ok, i have had a ton of problems with my car since doing the built motor and tt set up. car ran good for the first couple hours, then my e blue went to crap and got the eu but still not running right. from blown coils to various other related probs, after a few weeks plus 2 tuner shops i finally figured out the problem!!!! i did cams and alot of head porting plus obviously new bearings. the magnetic sensors for the cam pick-ups got metal on them from my cam and bearing break-in!!!!! made the car misfire very badly. got a ses blinking light, it was so bad and made my ecm shut down basically.
if you have done a rebuild, pull your sensors and check for metal on them!!! they act just the same as a magnetic drain plug but the metal on them will make them give super erratic signals. sad to see i was the first to figure this one out, but hopefully it gives knowledge to others.

 

Can you pull the sensors by just unbolting the 3 bolts and pulling it off ? Ive never seen one off . Where does the metal shavings stick to ? I did cams , but no other head work . I do get a multipal misfire code and hard starting when the motor is warm . If its an easy check , its worth it to see .

 

Why do you have so much metal in the motor??? Should be spotless. Were the heads tanked and re-built after the porting??? Bearings should not put any real metal into the motor either.

 

I had the bottom end replaced, cams, and new bearings with very few issues. The idle was fine, few random misfire codes due to cams but no CEL, and oil is clean. Maybe the work on your heads is the issue.

 

it is not big chunks of metal i'm talking about here. it is only like a silver slurry that collects on the end of the sensor. typical with engine bearing and cam break-in. all i know is my new motor ran fine for a couple hours then went to complete crap and giving the multiple misfire code (po300) everytimt it would start, if it would start. after many many hours from me and other tuners with no avail, i talked with a friend and he said his ford diesel has a cam sensor and it got a bunch of stuff on it and the truck would not run. cleaned it off and it was running again. so i gave it a shot and low and behold, no more po300 mil anymore and it is running smooth again.

 

Thanks for posting that; I'm sure it will save alot of guys alot of time troubleshooting.

 

yes it only cost me $1000 and 3 weeks to figure to clean the dam thing, lol

 

trhanks for posting this...

 

overZealous....can you tell me if the sensors can be removed easily ? I see that there is only 3 bolts on them , but I dont want take them off and not be able to get them back on . Is there any thing that needs to be lined up [ gears , chain ] when reinstalling ?

Thank Bill

 

booger.. there is only 1 bolt holding each cam sensor in, and the harness connector. they are on the back of each cylinder head, inline with the intake camshafts.

 

Hmmm..Im confused now . OK, looking at the front of the motor . On both sides , between the head cover and the timing chain cover there is a senor with a harness connector on the end of it. The one on the drivers side is right in front of the oil filler cap . The connector for it is below and to the left of my cog pulley for the blower pulley . If thats not the cam sensor..what sensor is it ?

 

OK...I looked it up in the manual....I was looking at the intake valve timing control solenoid . I found the cam sensor also....sorry to be a pain in the a$$

 

also, might want to check the crank position sensor while you are at it. it's near the bottom of the bellhousing right where the block and bellhousing meet. simple one 10mm bolt holding that one too.

 

did you have metal on that on also ?

 

as a matter of fact i did find a little sliver on it. i'm guessing just from the ring gear/ starter engagement. my po300 code was gone for a couple days then came back a couple times, then finally took the car out driving and tuning (car just got finished) and never popped up a code again!! so i still am believing that just cleaning off the sensors cured my problem, and pretty easy for anyone to check, especially if they have replaced cams or rebuilt motors, cause they will attract all the break in metals.

 

OK... I will be trying this tomorrow for certain.

Overzealous... I have been having the random misfire code (P0300) for a while now since we swapped out teh head gasket on one side. Swapped out the plugs twice already...still there.. Swapped out the crank angle sensor..still there.. I hope this is it. Will report back.

 

I get the mis fire code also . Most the time its when I try starting the car when warmed up and it doesnt fire off right away

 

luckily i am seeing alot of people now having this same problem, so i don't feel it is just my car anymore. i am really near the end of the testing i can do as i have tested everything i can think of and even some off the wall stuff too!!. hence the cleaning of the sensors. my po300 is now coming back but not nearly like it was before. what the hell is the ecm seeing that is making it do this. from datalogging the eu, my timing can jump to ridiculous advance readings, so i clear the code immediately. funny thing is i can sit there and rev the car all day long with not a single issue, but if i keep it at constant throttle after about 10 seconds it will start flashing the po300 and run like crap. i can clear the code while engine is running and it goes back to normal. even letting it idle with out hitting the throttle it will go into the misfire, and won't idle till i clear the code again.