SteveG

[QUOTE=928GTSM;7922835 . . . the right fuel rail you refer to is presumably as you look from the front of the car and regardless of LHD or RHD? [/QUOTE]

No. The convention used generally everywhere for this designation is driver's pov as if sitting in the seat. Or you could type each and everytime: as if looking at engine from front of car. Hence, the easier route is conventional usage.

AO

Bad luck on the finger! Ouch!

If the CPS can wiggle a bit back and forth, I would get some mechanics wire or a zip-tie under it to pull up while you wiggle it back and forth.

I did mine a long time ago and I used a screwdriver... luckily it didn't break.

One way to get it out for sure is to drop the clutch and knock it out with a drift. Just giving you options...

928GTSM

SteveG thanks for the heads up re positional reference.
Sadly despite the sensor wiggling from side to side I haven't been able to move it up even 1mm, despite trying to get copious amounts of penetrating oil round it. I'm at a loss as to how to get a cable tie or wire through it if I can't raise it up.
Getting to it from underneath isn't a viable option at this time but there's so little space to get at this thing in situ that it's starting to really hack me off. This is the only thing that's holding me up from hopefully getting my car running again. So if anyone has any other ideas I'd really appreciate their advice

Ed Scherer

I haven't tried any of these ideas myself (my sensor came out really easily last Friday), but a couple of things come to mind:

• fraggle mentioned a variation of this back in post #30: a few loops of dental floss might be thin enough to get around the shaft if you have almost no working room. Will probably break too easily, though. Perhaps some wraps of really thin wire would work better, as fraggle suggested. Ideally, you'd have two strands of "something" (wire/string) wound around the sensor shaft (and probably twisted near the sides of the sensor to prevent them from unspooling when you pull on them) emerging 180° apart from each other so you could tie them together above the sensor and then either just pull on them (or pry or whatever). That would at least distribute the lifting force so as not to tilt the sensor.
• Maybe an extractor (easy out or whatever) would let you get a grip on the bolt hole in the sensor, but you'd have to be pretty careful in making use of that grip point, as it would tend to tilt the sensor and possibly break it.

928GTSM

I don't really want to get heavy handed with this but if all else fails would I be best off to break the top of the sensor off and then work on getting the rest out with whatever means are necessary? Sorry if this sounds crude but I really don't want to be sat around with my finger up my backside still trying to get this thing out in a weeks time.

Landseer

On the earlier 32 V cars, with fuel lines removed, its possible to pry/lift one out using very long handled needlenose pliers with a 30 degree or so bend in the jaws.

Regarding intermittent operation, I'd be **** about cleaning the grounds at the back of the valley, I've had them fail hot, showing your symptoms.

Thought it was CPS but it was grounds.

Actually, the CPS, O2 sensor, both computers and MAF are grounded onto the back of the valley. Can fail in the solder joint part of the ground ring terminal, too. (again, early 32 V cars, which are as close as I'll ever get to a GTS, am assuming the ground setup is similar).

Battery cable ground will also do this and can indeed fail intermittently, but for me it was a major loss / regain of power to all systems.

Leon Speed

IIRC there is plenty of room to get some vice grips on the sensor head.

tv

I held off commenting before, but this part required me to pull the engine on my 85. 10 extra years of galling in that case. The screw came out easy but the sensor was one with the aluminum housing. First the plastic broke off then the outer metal then bits of the brittle magnet.

Then with the engine out, quite a few knocks from below. Look on the bright side, cleaned the bay, the engine, new oil pan gasket, new MM's, and other things. Probably the worse part design on the car.

928GTSM

I was planning on pulling the engine over winter to clean it and the engine bay but I was really hoping to get to a 928 meet here in the UK this weekend and get a bit more use out of it before winter really set in.

928GTSM

Eureka it's out!!! well with some excellent help from a 928 owning friend of mine, Jason Baldwin, the seemingly immovable CPS is out. Things didn't appear to start well as we resorted to trying to pry it up and the bolt end snapped off. This actually turned out to be an advantage as we were then able to rotate the sensor more than the 5 degrees or so either way it would only move previously. Jason then came up with an ingenious plan involving my newly acquired 9 inch Mole Grips.

He turned the sensor through 90 degrees and clamped the mole grips on as hard as he could. We then cut a couple of lengths of wood and with the rubber trim and plastic cover off of the scuttle tied two short lengths of nylon rope through the mole grips and with a 10 inch extension bar through the other end of the rope knelt on top of the engine an levered with all his might with both hands against the wood. It initially resisted this attempt at removal and I was getting concerned that either the grips would slip off or the rope would snap and I' have a dent in the bonnet as a result.

Fortunately Jason was determined not to be beaten and at the second time of asking, and with a Herculean effort, it came half way out, one more pull and it was free, hooray!
The first thing that struck me when we got it out was that some how this sensor had a sharp dent in the alloy lower part. It wasn't done on removal as Jason was very careful to pull it 100% square.
Having put a thin coat of grease on the new one and bolted it in I set about reassembling the parts I had removed, fuel line & regulator, MAF, air filter etc. As by now it was 11.00pm I only ran it up for a short while, I then went for a very short drive and got it up to operating temperature and it sat in my garage for a few minutes quite happily ticking over and being gently revved without cutting out. I shall run it up and drive it a bit further tomorrow night at a more sociable hour but I'm hoping my problem is solved, fingers crossed!

Thanks to everybody who offered advice and I apologise to the more refined mechanics on here for resorting to brute force and ignorance but boy was I glad when that SOB came out.

AO

Great job.

Bill Ball

No problem. My favorite tool is a hacksaw.

tv

Ed Scherer

Congrats!

Betcha you tipped a cold one after that!

Nice when an "Oh crap, will this ever end?" turns into an "I got it!". Especially satisfying when you can get immediate gratification by driving it after you get the new part in.

Mrmerlin

glad you got things sorted out