Thanks for the info. I did not know that the cam sensor would cause a loss of power issue as rpm/demand increases.

It has a new sensor and I am going to check that the JB Weld on the interruptor has held up and the magnet is still in place. I kept the old sensor and may put it back in and see if a difference if the rest checks out.

The grinding sound from the intake kinda sounds like air. I would assume the compressor sound could come from the intake?

Thanks for your help.
Doug

The cam sensor is mainly just a switch controlled by the cam gear interrupter magnet. When the magnet is away from the cam sensor, you will have 5 volts at the PCM connector, and when it is at the cam sensor you will have zero volts at the PCM connector. For my 93 Buick LeSabre Vin L, this is BA12 (Black connector, A12). You can bump the engine over and see the voltage go from 5 volts to zero to 5 volts. This is how it tells the computer when the cam is at the "home" position (can not think of the correct term at the moment). It only tells the computer this one bit of information, nothing else about the position of the cam any other time. It is using this information in couple with the crank position sensor.

I think I would disconnect the exhaust from the manifold and then take it out on the road (make sure the exhaust can not fall down on you) and see how it drives. This is a cheap test to see if the CAT is blocked; it is a 92. It could just be a coincidence that it happened after you changed out the cam sensor. The computer will think the exhaust is lean but that should not be a problem for this test.

Actually, it tells the ICM and the ICM tells the PCM.

Thanks for everyone'* help. The low power issue was caused by a blocked cat. I disconnected the exhaust from the manifold and ran stock car style. The car ran fine. When I cut the cat off, most of the guts fell on the floor in pieces. I have to run over a high mountain pass (11,500 ft) everyday commuting to work. I guess those climbs are what did it.

Now the bad news, the initial problem I was having is not fixed. The car stalls at highway speeds, usually after coasting (down from the pass) for a while and I apply light throttle. It will buck and stall. Sometimes it will backfire. Half the time I can put it in nuetral and restart while rolling. It may do it again it may not. This is what led me down the Camshaft sensor/inturruptor road. When I checked the interruptor, I could see it coming apart and I stuck an extention in there and the magnet came out stuck to it. The check engine light would never be on when restarted.

So today while testing driving it stalled. I was able to pull off and immediatly try to pull the codes. This is what I got:
Code 23 - Intake air temp - low
Code 34 - MAF - Low reading
Code 42 - Electronic Spark Timing Circuit (EST)

Kimberly, I am thinking you may be on to something with the MAF. I tested the connector and I am getting 11.5V and visually inspected the sensor. It looked fine. But who knows. I am thinking of replacing the MAF tomorrow and hope the Code 42 was caused by the Code 34. I don't think the temp code should cause this issue. This is getting frustrating, especially with having the blocked cat issue thrown in. Hope you are making progress on your issue. I hate car electronics.

Thanks for everyone'* help, I really appreciate it.

Doug

My car would stall coming to a stop. It would stall taking a sharp turn into a side road. Everyone keep saying it was the fuel pump. I came close to putting a new pump in mine. Just inspecting mine with the unaided eye it looked fine. I took a high power lens like a jeweller'* eye piece and examine it up really close and found out the wire was burned completely off. You need to look at it under a high power lens so you can actually see the fine wires wound on the core. Never saw a code for the MAF sensor even with one of the wires on the heated sensor completely burned away. The heated wire is the one that is out in the air flow. The MAF works by heating one wire element and then letting the air flow cool it, it calculates the difference between the heated and non heated to determine how much air is flowing into the intake. I had so call technicians over at a paid site kept on telling me to change out everything but the MAF.

The MAF tells the computer how much air is flowing into the intake and adjusts the fuel injectors according if I am thinking correctly. I could check my manual tomorrow. At the moment it is in the shed and there is about five to six inches of snow on the ground and it is 2:18 in the morning so I am not venturing out tonight. I don't think the computer would do anything with the spark timing based on the MAF data. It could just be a result of the stalling and nothing to worry about.

If you unplugged the MAF, and never cleared codes afterwards, that could account for your MAF code. I would suggest clearing codes, and letting it die again. Intake air temp code could set if the sensor is bad, or if you unplugged that at any time as well, but the third code does have me intrigued, and curious as to what would cause that.

Another thought, fuel levels. When you have these issues, is it usually when you have less than half a tank of gas?

This is probably not the problem, not sure which year it started being necessary, but I know with a lot of GM vehicles whenever you replace things like the CKP or CMP you want to get a crank relearn done, not getting one done would not be robbing you of power though.

My thoughts are the MAF as Kimberly suggested, I had issues with mine where the tip had become separated, and the tip would spin around inside the throttle body, and occasionally it would make the car chuggle, and lose power, and some times it would cut off and not start.
I removed the tip and the car ran again, and still had the same readings at idle, but I noticed my MAF was reading low, even after cleaning it with MAF cleaner.
The thermistors went partially bad somehow, maybe from my use of an oiled K&N filter, not saying it was for sure because I have read a few K&N debates, and I am not here to debate, just try to help another find a solution to their problem.