How to change your OPDA

There should be alignment holes. Can you take pics of the synchro at different angles and positions for us?
I found the notch on the back of the crank pulley, and lined it up with the notch that protrudes from the block, put the Camshaft synchronizer back it, aligned the slot to match the slot of the "newly corrected" timing, put the old Camshaft Position Sensor back in, put the plug #1 back in, coil rail back on, crossed my fingers, cranked it over and all it did was struggle to crank over at all, the needles on the gauges flipping all over the place, no fire🤷🤷🤷🤷 Going to get a battery charger now. I love my Jeep, but I've never been so pissed off at it than right now, I could put it in neutral and roll the G*dd*mn thing off a cliff........lmao, I'll get it eventually, and really appreciate the help, I just have a lot of family issues going on at the same time so yea. I'll get er though, thanks for all your help, I felt like the whole timing thing was above my head, but after the input everyone here has had it really wasn't hard at all.
 
There should be alignment holes. Can you take pics of the synchro at different angles and positions for us?
Yes I will take some pics in a minute, just noticed your write up, mine has a hole farther down on the shaft, but nothing through that thing that spins in the center when looking at it from the top with the sensor off like that.
 
Yes I will take some pics in a minute, just noticed your write up, mine has a hole farther down on the shaft, but nothing through that thing that spins in the center when looking at it from the top with the sensor off like that.
I did the write up. Your new OPDA should have come with a plastic alignment tool (see my photos).
 
There should be alignment holes. Can you take pics of the synchro at different angles and positions for us?

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Here are the pics, as you can see there is no holes to line up, the only one I see is farther down on the shaft, I've rotated it to see if there was a hole it lined up with inside on the solid shaft, no such hole. So I read the service manual and just want to punch a hole through my garage walls at the frustration. On my way to buy either a battery, or a battery charger, or both. I can't thank those who have replied enough, as I would have lit the Jeep on fire by now without the support😂, thank you, I hope I/we can get my best little buddy running again. I prefer it to my $50k Cummins truck in every aspect except of course towing my 5th wheel.
 
I needed to change the OPDA in my 2004 because there was too much lateral play in the pulse ring (the part you can see under the camshaft position sensor, or CPS). In my case, at high RPMs, it actually broke off the magnet in the CPS and I also found lots of metal filings inside of it. There was an allen-head screw holding the pulse ring on, but I was not able to tighten it. I assume that a bearing inside of the OPDA failed? I noticed that the new OPDA pulse ring was not held on with a screw, so hopefully the new part will work for a long time.

I took some photos and notes which I’ll post here. @Chris , feel free to move this if you think it belongs elsewhere.

I ordered the Dorman 689-200, which also came with a CPS, gasket and an alignment tool (no instructions).

1. Loosen the sensor screws (5.5mm) and remove.

2. In the OEM OPDA, there is a small hole in the bottom of the sensor base and a corresponding hole in the pulse ring. To align them, you’ll need to rotate the crankshaft.

After realizing that I’d need to remove the fan, etc from above, I decided to do it from below instead with a 19mm wrench. Due to limited space, it did take quite a few partial turns to get things lined up.

If you don’t have a helper to watch the holes, get up and check them after a few turns. If you go past, you’ll have to go all the way around again.

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3. Once lined up, grab a toothpick or make a tool out of something. I made one out of wire with a bend to prevent it from falling out.

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4. Remove the hold-down bolt (13mm) and clamp. Lift out the OPDA. It will rotate counter-clockwise due to the spiral gear. Make a mental note of where things are when you are able to lift it straight up so you will know where to start when you install the new one.

You can see the old paper gasket that you’ll need to remove. I stuffed a clean rag in to the hole and used a razor blade and solvent to get it shiny (2nd photo).

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5. Use the alignment tool included with the new OPDA to lock the pulse ring from moving. The arrow will end up pointing to the rear of the vehicle, so insert the OPDA slightly counter-clockwise of that (where the old one was able to be lifted straight up after rotation). When it connects to the gear, it will rotate clockwise into position. Make sure to rotate it clockwise all the way until it stops.

