This photo is a close up view of a rusty mess! It is the back of a popular truck engine. We had this truck come in with a service engine soon light, and intermittently it would run poorly. The hole is where a camshaft sensor goes (device to measure how fast a vital part of the engine is running). Actually, this truck had already been to another shop to diagnose the service engine soon light. A quick code read told them which sensor was bad, but replacing that sensor made the problem WORSE. We found some wires the other shop had replaced. I would guess that they thought the wires were a problem, and instead of finding where the problem was, they just replaced wires from the computer to the sensor. Unfortunately, the new wires made the diagnosis WORSE.
The mess in the photo is a rust ridge build up that happened between the sensor and the engine. This gradually bent the metal bracket of the sensor, and pushed it away from the engine until it caused it to barely get a reading. Replacing the sensor let the gap get bigger causing no reading. We had to use a bore scope to see the build up, and then had to remove the intake manifold to clean it up. Then we had to figure out why the sensor STILL would not work. Well, we found that the new wires hooked up at another shop, mistakenly wired this sensor to the washer pump instead of the computer!
In hindsight, the correct repair was simply to remove the rust build up at the back of the engine. This would have actually been a zero dollar parts bill! The purpose of this article is actually to brag on my technicians, truly more than old school mechanics, they are the brains of this organization. Hiring people who can diagnose to this level means we will not be able to compete for the cheapest labor rates in town, but in this instance, we would have been the least expensive first stop!
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