[Nissan0301]

I will try your ideas thanks. I've been looking around for OEM camshaft sensor and can't seem to find it? Mainly make mod year

I'm now getting a P0183 code for the fuel temp sensor, it's literally brand new... lol this car is such a headache. Are these just defective parts? The fuel pump I got on rockauto.

Edit: there's a 2012 Sentra in the junk yard and I think I'll see if it has an OEM camshaft sensor, possibly the fuel temp sensor for the fuel pump or just the entire thing if it's oem.

 

[Nissan0301]

Like I said earlier, a safety pin the right size will work fine. Get an assortment box from Dollar General or Walmart, start small and work up until you reach a diameter that drags slightly. The factory pins are 0.025" nominal, so if you have a caliper, find one that's close to that. The drag you feel will be the leaf springs inside the female terminals. If they're all healthy then they should all drag about the same. Check both ends, the bad fit could be in the sensor connection too.

There's one other thing you should probably try before condemning the wiring. Take the screw loose on the sensor, turn the sensor 90 degrees and try to start it. If the problem goes away then you might be getting wrong parts for some reason. Have you been shopping using the Nissan part number from Nissan EPC, or by make-model-year? The latter is almost always a mistake.

I did just that and it started like normal... I am going to go recheck it later after it's cooled down completely but it worked this morning also. What is the correct part number OEM? I've tried 3 camshaft sensors now already.

 

[VStar650CL]

Go to NissanPartsDeal.com and plug in your VIN. They're a consortium of Nissan dealers marketing on the internet, so their dbase and drawings are identical to Nissan EPC. The p/n you get from them will be exactly what your ride was built with.

 

[Nissan0301]

Alright I'll do that. A question though why did the sensor work when turned at an angle? I started the car after waiting a day and the sensor still angled it started like normal?

looks like this is the one so I'll go ahead and get it.

 

[Nissan0301]

Ops didn't mean to double post.

 

[VStar650CL]

Alright I'll do that. A question though why did the sensor work when turned at an angle? I started the car after waiting a day and the sensor still angled it started like normal?

Any Hall Effect sensor is magnetically active, and all magnetic fields have a polarity. Most Hall sensor IC's are constructed to work best in a certain polarity orientation, with or across the field, and south or north. That doesn't mean the sensor won't function in a different orientation, it just won't work as well as it should. Many aftermarket manufacturers cut corners by making their IC's work in orientations that they really weren't designed for but still work "good enough" in most instances. That's most of the reason some people have grief with aftermarket Halls but others work fine and have no issues. You can't exactly x-ray the sensor and identify the silicon to see if it's set up ideally for the design of your reluctor wheel.

 

[Nissan0301]

The OEM camshaft sensor from Nissan is on the way, should be here Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm hoping it finally resolves this.

Side note: the cam sensor (aftermarket) in the car currently is still angled and it's started normally every day I've taken it so far which has been about 3 days. Thanks for this tip since this is my DD.

 

[Nissan0301]

Got the oem camshaft sensor, installed it in normal orientation and started the car it did the same surging and died.

I then angled the oem sensor and it started completely normal. I'm not sure what else to do. I think I'm just going to leave it as is, the sensor is secure in place and doesn't move but I'm done chasing this issue.

 

[VStar650CL]

That's bizarre. Are we sure your engine hasn't jumped time by one or two teeth? That usually won't prevent them from running, but it can cause hard or no starts.

Use a dab of Permatex Ultra Gray underneath the flange if you want to just leave it, that stuff is nasty once it sets up (we all call it "Gray Death" if that tells you anything). Just a tiny dab should keep it in place, but not so much that you can't pry it loose again if you need to.

 

[Nissan0301]

The jumped timing could be a possibility but it's not something I've looked into yet. Is that a pain to check on this car? Wouldn't it idle weird if it was off 1-2 teeth? As it's warming up it idles fine with no noticeable symptoms and since I've started this journey on trying to solve this issue the car hasn't made any strange mechanical sounds when starting it. Is it common for these to jump teeth? I mean it does have 187k on it..

edit: I just looked up the repair manual for the timing chain and that's an extensive project, especially since this is my daily and I don't have another vehicle at the moment. I wish it was a timing belt so the timing case didn't have to be sealed.

much thanks for all your time and input on this headache though!

 

[VStar650CL]

Checking it is easy but takes a streaming scanner capable of reading the cam timing. The cam angle should be 0 degrees at idle (sometimes they bounce at 1 or -1). If it reads anything higher than 1 then it's jumped. On Nissans each tooth is generally about 3 degrees, so you'll usually see a jump in approximate increments of 3.

 

[Nissan0301]

Can you give any suggestions on a scanner that can do that?

I was looking at this. It says it live data and graphs but I'm not sure if one of those is cam angle data.