Crank angle sensor

D

dosMarkos8to's

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What would be the symptoms of the crank angle sensor
going bad be on a Gen 1? Can the sensor going out
cause damage to the engine if driven 60 miles to
town to get it replaced?
Thanks, TMM
 
If the crank position sensor fails the car won't start
 
TEXAS MARKED MAN said:
What would be the symptoms of the crank angle sensor
going bad be on a Gen 1? Can the sensor going out
cause damage to the engine if driven 60 miles to
town to get it replaced?
Thanks, TMM
Click to expand...

True, if if it fails it wont start. Just want to add that when they start to fail you may get instances where it wont start on the first attempt, but will on the second. Sometimes it will not start all day, then the next day it will. If the car fails to start one can unplug the sensor and then plug it back in. This seems to work most of the time to get the car started. Its located towards the front of the engine on the passenger side between the AC compressor and block. Just above the oil pan. Its a "squeeze" plug. Squeeze the tab to unplug.

Replacement requires moving the AC compressor out of the way. It does not have to be removed, but you will have to remove the forward bolts and loosen the rear bolt. The belt will of course have to be un-tensioned.

If the senor is bad, there should be no issue in driving. The sensor mainly plays a role in starting the car. While it controls spark, I think the cam sensor may take over timing when running. Cam sensor also determines injector timing.
 
Yeh, I had one go bad once. Car just quit when I was going like 75mph down the Interstate.

Broken.jpg


Then when I put a new one in, it still wouldn't start. Then I got to thinking about what could have damaged the sensor like that and found this in the oil pan:

TriggerWheelBroken.jpg


What a pisser.....
 
NetKeym said:
Yeh, I had one go bad once. Car just quit when I was going like 75mph down the Interstate.

Broken.jpg


Then when I put a new one in, it still wouldn't start. Then I got to thinking about what could have damaged the sensor like that and found this in the oil pan:

TriggerWheelBroken.jpg


What a pisser.....
Click to expand...

WOW. Thats a new one!
 
Psychostang said:
You didn't recently put on a balancer with a hammer did you?
Click to expand...

Very intuitive.

No, not with a hammer, but with a torque wrench. Learned the hard way that I NEEDED to use a hammer since the balancer was obviously NOT seated against the trigger wheel properly.

When I fixed it (installed the balancer the 2nd time) I torqued it, then tapped the socket with a hammer, re-torqued, tapped with hammer, re-torqued. I repeated this process until the torque did not change and the balancer was obviously seated against the trigger wheel properly. Haven't had a problem since.

If I had used a balancer installer tool, I probably wouldn't have had this problem, I know (since I know some of you are going to tell me that).

BTW, I've heard of those older powered-metal wheels shattering before, but now I've experienced it first hand and learned a valuable lesson! On my 4.6L build, I'm using the newer stamped-steel version so this CAN'T happen.

TriggerWheelPMvsStampedSteel3.jpg
 
Hey, if you had used a balancer install tool, you probably wouldn't have had that problem!

:)
 
NetKeym said:
What else is there to say? lol
Click to expand...
Yes. Using the tool we heard a clatter on startup. Malleting the pulley in some showed it was not fully seated. Couple days latter on the dyno the motor came apart. Next motor we just malleted it on, tightened down, malleted some more, tightened down and that motor has 15k on it or so with the blower and as far as I know the issue has not returned. :)
 
LaserSVT said:
Yes. Using the tool we heard a clatter on startup. Malleting the pulley in some showed it was not fully seated. Couple days latter on the dyno the motor came apart. Next motor we just malleted it on, tightened down, malleted some more, tightened down and that motor has 15k on it or so with the blower and as far as I know the issue has not returned. :)
Click to expand...

That's EXACTLY what I did (ahem....the 2nd time). Now you have confirmed that is the one and only CORRECT way to install the crank pulley!

Sapperfire, BTW, that was pretty funny! :)
 
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