up in Canton Ohio.
I was comming thru Virginia in the mountains and it started shutting down when it came into a hard climb. Then after I replaced the Cam sensor without getting the service light shut off it just started shutting down all the time. No problem since I had the service light shut off now. Go figure!!! Kurt

I had the same problem with the wife's 01 Concorde about a month ago. I bought a code reader, replaced the cam position sensor, and reset the code. Haven't had a problem since.

Kurt you do have to sync the cam & crank sensors after this repair.It can only be done from a scan tool and the check engine code must be cleared before you do the procedure.