What on God's green earth...

[wakingtowinter]

what is this thing?? Came out of the block above the rear main, next to the lower intake. I am replacing my 4.0 in my ranger. I got a 4.0 from a wrecking yard which is apparently from a california explorer. using my old wiring harness, exhaust manifolds and intake plenum to change it back to a regular EGR-less motor. I found this thing at the back of the motor. My old (federal emissions) motor has the same thing except for the little gray part at the top (on the right in the photo). I figured I would change it out as well for my old one. Is this okay?

 

[pcollins]

Looks like the lower end of a distributor??

 

[06RangerXLT]

Looks like the lower end of a distributor??

x1

 

[snoranger]

Its a cam synchronizer. Its got the cam position sensor on the top. They didnt start using them until 93 (cali emissions) and 94 for all others, If I remember correctly. (but that might be the explorers only, i dont know what year the ranger got them.)

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It is the camshaft position senser.

 

[AgPete139]

It is the camshaft position senser.

.

 

[Capt Jay]

yea

 

[AgPete139]

yea

yea?

 

[snoranger]

yea?

No, well kinda. The sensor on the top is the cam position sensor. The whole unit, as pictured, is the cam synchronizer.

 

[lepp1892]

You can leave it in and it won't cause any harm. When I swapped an explorer motor in my 92 ranger it had that little guy. I just left it alone. nothing plugged in to it.

 

[sblake01]

Actually, you have to leave it in.

A camshaft synchronizer is a device driven off the camshaft that couples to a sensor that tells the car's powertrain computer at what point of rotation the camshaft is. The information from the sensor is used by the powertrain computer to time the spark that will ignite the air-fuel mixture in the cylinders. Many engines using camshaft synchronizers are older designs that were originally designed to have a conventional distributor; the camshaft synchronizer mounts in the same place as the distributor used to.

 

[snoranger]

If your truck had one reuse that one. They changed a few times over the years.

 

[wakingtowinter]

Do I have to use the one that came on the california motor? It looks like somebody clipped the wires off going into the sensor. I was just going to swap in the one from my old federal emissions motor (without the wires)

 

[snoranger]

Do I have to use the one that came on the california motor? It looks like somebody clipped the wires off going into the sensor. I was just going to swap in the one from my old federal emissions motor (without the wires)

If your truck had one reuse that one. They changed a few times over the years.

Look at my last post.

 

[wakingtowinter]

thanks