Car won't start, Crankshaft Sensor?? How do you change this?

Hello,

Well my 98 Contour SE would not start this past Monday. Well it cranks but just won't turn over. Was almost like it was not getting gas but the fuel pump sounds like it is working. Found some other info that it could possibly be the Crankshaft Position Sensor so I did order one of those today to try. Was wondering how hard this is to change and what it all intails for a do it yourselfer like my self. Was hoping to rule this out before getting raped at the dealership. Any thoughts on my problem or sensor would be much appreciated. Thanks so much.

Chad

is your car an mtx or atx?

Its an MTX

Its an MTX

did you try giving it a push start?

Here's a quick way to determine if the crankshaft sensor circuit is in good working order: turn key to the "on" position: the Check Engine Light should be lit. Now turn the key to the "crank" position and the CEL should turn off. If the CEL stays on while cranking, then the most likely cause would be a dead crank sensor.

obviously, if your CEL lights up when your engine is on... you have a CHECK ENGINE CODE! any one with half a brain can figure out that... if you bone heads know what a DVOM is, you can check it out while cranking your engine to check for a pulse of 12 volts on and off.

obviously, if your CEL lights up when your engine is on... you have a CHECK ENGINE CODE! any one with half a brain can figure out that... if you bone heads know what a DVOM is, you can check it out while cranking your engine to check for a pulse of 12 volts on and off.

First of all, before you call us boneheads learn your material and quit being so ignorant! You use an OBD-II scanner to pull the codes on our cars, unless you have a 95 contour which used OBD-I.

Secondly, were talking about determining whether the crankshaft sensor is bad, not whether he has a check engine light. Obviously if the check engine light comes on and it says, "Check Engine", none of us are going to be scratching our heads wondering what it means. Seriously, I cant believe you even wasted your time and bandwidth and it has nothing to do with the subject matter. :screwy:

does any body know where the fuel shut off switch is at in a 1999 contour sport

Under the dash I believe..

I too am having a similar problem.

Occasionally my 98.5 svt will crank but won't start. I push start it and it's fine for a while. It's hard to assign a pattern to the problem. It may be aggrivated by moist or rainy weather. It happens rarely so it could just be a coincidence. Also my check engine light is on, but I've not checked it thus far.

If the problem is suspected to be the crank sensor, does anyone have insight into it's replacement. Can the crank sensor fail intermittently. Could it simply be an intermittent connection to the sensor? Thanks.

BTW what exactly is a crank sensor?