BruceB

I replaced the distributor some years back with an aftermarket one.. Not sure at this time what brand, but started to get the error code for cam position sensor bank A along with the symptoms of not starting, stalling etc etc..... Anyway, I removed the sensor and it has printed on it 56027023 and nothing else. I know Crown uses oem part numbers so I ordered a 56027023AB OEM Mopar sensor. Installed it and had a clicking from the distributor. Pulled the sensor to compare them and the oem sensor on the underneath is further out from the center than the original one I removed. Put the original in and started the Jeep, no ticking but then it stalled and got the same code for cpa. Ordered a Crown replacement and that one is making the same clicking and the sensor is also further from the center.

Left is Crown and on the right is the one that came out of Jeep Sorry about the size...don't quickly know how to change it, but you can see the difference in the metal pick-up. Anyone have any idea where to source out a matching CPS to the one on the right?

jordan96xj

Typically, as long as the sensor is not mis-manufactured, the clicking will go away in short order. It is just the tone-ring underneath making slight contact with the new sensor. After a few thousand small taps, they will ride right next to each other without contact. I think mine did it for about the first 50 miles or so. I had the Standard Motors sensor.

BruceB

After I installed the Crown CPS, I let the Jeep idle up to normal operating temp. I revved the engine to two thousand rpm twice and the tapping change to a swooshing/rubbing noise. I removed the CPS and noticed that the magnet underneath the metal guard had been dislodged and the plastic surrounding it stretched. I don't think it would make it a mile much less 50 without coming completely apart. Looking at aftermarket distributors, it is about the same cost to buy a whole distributor as it is to buy a sensor. I think that may be the direction I will go.

jordan96xj

I see. Yeah, if it is tearing the sensor apart - that certainly is more than the temporary "tapping" I'm referring to.

BlueRidgeMark

Not a bad idea. The bushings do wear out after a while.

BruceB

UPDATE: Ordered a Carquest new distributor for franchise parts store. Tried the "remove it and replace leaving rotor facing same direction. Nope..would run properly or idle. So now the lazy way didn't work, went with removing electric fan, mechanical fan shroud, removing spark plug from #1 cylinder, finding TDC on compression. Put an awl in distributor to lock the rotor, aligned the oil pump slot at 11 o'clock orientation. Dropped the dizzy in and bolted it in place, put everything back the way it is suppose to be and started up and runs fine... I am not sure how many aftermarket distributors have variations in the spec for the cam sensor or if I managed to get the only brand that didn't match up to any other sensor, but all that is in the trash now. Final cost for the new distributor with tax and delivery. $72. I had ordered, received, and sent back three different cam sensors that would not fit the old distributor. Total cost of that was $7.

jordan96xj

Glad that worked out. You probably did the right thing. Would another option might have been to just take a small amount of material off of the top of the tone ring so that it didn't make such aggressive contact with the sensor (basically improve the clearance just enough to avoid damage to the sensor)?

BruceB

I think it would of required too much removal of material. With the sensors running about $70 and the whole distributor at around $70...I chose not to fiddle with trying to modify it. BTW the Carquest sensor and the Mopar OEM are an exact match.