'98 Lumina 3.1 crank sensor

[Ragman]

My '98 Lumina is hard to start. The starter needs to turn several times before the engine will start, but once it's running, it's fine. I've decided, from reading some of the other posts here, that the first step in the process of elimination would be to replace the crankshaft sensor. It appears to be about a $20-30 part and would like to make an attempt to replace it myself. While I'm not totally auto-illiterate, my knowledge of "todays" cars is limited, as is my patience when things don't go as planned .

Can anyone give me the basics on what's involved in replacing it (including it's location) and, if available, what the book time is in case I want to have a shop do it?

Thanks, Jim

[sysopt]

I could be very wrong, but I think you have a fuel system problem, not a crank sensor problem. You would need a fuel pressure guage to properly diagnose it. I believe this car is equipped with two crank sensors, one of them is right by the crank pulley. I think the other is hooked into the wall of the block. I think its just an unfasten, remove, replace sort of thing.