Is This Cam Synchro a Replacement?

[8thTon]

I posted this yesterday in my other thread when I inspected it, but it got buried. Do the markings indicate it is a replacement? If so why "Remfg"?

 

[Uncle Gump]

I don't know... a Ford Tech would.

My gut says it has been replaced with a reman unit.

 

[8thTon]

What makes me curious is that it's clearly not new, but then the truck is 15 years old so ok. But what would be remanufactured? Surely not the sensor part where the printing is - you could only really remanufacture the mechanical part. All of that makes me wonder if Ford ever had any TSBs or any kind of program to deal with these failures that could be useful information.

 

[91stranger]

Hard saying just by looking at the top of the sensor. have you pulled the synchronizer out to inspect it? I just had to replace mine. The recommended advice on these camshaft synchros are to replace every 100k and inspect every 50k. I would assume since the stamp is on the sensor that it is a reman'd sensor. the sensor is a replaceable part so if the stamp was for the synchronizer then it would be on the synchronizer. I know you can buy these two items separate or together. Stick with the motorcraft brand whatever you do.

 

[8thTon]

Hard saying just by looking at the top of the sensor. have you pulled the synchronizer out to inspect it? I just had to replace mine. The recommended advice on these camshaft synchros are to replace every 100k and inspect every 50k. I would assume since the stamp is on the sensor that it is a reman'd sensor. the sensor is a replaceable part so if the stamp was for the synchronizer then it would be on the synchronizer. I know you can buy these two items separate or together. Stick with the motorcraft brand whatever you do.

I doubt there is anything worth "re-manufacturing" in the sealed electronics housing - the shipping costs probably exceed the cost of the electronics (I've been designing and manufacturing electronics for over 30 years). This is why I was curious about the marking and what it would indicate.

I did not remove the synchro, rather I tested it in place. This is the procedure I posted in the other thread:

After cleaning and blowing off junk with the air hose I removed the sensor (screws are 5.5mm btw), and all looked good in there. Then I checked for radial play and backlash on the gear at 6 places through 1 rotation of the synchro. There was very little play in either dimension anywhere, and little vertical slop either.

I don't know what happens to some of these, but there are no symptoms and no indication that there is anything wrong with the one in mine so I'm not messing with it further.

Things don't go from excellent clearances to catastrophic failure without some obvious degradation in between.

 

[8thTon]

I just remembered I have a detailed Carfax report on this truck. It was serviced regularly a local shop and a dealer for it's entire existence, and there is no reference to the cam synchro being replaced.

 

[91stranger]

So a reman part was put on under the table somewhere?

 

[8thTon]

So a reman part was put on under the table somewhere?

Maybe it was done somewhere that did not record it. Or maybe it was done by Ford before initial sale - it is a Ford part. After all, it isn't possible that Ford was unaware of the problem or what caused it.

EDIT: It's probably irrelevant. The sensor is a separate part number from the mechanical synchronizer (F8DZ12A362AA), so whatever was wrong was probably not related to the sensor anyway. It's probably just a replaced part that happened sometime in the 15 year history of the truck and didn't get recorded.