Crankshaft Sensor

sts70004

Registered User
I think my crankshaft sensor has gone out, my car died on the freeway on the way home from the airport, and failed to restart. The upshift light turned off during cranking but it still wouldn't start. I went to try and start it again the other day to double check the upshift light, and it started, and ran for about 30 seconds before starting to idle roughly again and then die. More cranking, the upshift light turned off, but briefly blinked on during cranking. Two questions:

1) Does this sound like a crankshaft sensor to you?

2) More or less just a curiosity, why do these sensors fail? Not simply, due to old age, but what exactly causes them to cease to function?
 
You know, I did look, and its broken off, but the balancer has zero wobble whatsoever, which also confused me :confused: It doesn't wobble at all and its not misaliged with the other pulleys. So I don't think its broken. I checked the balancer when it started for 30 seconds and ran. I can't wobble it by hand either.
 
It's possible that the balancer is moving back and forth and that the sensor vanes are not going thru the sensor and triggering it. That's what my old one did when it broke. It didn't wobble but moved forward on the crank snout and the hub was broken where it necks down. The mechanic could push it back in place but w/o the bolt to hold it, it moved forward again and the motor would die. Take the belts off and see if it's loose and will fall off. Dorman makes a replacement balancer and they can be found new on ebay for about $200 or so.
 
I couldn't move mine by hand either when the bolt broke mind you, I can't apply 200 hp and thousands of rpm to it either.

Unfortunately for you, you will have to replace it.

I got my Dorman unit from Amazon for $155.00

regards

Sean
 
Well I pulled codes to check if the PIP circuit had failed, but here's what I got:

21, 24, 21, 24, 1 (1 flash followed by a long pause), 11, 11

Those codes (with the exception of that lonely 1) are ACT and ECT sensors I believe. When you crank the car, it fires, but doesn't start. The first time I cranked it after I got it home after it died, it ran for 2-3 minutes before dying again, and it hasn't started since. I would think if it were a broken balancer and crank sensor (which I am replacing, they're hopefully coming soon, I'm just broke, and I want to pinpoint the problem, so I know exactly what needs to be done) I'd get a PIP code, not a ECT and ACT, and it wouldn't even fire...
 
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