What Is This? (Sensor?)

[Ian Lord]

Just had some hunting noises at tick over on my 1990 LS400 so went to investigate, cable connections etc, and fould this hanging loose, looks like a sensor (see attached photo) clearly its not far from where it should normally be as cable is very short (2") also looks like part of the connector block is broken.

This is from same harness as cable to ignition coil (the one mounted on the side) Please confirm what it is,and where it should live. There is only ONE cable into the connector block (all secure) and black shiney concaved surface at opposite end which I guess should be touching something. would welcome your feedback oh wise folks of the Lexus owners club.

Thanks

[TigerFish]

No photo showing?

[ColinBarber]

picture now added

[steve2006]

If you could zoom out a little I may be able to identify the connector looks like it's near to the LHS cam belt top cover?

[Ian Lord]

Yes it is near (underneath) LEFT (from inside car) Cam belt cover, and above fan belt pulley,

you can see Coil to right in photo, Grey top left in photo is top water hose to radiator, and cable sheath at front centre is to Battery.Does this help?

[Rupert Dubreaux]

Ian , hi just had a quick look under my bonnet ,the bit you are looking at I think is the engine speed sensor .On mine it lives just above the AC compressor ,if you look here you can see the location clearly , http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html

.Yours looks slightly damaged ,which may affect its performance.

I hope this is of some help to you ,if not I am sure one of the more enlightened chaps will be along soon.

[Ian Lord]

Thanks Rupert for your words and the link to lexls.com

YES the sensor looks the same as mine, but the place its sits on the link photos is different on my 1990 LS400 (maybe its a later model?) the photo on the lexls link seems to have a flat metal section behind the locking nut, but mine does not.

Also the cable lenght on the sensor was not long enough to fit the space shown on the lexls photo..

• What I need to know is this the engine speed sensor for sure?
• Where must it be located for the sensor to do its job (what is it reading?)
• Do these sensors fail? what's the part number (I cannot find on SEWELL web site which is my normal source of info)

Regards

IAN

[tameracingdriver]

Looks more like the condenser for the ignition coil....

It would usually be attached to the coil bracket on the top coil (and either coil bracket or nearby on the lower coil) and the wiring being part of the coil loom is a giveaway. There's one condenser on each coil.

The 'Engine speed' sensors referred to would actually be the Camshaft Position Sensors and are situated under the cambelt covers. There's also a crank position sensor but that is located in the oil pump housing.

[Rupert Dubreaux]

Ian ,hi just had another look with the large air intake removed and mine is also a bit different from the Lxels pic it slides onto a metal tab the same but is located slightly more to the right looking from the front .Just looked at one of my Mk3's and it is mounted facing the engine on them ,the Mk 3 manual has much clearer diagrams than the Mk2 I have which appear to have been drawn freehand with a blunt pencil ,this shows the engine speed sensor located to the right and just behind the crankshaft pulley ,where you would expect it to be ,sorry for that red herring ,I will blame the dodgy manual !

Not much help with your problem I am afraid ,it is difficult to describe its exact location and since SWKE has misplaced her old camera and the memory card for her new one I cannot take a photo for you.

I hope you get it sorted soon, niggling things like this annoy me .

[ambermarine]

Fairly certain this is the connector that sits atop the A/C compressor and is part of the electrical magnetic clutch operation .If your A/C was working correctly it now won't be if it was'nt working anyway because it was gassed out this being dissconnected won't make any difference to the running of the car.The magnetic clutch will not operate if there is not enough gas pressure in the system.

[tameracingdriver]

Looks more like the condenser for the ignition coil....

It would usually be attached to the coil bracket on the top coil (and either coil bracket or nearby on the lower coil) and the wiring being part of the coil loom is a giveaway. There's one condenser on each coil.

The 'Engine speed' sensors referred to would actually be the Camshaft Position Sensors and are situated under the cambelt covers. There's also a crank position sensor but that is located in the oil pump housing.

^^^^