I recently purchased a nice 2004 DII SE with 121K on the odometer. I had the vehicle checked out by a reputable indy that services Land Rovers before I purchased the truck. Nothing major was found and the truck does not tick. In an attempt to make this truck as reliable as possible I have replaced/changed the following items within the last 2 weeks of ownership: oil & filter (twice), air filter, diff/auto trans/brake/power steering fluids, coolant, serpentine belt, plugs & wires, brakes & rotors turned, washed & waxed vehicle, cleaned battery terminals, cleaned throttle body, and degreased engine & underside of truck.

I am about to embark on a trip to Colorado Springs to deliver this vehicle to my son who is attending school at the Air Force Academy. I was in a quandary as to whether I should replace the CPS given that I had no prior knowledge of the last time this component had been replaced. There are a lot of desolate places between Texas and CS, however a lot of the threads that I have read would lead one to believe that it is relatively easy to replace the CPS. The question was whether I wanted to replace it on my terms, out on the road, or worse yet leave my son stranded somewhere after he takes ownership of the truck. My fatherly instinct (and logic) took over so I decided to replace the CPS 2 days before we depart which is now tomorrow morning. Let me just say that removing and installing the sensor itself is a no brainer. Disconnecting and reconnecting the CPS to the electrical harness is a whole other story.

I first crawled under the truck and removed the heat shield and the sensor within about 30 minutes. It was then I realized just how little space there is in this area without removing the exhaust system. I then figured out that I could remove the sensor to harness connections from the bracket, located on the backside of the engine block, with a long pry bar. I could not get my hands on the electrical connector from either the topside or the bottom side of the truck. In order to touch the connector from the topside, I had to position my body such that my knees were on top of the radiator support, my left hand on top of the intake manifold, and my right arm contorted so that it snaked under the left hand exhaust manifold, and my right hand blindly located behind the backside of the engine block. It was from this position that I was somehow able to disconnect the two halves of the electrical connection. At this point about an hour had passed so I thought that this was going to be relatively easy. I first loosely installed the new sensor with the spacers and nuts hand tightened. It was then that reality hit in that I had no earthly idea of how I was going to connect the new sensor to the wire harness given that I could only touch both pieces and had no way to get my hand around the connection to snap them together.

After several attempts from both the top and bottom sides of the truck I became very concerned that I was not going to be able to get the truck operating again before we were to leave for the trip. It was at this point that I realized that I could create a little more space near the connector if I could remove the bracket that once held the connector, from the backside of the engine block. With the bracket removed I was finally able to connect the sensor to the harness connector from the bottom side of the truck. This was done by using a long pry bar to hold the harness connector against the block and using my other hand to start the sensor side of the connection into the harness receptacle. From the topside I was able to get enough of my hand on the connector to snap the connectors together. I was then able to take the loose bracket and attach it to the completed electrical connection. I was then able to loosely install the bracket onto the backside of the block. I had to tighten the bolt that attached the bracket to the block from the underside of the truck using a 13mm socket and a short swivel head rachet. I then tightened up the sensor to the engine block and reinstalled the heat shield. Elapsed time 4.5 hours.

Verdict: Unless you have very small forearms and hands, you should not perform this task and expect to do it in 60 minutes without dropping the exhaust system. In addition, there is no way that I would want to perform this task on the road or trail as some of the threads would lead you to believe is possible. I have a lot of tools and used quite a few in my own garage to make this happen. I am 6’2” tall and weigh 230 lbs so relatively large people should not apply for this job unless you drop the exhaust system.

Hopefully, this long thread will allow you to learn from my mistakes. I also hope that I have done everything possible, and within my budget, to prevent this truck from breaking down between here and Colorado Springs. We will see.

 

Hehehe, next time wire tie the harness to a long screwdriver and reconnect it by pushing the plug together with the screwdriver =]

 

Good observations! Print a copy of this write up, then drop it in a 1 gallon zip lock bag along with the old CrPS and stick it under the back seat. When these things fail they usually give no advance notice...and this way he'll have a trail spare ready to go if needed.

 

Great ideas guys! That is why I like this forum so much. That zip tie idea is a great one. Just wish I would have had that in my bag of tricks last night. Would have probably saved me about 2 hours. The main thing is that I learn from having done something once and all your great advice/ideas. Thanks again.

 

I remember using a pair of long needle nose pliers, a long screwdriver and spending about half an hour spinning around on top of the engine trying to get my body and arms in the right position to get my hands in there (my joints always seemed to bend the wrong from what I wanted). I finally found one crazy position that worked well, what a pain in the butt.