4.6 northstar

hi…I own a 93 sts 4.6l northstar…how do I test crankshaft sensors?

The usual test is the engine won’t start. OR the engine dies and won’t re-start until it cools off. I believe you can test for AC output voltage as the engine cranks. See instructions here:

BTW, this took 5 seconds to google…

Whatever he googled he found himself here. I wonder what he entered on his search line.

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:wink:

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Diy’ers will verify the problem is caused by spark with a spark test, and if so – and there’s no other visual clue like a wire to the sensor has frayed, or there’s damage to the ring the sensor senses – will often just replace a questionable crank sensor. If that solves the problem, they know why. Shops have more sophisticated test equipment, such as the manufacture’s scan tool, ignition system testing equipment, digital oscilloscopes, etc and can test crank position sensors during cranking with that. It usually has to be failing at the time of the testing of course. For intermittent symptoms which are heat related, even shops possessing the hi-tech tools, a lot of crank position sensors are simply replaced with crossed fingers I expect.

Ever heard of a heat gun?
Very helpful in diagnosing heat related issues as you can heat up a very select part/area.
They are used to diagnose intermittent or suspect heat related failures of electronic circuits and I use one at home for both electronic and automotive diagnostics…and the more traditional use for heat shrink tubing… :wink:

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There’s a product that sprays a very cold aerosol that electronics types use to test for heat related problems too. For intermittent failures, they wait until the suspected part fails, then spray it with the cold spray to see if it starts working again. Sometimes they’ll not know which part it is, so they spray each part on the circuit board until it starts working again, then they know which is the faulty part. That latter idea wouldn’t work so well on a car, you’d have to have several cases of the cold spray … lol …

The version I’ve used is called “CRC Freeze Spray”.

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