Cam sensor?

2008 CHEVROLET SILVERADO
180,000 MILES • 5.3L • V8 • 4WD • AUTOMATIC
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KJANES389
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  • 2 POSTS
I put a 2011 engine in my 2008 and everything hooked up until I got to the cam sensor. The one on the engine is 5 wire and my harness is 3 wire. Can I just swap my old cam sensor?
Mar 9, 2024 at 9:54 PM
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STEVE W.
  • AUTOMOTIVE REPAIR CONTRIBUTOR
  • 15,146 POSTS
Could you take a picture of that sensor and post it on here? The book and parts lists all show only a 3-wire sensor on the 2011. However, there are engines that use two wires in that harness for the camshaft actuator as well, could that be why you count 5 wires? If so then the engine you have installed likely has displacement on demand and the one you removed didn't. That could also mean you will need to do some alterations to that engine to get it to run in that truck. That is because the DOD system will need to be deactivated and the hardware removed. You can get kits to do that, they replace the cam and lifters and a few other pieces. However, you also need to check the reluctor that the crank sensor reads. There are different ones used for the DOD engines that may not match the one you removed. That is the wheel on the back end of the crankshaft that the crank sensor reads.
You may also need to change out some of the sensors even though they plugged in as the engines with active fuel management (DOD) used some different signal profiles. If you have the old engine handy I would swap them over unless the part numbers all match.
Things like this are why many places won't even try doing swaps anymore. The companies change things around too much.
Mar 10, 2024 at 3:18 AM
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