For the record, and because I have never come across this tidbit in all of the cam sensor threads -
I have found that 95% of the time, even when the car is acting super extra weird and ****** off and barely running, that the following helps.
Remove the cam sensor, sop up any oil inside of the sensor housing and also in the cavity on the engine to which the sensor attaches.
In order to clean the engine cavity it helps to wrap a rag around a dental pick or other such fine pointy thing and insert it between the outside edge of the cavity and the metal cup shaped cam sensor trigger mounted to the end of the camshaft. There is only about 1/4” or less of clearance here and it is hard to get with just a rag. Drag the rag all the way around the cavity a couple of times, making sure to shift your rag to a clean spot periodically. Wipe until a clean spot on the rag remains oil-free all the way around.
Blow out the sensor housing with compressed air, and then wipe it one more time for good measure. The last couple of times I have done this I cleaned the sensor with electronic parts cleaner (and even Maf cleaner once) as a final step. Let it dry and carefully reinstall it.
My car will typically run good as new for a while until the oil fouls it again. There is usually no need to replace the sensor.
. Since my oil leak at the cam seal seems to be quite slow, I have found that doing this cleaning every two months or so is acceptable so long as the pace does not accelerate. I keep the 5/32” socket needed for this in my glove box, since I daily my car everywhere.
It is not the easiest thing to do, but it gets easier every time. I will end up doing the cam seal sometime in the near future, but since the disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly take less than 30 minutes, and cost nothing, it isn’t so high on the list.
I imagine that the cam sensors do eventually fail, but I have a hunch that many of us have replaced a perfectly good sensor or two just because of oil contamination. To be clear - the oil fouls the sensor’s ability to accurately function, but I don’t think it actually does anything to the sensor itself. It’s really just a magnet, after all, right?
