Cam Position Sensor
 

My CEL came on and I had Advanced scan it for me. It came up as Ignition Retarded/Cam Position Sensor. Don't recall the exact code. I ordered a new sensor, should be here today. Has anyone changed one of these and is able to shed some light on where it is or if it's difficult? I am mechanically inclined, so I have at least an idea of what's going on under the hood. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance...

I dont know what engine you have the 1st gen or 2nd gen but in general it should be on the right side of the motor on the cylinder head (right near the top of the motor) Very easy to remove should only be 1 bolt holding it in....Simply unclip the one thats in there, unbolt the bolt holding it in and put the new one in.....make sure not to tighten the bolt too much-hope this helps

when mine came on like that, i had to have i done by the dealer and it took them 1 1/2 days to do it. half of my motor had to be dug into.

Here is a good reference site for all Scion Documents including repair manuals/TSB's and various install PDF's. If I remember there was a TBS on certian year xB's/xA's that had this problem. Did you copy down the codes that were pulled? If so you can look them up. If a TBS was issued and if you qualify it might be covered. There was an Internal part that was failing and that caused the cam position sensor to throw the bad code.
http://scionlife.org/Scion_Docs/
Here is the TBS description pages
http://scionlife.org/Scion_Docs/Scio..._tsb_list.html
I think its this particular TSB and it is the Cam Shaft Timing Gear assembly that's going out. Check that your car is in the vin # production years and still under 6 years/60,000 mile power train warranty and you would be covered. good luck
http://scionlife.org/Scion_Docs/Scion_TSBs/eg00307.pdf

My mechanic said the sensor wouldn't resolve the problem, it was the Cam Shaft Timing Gear Assembly (mentioned above). My car was throwing the code every few weeks, would go out after a few days. It's now been 6 mo or more and no code and I didn't do anything! My '05 xB has 120k+ miles.