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92 Bonneville check engine light

Wow, can't believe my luck. I just fixed the low coolant light and now I'm getting a check engine light.

92 Pontiac Bonnevile SSE with a 3.8L (no supercharge) with about 150K.

The light came on yesterday for the first time. The weather was close to 100 degrees and I noticed the temp gauge was slightly higher than usual then all of a sudden the car would spudder and then keep going. Maybe every mile or so on te beltway it would spudder and it seem to run a bit sluggish (not as much power). I was thinking it was vapor locking because of the heat then the check engine light began coming on when I would idle or coast. it seem to go off again when the cars rpm's got up.

I took it to auto zone to have the codes read and he said I have a 12 which is normal and a 41. He said the 41 meant either the cam sensor/crankshaft sensor or ignition module was going out. What do you guys think?

How hard are these parts to change? Will I need any special tools? How do I know if I have a cam or a crank sensor (he said I shouldn't have both). I'm guessing if I look at the front of the engine I can tell by the location.

Today it drove fine all the way to work. I drove it about 75 MPH but of course it was not very hot at 7:00 this morning. i will see how it does going home tonight.

Reply to
Soapm
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Cam Sensor & Ignition module are the easy ones to replace. The cranksensor is much more difficult for the average guy. The harmonic balancer has to be removed to get the crank sensor. Then you need some special adjusting tool to line up the crank sensor when you install it.

Cam sensor is held in by one bolt and is in the timing cover to the left of the water pump. There is a magnet pressed into the timing gear which send impulse signals to the cam sensor. The magnet itself could be the problem. Thet sometimes fall out of the timing gear. Replacing the magent requires pulling the timing cover off and everything infront of it. Remove the cam senor & bump the engine a few times to line the magnet up with the hole in the timing cover, then you need a mirror & flashlight to view the magnet.

Ignition module is under the coil pack - very simple to R & R.

A mechanic with a tech II scanner should be able to pinpoint the problem more accurately.

Good Luck.

========= Harryface =========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE 3800 V6 ( C ), Black/Slate Grey _~_~_~283,707 miles_~_~_

~_~_~_~_U.S.A._~_~_~_~_~_

~~~The Former Fleet ~~~

89 Cavalier Z 24 convertible 78 Holiday 88 coupe 68 LeSabre convertible 73 Impala sedan
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Harry Face

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Geoff Welsh

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