Car dies randomly. Bad crankshaft position sensor?
02-20-2009, 05:41 PM
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Car dies randomly. Bad crankshaft position sensor?
I have had a few issues with the tach dropping to zero in the past, but it was no big deal because the car still ran fine.....
The next few times it would happen the engine would also stutter as it dropped to zero, but the car still ran fine after the initial stutter.
Now more recently the car has been dying randomly, and it is extremely random. It can go multiple days without issues and it happens in many different conditions. Sitting at a stop sign, going down a hill, doing a 10 mph left turn, and also with the car at full or almost full throttle. I shift into neutral and start it back up without any problems. And then the car will run just like nothing ever happened.
This last time it happened I was going down a fairly steep hill at about 65ish and I didn't notice if it stuttered or just died as if someone reached over and turned the key. But I am fairly certain that at other times in the past it stuttered and died.
But I am definitely leaning towards a bad crankshaft sensor because of the difference it made to fbody69'* car with the replacement.
Update; The car runs like new again. I would like to post the symptoms I had for the crank sensor; Intermittent stalling. No way to predict it. The car would almost always restart right away. On three ocasions in a year the engine took 5 minutes to restart. The car always ran good after restart. Tach drops to zero occasionally. One thing that was prominent was late shifting. Usually only when the car was cold, sometimes even when it was warm. Every day when I first took off it would stay in first until I let off and hit the gas again. After a couple miles it shifted fine most of the time.
I have to think that all of these symptoms were the crank sensor because they are all gone now that I changed it.
My problems are almost identical to this, and I think I may even have the shifting problem. My boyfriend has noticed on occasion that it doesn't seem to shift when it should or it would wait too long to shift. But that'* all I know about that.....no details....
So I guess my main questions are if I do the test that Danthurs suggests and the crankshaft sensor does seem to be the culprit, Where is the best place to buy a new one and is it something that is easily replaced?
The next few times it would happen the engine would also stutter as it dropped to zero, but the car still ran fine after the initial stutter.
Now more recently the car has been dying randomly, and it is extremely random. It can go multiple days without issues and it happens in many different conditions. Sitting at a stop sign, going down a hill, doing a 10 mph left turn, and also with the car at full or almost full throttle. I shift into neutral and start it back up without any problems. And then the car will run just like nothing ever happened.
This last time it happened I was going down a fairly steep hill at about 65ish and I didn't notice if it stuttered or just died as if someone reached over and turned the key. But I am fairly certain that at other times in the past it stuttered and died.
But I am definitely leaning towards a bad crankshaft sensor because of the difference it made to fbody69'* car with the replacement.
Update; The car runs like new again. I would like to post the symptoms I had for the crank sensor; Intermittent stalling. No way to predict it. The car would almost always restart right away. On three ocasions in a year the engine took 5 minutes to restart. The car always ran good after restart. Tach drops to zero occasionally. One thing that was prominent was late shifting. Usually only when the car was cold, sometimes even when it was warm. Every day when I first took off it would stay in first until I let off and hit the gas again. After a couple miles it shifted fine most of the time.I have to think that all of these symptoms were the crank sensor because they are all gone now that I changed it.
So I guess my main questions are if I do the test that Danthurs suggests and the crankshaft sensor does seem to be the culprit, Where is the best place to buy a new one and is it something that is easily replaced?
02-20-2009, 08:32 PM
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Make sure you check your battery cables. A bad connection there can cause intermittent problems like stalling.
A good place to get parts is at Auto Parts Fast at RockAuto
A good place to get parts is at Auto Parts Fast at RockAuto
02-21-2009, 08:19 PM
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my bonne is also having some issues similar , i was driving and the car cut off but it starts back up and runs then cuts off again. it turns over and starts but cuts right back of, if i give it gas it revs then cuts off as if its out of gas . i just put a new fuel pump in it and it has 1/4 tank of gas in it.
02-21-2009, 09:35 PM
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Your description is typical of a crank sensor. Battery cables on the 00+'* don't usually come loose or have corrosion issues like the earlier models, double checking them is always a good idea, free, quick and easy.
The tach does give you an indication though. If possible try and have the car scanned for codes. Even if the light is not on, certain codes may be stored and give you clues to the stalling. Like a lack of communication to tach or similar code that mentions crank sensor.
The tach does give you an indication though. If possible try and have the car scanned for codes. Even if the light is not on, certain codes may be stored and give you clues to the stalling. Like a lack of communication to tach or similar code that mentions crank sensor.
02-21-2009, 10:59 PM
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Thanks for all the responses and help on my car issues!!
I will have to do a couple of tests and see what I come up with, but after reading up on the site and what BillBoost said I am leaning more towards the crankshaft sensor.
I will check the battery cables first and then move on to the different tests.
The check engine light was on and has been for a while, but it came on because of the o2 sensors a while back and I hadn't gotten the codes cleared. I didn't know if there were possibly any other codes so I had it read.
I had 6 codes, 4 for the o2 sensors and 2 about an emissions leak, which I told is most commonly the gas cap being on too tight or not tight enough. Pretty sure that doesn't have anything to do with the crank sensor though.....
I will have to do a couple of tests and see what I come up with, but after reading up on the site and what BillBoost said I am leaning more towards the crankshaft sensor.
I will check the battery cables first and then move on to the different tests.
The check engine light was on and has been for a while, but it came on because of the o2 sensors a while back and I hadn't gotten the codes cleared. I didn't know if there were possibly any other codes so I had it read.
I had 6 codes, 4 for the o2 sensors and 2 about an emissions leak, which I told is most commonly the gas cap being on too tight or not tight enough. Pretty sure that doesn't have anything to do with the crank sensor though.....
02-21-2009, 11:26 PM
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Oh and yes, thank you for the parts website.
Make sure you check your battery cables. A bad connection there can cause intermittent problems like stalling.
A good place to get parts is at Auto Parts Fast at RockAuto
A good place to get parts is at Auto Parts Fast at RockAuto
02-22-2009, 07:00 AM
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scanned for codes none found and just replaced battery last month cables are tight so i'm thinking tps or crank sensor but just needed a second opinion. and if it is a sensor i should have a code for that right?
02-22-2009, 11:43 PM
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Just a quick question, not related to the crankshaft sensor at all....
Got my engine codes read yesterday and had codes for both oxygen sensors....I don't remember the codes but I think that they were 140 or 141. But I'm pretty sure the book description for the numbers was circuit malfunction.
These codes continue to come back after cold starts, and multiple tanks of premium gas, so I know it'* just not a tank of bad gas......but isn't it weird for both oxygen sensors to fail at the same time?
What are the chances that they actually failed? Or what can I clean or check before I go out and buy new ones that I might not even need?
Thanks!
Got my engine codes read yesterday and had codes for both oxygen sensors....I don't remember the codes but I think that they were 140 or 141. But I'm pretty sure the book description for the numbers was circuit malfunction.
These codes continue to come back after cold starts, and multiple tanks of premium gas, so I know it'* just not a tank of bad gas......but isn't it weird for both oxygen sensors to fail at the same time?
What are the chances that they actually failed? Or what can I clean or check before I go out and buy new ones that I might not even need?
Thanks!
Last edited by MissRockstar04; 02-22-2009 at 11:45 PM. Reason: Information wrong-fixed