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Crankshaft sensor needing to be replaced?

Old Aug 23, 2010 | 04:59 PM
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Default Crankshaft sensor needing to be replaced?

Little bit of a background before I go into details. My car is a 2002 Z28 with about 64,500 miles. Car is daily driven (90% is highway driving at 65-75).

Anyways, the car has been fine for the most part. Recently, my car randomly had problems starting. What I mean by that is I went ot start my car one morning, and it wouldn't start. The problem is intermittent; literally, of every 10 times I start my car, 8/10 it starts fine, the other two times, it'll seem like it's turning over fine, but honestly gets no gas or something. The starter seems fine, so I took it the shop, fearing that it was my fuel pump. Anyways, had the fuel filter replaced (hadn't been replaced since I got the car 2 years ago) and was told the fuel pump was fine, a consistent 55 psi. The mechanic I believe said he thinks it's the crankshaft sensor, which is usually a decently expensive repair. Is this a common problem with LS1's, and does that sound like it could be the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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Old Aug 23, 2010 | 05:21 PM
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Changing the CPS is not that difficult. Just unbolt the starter and remove the little 10mm bolt that holds the CPS to the block. Pull out the old sensor and install the new one. Then reverse of removal.

If you in fact had a faulty crank sensor that was intermittently losing signal I think you would also have intermittent missfires that would make your car studder or shut off while running entirely. But I am not certain on this. Also you should be throwing a code if your sensor was bad.
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Old Aug 23, 2010 | 05:26 PM
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Originally Posted by ss.slp.ls1
Changing the CPS is not that difficult. Just unbolt the starter and remove the little 10mm bolt that holds the CPS to the block. Pull out the old sensor and install the new one. Then reverse of removal.

If you in fact had a faulty crank sensor that was intermittently losing signal I think you would also have intermittent missfires that would make your car studder or shut off while running entirely. But I am not certain on this. Also you should be throwing a code if your sensor was bad.

That's also what I thought but nothin. Never have had the car shut off and studder while driving, though...
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Old Aug 23, 2010 | 06:13 PM
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Originally Posted by ss.slp.ls1
Changing the CPS is not that difficult. Just unbolt the starter and remove the little 10mm bolt that holds the CPS to the block. Pull out the old sensor and install the new one. Then reverse of removal.

If you in fact had a faulty crank sensor that was intermittently losing signal I think you would also have intermittent missfires that would make your car studder or shut off while running entirely. But I am not certain on this. Also you should be throwing a code if your sensor was bad.
He's right. Thats what hapened to mine. It ended up being the headers were burning the wires. But thats the exact symptoms and it did throw a code.

You might have another problem.
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Old Aug 23, 2010 | 08:55 PM
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Well got the car back from the mechanic. He said everything with the car is perfect, only thing he can think of is the ignition lock? I guess he said that when you put the key in, the security light just basically flash when the car turns on (mines stays on for 10 seconds?) and that it's most likely the sensor on the key not working, that's why the problem is so hit and miss. Sometimes it registers, sometimes it doesn't. Said that he'll look into seeing if he can have a guy program the ignition system because he can replace it, but it's supposed to be something only dealerships do...
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Old Aug 23, 2010 | 09:29 PM
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yea its a sounds like a vats problem its pretty common on these cars
easiest thing to do is just have your tuner tune out the vats and if it starts cuting the starter replace the relay with a jumper wire

there is a thread somewhere that explains it all
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Old Aug 24, 2010 | 12:52 AM
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Originally Posted by tripblackls1
yea its a sounds like a vats problem its pretty common on these cars
easiest thing to do is just have your tuner tune out the vats and if it starts cuting the starter replace the relay with a jumper wire

there is a thread somewhere that explains it all
Yeah, he said he would call a guy and see if he could do the tune, because he can replace the ignition lock but doesn't know how to do the tune. At the very least, this justifies me getting LT's finally and the tune, if I now "need" one...
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Old Aug 24, 2010 | 10:56 AM
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Originally Posted by DobsZ28
Yeah, he said he would call a guy and see if he could do the tune, because he can replace the ignition lock but doesn't know how to do the tune. At the very least, this justifies me getting LT's finally and the tune, if I now "need" one...
One thing that is strange is that if your BCM was not picking up your pellet value properly, not only will it not send the fuel enable signal to the PCM to ground the injectors, but it should also not be grounding out the starter relay meaning the engine would be turning over. But I don't think the security light should be staying on for 10 seconds before going off. You can bypass the VATS yourself using a resistor wired inline to the BCM that matches the pellet in your key. Pretty simple. Otherwise just wait until you get your tune.
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Old Aug 24, 2010 | 11:45 PM
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Originally Posted by ss.slp.ls1
One thing that is strange is that if your BCM was not picking up your pellet value properly, not only will it not send the fuel enable signal to the PCM to ground the injectors, but it should also not be grounding out the starter relay meaning the engine would be turning over. But I don't think the security light should be staying on for 10 seconds before going off. You can bypass the VATS yourself using a resistor wired inline to the BCM that matches the pellet in your key. Pretty simple. Otherwise just wait until you get your tune.

Hmmm...yeah the car definitely tries to start and turn over, just zero gas.
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