I’ve owned my disco 2 for about a year and a half, and the crank sensor has given me hell the entire time. I’ve replaced it twice, the first time about a month after I got the car, then again about a week ago. When it went out the most recent time, I was on the interstate and it went into limp mode. It was, of course, crank code p0327. Made it home, parked it overnight, tried to crank it in the morning, and it would turn over, but wouldn’t start. Ordered a new CkP from AB, installed it, and it ran like a charm. Drove 20ish miles with no problem. Then one day I try to start it, and it does the same thing it was before I replaced it, turning over but not starting. Read the codes, P0327 again. Hasn’t started since. Any advice?

 

Assuming this isn't a faulty sensor out of the box, which apparently is a possibility these days, I would check the wiring harness for melty bits or corroded pins on the connectors. If it all checks out visually you may want to get a voltmeter and ohm out the harness to the ECU. You may even need to secure the leads to the wires at each end and shake the harness to look for fluctations in resistance, indication a poor connection or a short.

 

Make sure it's a Bosch brand Ckp part number ERR-7354 or Echlin #CSS9280 (supposedly a Bosch brand in NAPA box).
Also make sure you are installing the two spacers correctly.

 

Since it’s already put 2 other crank sensors out of commission, I’m assuming it’s an issue with the car and not the sensor. Also, where are the connectors?

 

I made VERY sure I got the right part. I’ve heard horror stories about folks buying the aftermarket ones, spending hours of work on their car only to find that the issue is the brand new part.

 

Just so we're clear, you mean the crank sensor back near the trans, correct? You included the k so I assume you mean crank and not cam. It requires a heat shield which if not present can lead to premature failure of the crank sensor due to the proximity to the exhaust and the lack of natural airflow. The connector is about 4" upstream from the sensor itself. You can pull it apart and give the pins a visual to make sure none of them are bent or otherwise out of position. There's nothing with the vehicle itself that will "kill" a crank sensor, apart from heat. It's either a failed sensor for whatever reason, or a bad connection to the ECU. And, the two failures years apart can be (and probably are) unrelated. My guess is you either got a defective sensor, the connection is poor, or something damaged the wiring harness somewhere between the sensor and the ECU.

If you meant cam sensor at the front of the engine then most of this still applies, however I don't think there's a hear shield on that and heat isn't as much of a problem since it's behind the fan, and not hear the exhaust.

 

Let me rephrase. I don’t think the issue is with the sensor itself, and is more likely the connection to the ECU because of the number of sensors that haven’t worked on it. Also yes, I’m talking about the crankshaft position sensor on the bell housing.

 

Do you have the heatshield in place? It seems like you said you installed the replacement sensor yourself, that's the connection I was talking about checking. Otherwise it will be a straight run to the ECU, and that's what you should look into next once you've verified the connection from the sensor to the harness is good.

 

It has the heat shield, although it didn’t when I got it, although I don’t know if the previous lack of shielding would have any affect on it in its current state.

 

just re-did my connector. The wire was frayed some and the insulation was gone about 2 inches above the amp2 connector. Took the connector apart, could not get the small crimp apart figuring I would break it, so solder new piece of wire in the large part of the crimp, Strange, went to crank, would not fire, just turned over. (like what happened to you maybe?). I knew the polarity was correct, marked it, Checked everything, with meter, no fire. I tried a few times more to crank, then it cranked right up. Maybe the ECU had to clear the memory or something. Fires up ever time okay now. Now I'll see if that resolved my no turn over/no crank issue when it is HOT after driving a while then stopping a few minutes and restarting.