I got a problem with my 97 camry, need advise please.
 

I bought my 97 Camry Le 4 cyl with engine light on, which was a mistake as I came to find out. The price was good so I thought I'd buy it. I took it to shop and the guy scanned it with a scanner and it said that the camshaft position sensor fault or malfunction. I got a new camshaft sensor and the guy was going to put it in when he came to find out that there is NO camshaft sensor in there. He told me that previous owner replaced the head on the motor with older model or something that didn't have camshaft sensor ... I need to pass smog ... and this is kind of a big problem. My friend told me that there might be a way to bypass it or something. I was wondering if any of you guys out there could help me out? Any sudjestions? I will be very thankfull for any ideas that could help me out.


Thanks guys.

RE: I got a problem with my 97 camry, need advise please.
 

I'm assuming you bought this car as a private sale. Right now I'd research your state emissions laws to see if you can void the deal and get your money back. If so you'd need to go to small claims court. Did the seller make any represenations or statements about the check engine light? Did you get a bill of sale? Did the bill of sale say "as is"? You might be able to get the your money back anyway depending on state consumer law.

RE: I got a problem with my 97 camry, need advise please.
 

Do some research and find out if the engine had both a remote cam and crank sensor. The crank sensor would be another plugin sensor on the front of the engine behind the crank pulley.

Look at the upper front timing cover area of the engine and determine if there is a plug that is not connected that should go to the cam sensor.

On the older engines the distributor contained both cam and crank sensors. Examine the distributor and determine if it has electrical wires running to it other then the high tension ign wires.

Toyota transitioned to the newer system in steps over the years starting in about 1996.

RE: I got a problem with my 97 camry, need advise please.
 

There is a plug behind the head that has nothing connected to it. I think that's the plug which would connect to the crank or camshaft sensor, but since the head of the engine has been replaced with another head ... the head that's in there right now does not have a camshaft sensor plug or camshaft sensor itself. The car drives good and the engine runs fine. I just need to get rid of that plug and bypass it somehow i guess. I can't get the money back, and the head itself cost too much money.
I tried to plug the camshaft sensor into that plug and just leave it there and it did not work, the engine light comes on right away. I don't know whether or not that plug is for camshaft sensor or the crankshaft sensor.

RE: I got a problem with my 97 camry, need advise please.
 

The computer is looking for electronic pulses from the cam sensor. The orignal cam pulley should have had one tooth that is differant. The cam sensor would pickup this differance and send out a pulse. No sensor, no pulses and thus the CEL is on.

Interesting that the engine runs OK without this sensor.

Does the smog test require actually plugging into the OBDII diagnostic plug and check for trouble codes or does the inspector just look at the dash lights?

It may be possible to build a bracket to hold the cam sensor in place on the head. This assumes the cam pulley is still the original one.

But you will need to find someone who can look into this and not just state to get another head. Someone who does custom engine work, builds and installs engines, etc.

One alternative may be to install a distributor that has a cam sensor built in to it. But not sure the electronics would be the same.

Suggest posting this question on the Toyotanation forum. They have section that deals with engine and car modifications.

Someone must have been in this same fix. There has been a LOT these engines and head swaps, etc.