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6. Clamp the OPDA back down to 17 ft. lbs. and then the reinstall the CPS (15 in. lbs.). The wiring harness for the CPS should be pointing straight back to the rear of the vehicle.
Perhaps the issue is that I didn't buy an entire new camshaft synchronizer thus didn't get that little tool to line it up? I only bought the sensor that goes on top of it. Maybe I need to buy a synchronizer as well?
 
Sorry i havent been fast on responses or help. Im in the middle of changing my nephews RMS on his 2000 XJ. And every bolt is busted or seized. FML too. I wont be able to offer help till later on or tomorrow.

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Have they changed the design again? I have one sitting on the shelf (crown I think) that I bought 4-5 years ago.
I don't know if they have changed the design, I should have bought an entire unit with the sensor already on top, I bought the sensor only (Napa Echlin) brand. I had no idea that I needed to pay close attention to how it was in there when I pulled the entire unit out.......I guess it probably wouldn't have mattered as the thing that started all of this was the "hold down" nut had loosened up on a longer road trip, and the OPDA assembly was just freely rotating as if it was supposed to be like that. I had no idea that once pulled out one could Eff it up by not making sure it went back in the right way. Anyways, I've got the battery charger on there now, hopefully with a fully charged battery, as well as having lined up the cam to TDC, the Camshaft Synchronizer re-installed correctly, with the new sensor bolted to the top, it will fire🤞🤞🤞🤞. I was hoping that I'd have a freshly tuned Jeep to cruise this weekend, as I had installed factory Mopar TPS as well as Crankshaft position sensor. Instead, I've spent the weekend trying to get this G*dd*#n Camshaft Synchronizer re-installed the right way🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬.
 
has anyone been able to find this part locally I definitely have the noise. I cannot find it anywhere locally and online it takes a week at least.
 
has anyone been able to find this part locally I definitely have the noise. I cannot find it anywhere locally and online it takes a week at least.


I bought both the assembly housing with sensor at local Napa Auto parts store in small town Utah. As far as a "factory Mopar" brand, I think it's either online, or at the stealership, but I could be wrong there.
 
I bought both the assembly housing with sensor at local Napa Auto parts store in small town Utah. As far as a "factory Mopar" brand, I think it's either online, or at the stealership, but I could be wrong there.


Thank you, I ended up buring the dorman one from advanced. Becuase that is the only one I could find that I could get next day shipping.

Also for anyone trying to figure out if this is thier issue. My jeep only made the noise while it was cold once at operating temp it would stop. That made me think it was an issue with the belt tennisoner but I changed that and it was still going so I started looking for other areas and found the OPDA was the problem.
 
Can anyone tell me is a 2000 2.5L manual is know to have issues with this? And if so where is it located on this engine? Are the symptoms the same with this engine?
 
Can anyone tell me is a 2000 2.5L manual is know to have issues with this? And if so where is it located on this engine? Are the symptoms the same with this engine?

I do not think the older TJ's have this problem but could be wrong.
 
I bought both the assembly housing with sensor at local Napa Auto parts store in small town Utah. As far as a "factory Mopar" brand, I think it's either online, or at the stealership, but I could be wrong there.
Did the NAPA Echlin complete unit work for you? I just got the same one and it says you need a scan tool with the "Set Synch" function of the PCM must be used to adjust this sensor.
Anyone else have info on this?
 
Did the NAPA Echlin complete unit work for you? I just got the same one and it says you need a scan tool with the "Set Synch" function of the PCM must be used to adjust this sensor.
Anyone else have info on this?
I read the set sync part and i’m not sure if it’s needed but i’ll say I replaced mine without resetting anything other than leaving the battery unplugged for a while. Haven’t run into any problems and it’s been 8 or more months.
 
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Update, so I replaced the camshaft synchronizer today and it went pretty good. I did not reset anything and did not disconnect the battery either, The only disconcerting part was that this unit wound up being a bit more clockwise ( turned towards the engine block ) than the unit that was in it. What I took out was a Standard, not sure if that is OEM or not. It started immediately and did not throw a code at least for the 15 minutes I ran it in the driveway, will take it out for a real test when I have more time. Even had the wife help me line up the positioning holes in the old one, I will make a Jeeper out of her yet!
 
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