A bit stumped here on this 100+ degree Chicago day!!!


My wife was driving my 04' when at a stop light while the Disco was stopped she said she heard the car's AC surge the check engine light came on and it shut down.

When I came to the rescue in my spectacular normal fashion I went right to the battery which had over 12 volts. Assuming that the atermator was now good I jumped in and it started up to my surprise. My wife clearly thinks I am under the assumption she is making this stuff up just to test my shade tree machanic skills. Checked the alternator output and all was good. Check my peak coolant temp on my aftermarket temp gauge and no over-heat issue, coolant at level.

Drove it home about 8 miles with no issue.

Any thoughts on what would cause this? When a Crank Position Sensor goes bad would it not be a hard failure?

 

Not usually. Sometimes, they may set a code, but most likely not. Given the temperature, the symptoms, and your "response time" it is most likely the crank sensor.

 

I wish the Crank sensor was a value you can pick up on a scan tool or is it??

 

Just went to started it and the engine cranked but no ignition. Gotta be the crank sensor right?? does anyone know how to test the sensor using a multimeter?

 

You'd probably need a graphing meter, because you are looking at pulses. I doubt it would test completely bad, except during time of failure.

 

You can't test it, takes special equipment, just buy a new one and move on.