2002 Crankshaft Position Sensor (7X) removal

[JMurphy]

A friend told me I could replace this from underneath car. There's maybe 2 inches underneath. Enough to fit a long screwdriver and remove wire.
So I've been trying to tackle the sensor from passenger top side. I removed Alt & PS pump. Reaching around exhaust I've been able to remove screw.
After playing with sensor for hours with pliers I can now spin the sensor easy by hand. I have tried to use little screw drivers and pry sensor up. The lip on sensor is now useless with only tiny jagged edges left. Currently I have a small locking pliers on good. I still can't pull sensor out. And now my hand looks like a cats scratching post.

If I tried taking off exhaust manifold, It looks like bolts may snap and cause bigger problems.
The exhaust manifold flange is in way of using dremel to drill sensor and using screw to remove sensor...
Does anyone have any tips / tricks to help remove this sensor on a 2002?

 

[JMurphy]

I'm used to working on older rear wheel drive vehicles. Was thinking maybe I would have better access to sensor if I could tilt motor forward.
There's two dog bone type mounts up top. I also see a bottom mount below harmonic balancer. Is there anything else holding motor?

What would I need to do to lean motor forward? Two top mounts, bottom mount... can exhaust flex enough without unbolting?
This is a 2002 Century Custom with 3.1L

 

[JMurphy]

It's been awhile since I bothered with this car. Shortly after last post, I noticed a broken stud laying by transmission on a frame. Closer inspection, two exhaust studs broke on side facing firewall. I removed exhaust manifold and verified studs are to far in cylinder head and need to be drill/tap. But this did give me a lot of room for the sensor. I tugged at sensor for awhile and spun sensor frequently. I was able to get sensor 1/3 inch past its o-ring. I thought for sure it would be a breeze after o-ring. While it was extremely easy to still spin, it would not budge any further. Than the top of sensor broke off, even with the block. Maybe sensor housing is cracked in the middle and expanded?

At this point I figured a simple drill & screw to remove sensor. With a new titanium drill bit, I sat there for about 15 min trying to make path for screw. I can't believe drill didn't just chew right thru it. Drill for about 2-3 min at a time and check progress. It was melting plastic extremely slow. in 15 min I drilled maybe 1/4 inch into sensor. And the melted plastic on drill bit was difficult to remove. It would have been easier to drill into the block itself.. never had this problem. Time to re-evaluate what needs to be done.

So, exhaust studs broken in head. Sensor that refuses to go away and find new home in trash. Recent oil leaks covering front of engine and all of oil pan. Oil destroying wires. Car has over 100k miles and recently scared me during a startup. During one of its moments of 'no start', the car almost started and it jerked the car like a football team side swiped my car. Made me worry about a possible spun bearing, but it has run smooth after that. I've also noticed, while I check/change oil regularly, there seems to be rust buildup when sticking finger in oil fill. I had the dreaded intake gasket problem at about 70k miles and replaced that 4 years ago. My oil has always been clean. No metal or antifreeze mixed in with it. But I think this may be one of those small head gasket leaks that burns out in exhaust. I've only noticed very small amount of white smoke at startup for last few months and never gave it second thought as it only lasted maybe 2 seconds.

So I decided, it's time to remove motor and do budget rebuild. I'm replaced all sensors, timing chain & guide, main bearings & rod bearings. I am replacing all gaskets down to the heads. Sadly this sucked up my budget. So I can't do cam bearings, rings or get any of the parts machined. Just replacing with stock sized bearings. I'll start a new thread later for tips, but wanted to recap what has happened with this thread.

 

[NasTraDooMis]

Damn, i hope i never have to do mine. *** knocks on wood with fingers crossed** lol.