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VT 5 litre check engine code 0048

falcodore

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Hi all,

Car has been feeling a bit sluggish recently. Runs a little bit rough on a cold start, but once warmed up idles fine. Hooked it up to the scan tool and has code 0048: camshaft position sensor missing.

To my knowledge, the 5 litre motor does not have a camshaft position sensor.

Any thoughts?
 

BlackVXGTS

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Here you are, attachment is from the Holden VT/VX Service manual.

By sheer coincidence, I came across the article below in the last hour as I was looking for instructions on how to repair a VS V8 ignition module. May help you with your problem. Although it specifically references code 48, 49 is not that much different.

Kalmaker
17 April 2015 ·
Are you having problems with your 5L VT with misfiring and / or trouble code 49 for cam sensor????
Replacing the distributor with chinese replacements makes it worse????
Have you ever wondered why the VS Series 3 with the same sequential rollercam engine doesnt suffer from the same problem? ??
Here is the answer
The Holden electrical engineering department stuffed up with the wiring harness design on the V8 VT by moving the ignition module even further away from the distributor and also mounting it to the plastic air cleaner box, whereas previously it was mounted to the metal engine bay.
The module doesnt need grounding to function but without a proper earth it's asking alot to pull all the signals back to ground within milliseconds. ..
The main problem with the harness is, they have all the wiring from the distributor, the coil, and from the module back to the ecu all wrapped in one, and that causes lots of electrical noise.
On some cars, just moving this around causes or fixes the problem.
To fix it properly the best bet is to relocate the most offending signal wire, which is the brown wire from the module to the negative side of the coil.
This circuit also has the tacho wire spliced in, so by removing it you will lose your tacho signal, so there are 2 ways to fix it.
The way I prefer, although it probably makes no difference, is to cut the brown wire at the module end approx 50ml from module, and cut a little hole in the rubber boot and poke it through.
Then splice, solder and heat shrink a suitable guage wire of at least 15amp and run this wire up around the shock tower to the coil.
You can either join this near the coil or if you happen to have correct terminals like I do, replace it.
You will notice that on the main harness on the passenger side of firewall there is a little white service tacho plug taped to the thick harness which also has brown wire.
If you join to this as well, you get your tacho back.
Although this will still send a weak signal all the way back down to where you cut it near the module, it wont create enough noise to upset things.
I guess in reality its the same as splicing in near the module instead of cutting the brown wire, and the main noisy load will go direct to the coil
This combined with grounding the module will have your chinese distributor working like it is supposed to with no more code 49.
Also make sure the noise suppressor is still connected to the positive side of the coil.
Most people think its supposedly there for "the" radio interference, but its there for all radio interference including ignition interference.
I tuned a very low km VT Senator recently with only 42k on it and it had a slight misfire and it was still using the original Bosch distributor and although the standard harness was being pushed to the limit, it wasn't setting a code. I guarantee that any simple mod like relocating and fitting a better coil would upset things, so I recommend any one with a 5L VT to upgrade this before the problem begins.
I would also recommend this mod to all 5L V8's from VN through to VT. You will improve ignition performance better than upgrading to aftermarket coils/dizzys, MSD's etc.
Phew... long post..... hope this helps all you and your beloved 5L's
 

Attachments

  • DTC 48 - CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR SIGNAL MISSING.pdf
    334.4 KB · Views: 290

falcodore

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Here you are, attachment is from the Holden VT/VX Service manual.

By sheer coincidence, I came across the article below in the last hour as I was looking for instructions on how to repair a VS V8 ignition module. May help you with your problem. Although it specifically references code 48, 49 is not that much different.

Great find, thanks for your help! Looks like so much work though... not really motivated enough to go that far to fix it. Makes you wonder how many other 5L VT's are out there with the same problem. I would assume many.
 

BlackVXGTS

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.... To my knowledge, the 5 litre motor does not have a camshaft position sensor.
Any thoughts?

The VT Holden V8 does indeed have a camshaft position sensor. There are two hall effect sensors in the VT distributor, one for camshaft position and one for crankshaft position.
 

falcodore

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The VT Holden V8 does indeed have a camshaft position sensor. There are two hall effect sensors in the VT distributor, one for camshaft position and one for crankshaft position.

Suppose if I replaced the hall effect sensor in my distributor that would likely solve the problem? I wonder how much of a difference it would make to the performance of the car. My understanding is that my injectors are no longer being fired sequentially, which they were designed to do.
 

BlackVXGTS

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Can't comment on the performance impact. However, given the age of your car, you would be better off replacing the whole distributor rather than trying to replace one of the Hall Effect sensors. Also, there may well be other damage within the distributor causing the sensor problem. With a new distributor you should also receive a new distributor cap and rotor. Make sure you buy a distributor for a VT V8 and not one for a VN-VS V8, if you decide to go down the replacement path.
 

falcodore

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Can't comment on the performance impact. However, given the age of your car, you would be better off replacing the whole distributor rather than trying to replace one of the Hall Effect sensors.

Do you have any recommendation on which distributor to get?
 

BlackVXGTS

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I purchased a VT V8 distributor from Bursons in 2003 for $200. Repco has a Fuelmiser brand for $249 (obviously a lot less if you can buy it when they have a 30% off special).

eBay has an (allegedly) Fuelmiser one for $139 (link below), but the main description does not mention Fuelmiser only "*BRAND NEW DIRECT REPLACEMENT AFTERMARKET GOOD QUALITY IGNITION DISTRIBUTOR ASSEMBLY TO SUITE (sic) HOLDEN COMMODORE"

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/VT-DIST...013488&hash=item56b5ca0518:g:4NgAAOSwiFtbhNTz
 

delcowizzid

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I've had good luck with RAE replacement dizzys fitted heaps of them
 

gungazza

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have to remove manifold for easy accses
 
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