1989 ranger crank position senser question

[Steve1950]

Hi Guys, I am "helping" my 40 year old son with his 89 ranger. Lots of miles on this jacked up truck. Not jacked up bad but literally jacked up. The body is lifted making it hard for an older guy like me to get inside. Anyway I like to borrow the truck every once in a while so I try to help him when it needs work. It broke a while back and we determined it was the crank position senser. We fairly rushed the job and didn't get the sensor positioned right. The cam shaft appears to be one tooth off as well. My son said timing was advanced causing pinging and last time he tried the old ranger wouldn't even start. I went over to his house today put crank on TDC and cam is off the mark a little. Also looks like the crank position sensor has no clearance between the outer vane of the crankshaft pulley hub. The little red plastic positioning piece probably got swept up and thrown away so I can't use that. Can I just make sure the sensor is positioned evenly on both sides with a feeler gauge or piece of thick paper. I am fairly sure it is to tight now. Does the auxilary shaft have to be in any particular position? Should I get a special tool for moving the belt tensiorer or will a big screw driver or small crow bar work?. Mostly I would like some tips on that sensor install but any other advice would be appreciated. This is my first question and I hope I can figure out how to read any replys. I am planning on heading back over tomorrow and putting it back together. Thanks Steve ps I bought a new belt and tensioner to put on. Is it OK to reuse the old tensioner spring. My Dayco cheapo tensioner had no new spring.

 

[gaz]

Are you sure that your speaking of a 1989 Ranger; to the best of my knowledge, they don't have crank position sensors.

 

[Steve1950]

It without a doubt has CPS sensor. Possibly the engine may not be original for that year. Vehicle is highly modified. My son bought it second hand over 10 years ago so modification history is unknown. It appears to be stock 1989. I believe that was first year CPS was used. California vehicle. We changed the CPS it was not sending a signal so truck was dead. Now I need to reposition and can not find the little red plastic positioning tool that came with the new CPS. There seems to be no clearance between CPS and crank vane. Does anyone know what that gap is supposed to be I would rather just use a feeler gauge?

 

[RonD]

Yes, the 1989-1997 2.3l Lima 4cyl was distributorless so has a crank sensor, no distributor = has crank sensor

There was no specific air gap, the alignment tool just made sure there was a gap on both sides of vane, so it never touches the sensor, you can use a feeler gauge to set equal gaps on both sides
Rotate the crank a few turns to compensate for any wobble

1989-1994 years crank sensor is a Hall Effect sensor, so it has ground and 12v wire, then a signal wire that will show
0v/12v/0v/12v/0v/12v as the crank is turned, so off/on type sensor, so you can test if its working just by having key on and rotating crank with grounded volt meter on signal wire

 

[Steve1950]

Thanks Ron for the info.
Pulled out #1plug cranked the motor a little and got a good compression pop so figured it was TDC compression stroke. Set crank right on TDC mark and put cam on mark. Before putting the belt cover and belt pullies on thought I would test and see how it would run just in case I needed to do any more work on timing componets. It did not start. The motor made a couple awkward firing attempts. Reminded me of the first car I worked on back in the late 1960s. A Fiat 2100, that was a 4 door sedan with a straight 6. It was a minor basket case that I bought from my brother for $50. After getting it together it would not run either. A mechanic friend came over and turned the rotor 180 degrees & it started. Still needed a serious valve adjustment. I'm thinking this Ranger has a serious timing problem as well. It died that is why I am working on it. I just assumed the timing belt was a possible problem. When my son and I changed the sensor a few weeks ago we did not change the belt. When I took it apart a couple days ago I noticed the crank sensor had been rubbing on the vane. Several shinny spots and particles of stuff on the leading edge of the sensor. I am thinking the sensor got damaged. It had no clearance. What do you think? I did clean the CPS up and set it with clearance today before testing. I will check the signal as you suggested.
Thanks Steve

 

[pjtoledo]

the crank sensor won't /can't be out 180 if you are indeed at TDC. that trick is reserved for distributors and stuff driven by the camshaft.

for setting the gap I used a business card on Taurus' of that vintage, same setup as the SHO.

cut it into an L shape to check inside, rotate it slowly by hand.

 

[Steve1950]

Thanks for the additional information. I know it is a dumb question, but can the cam shaft be 180 off? While replacing the timing belt the motor was rotated with no belt on. I put crank on TDC and put cam mark on pointer when reassembling. I am fairly certain #1 was on compression stroke when I put the new belt on. I think the nasty missfiring and no start are due to a damaged CPS, it was set up with no clearance on the top. I don't want to mess with the timing belt if I don't have to. It was a little hard for me to push the tensioner over to one side to loosen belt tension.

 

[RonD]

The crank just has #1 TDC mark it doesn't have an exhaust or compression stroke

Cam has a #1 TDC compression stroke mark

The crank mark is at 12:00
The cam mark is at 4:00
AUX gear mark also needs to be at 12:00 at this time, as Cam sensor reads AUX gear to get cam timing, on 1989 and up 2.3l
So 1989 and up there are 3 marks that must be aligned

Can cam gear be 180deg off?
No, not really if you are talking about crank timing, because it IS 180deg off every other revolution of the crank
Crank turns 2 times for every 1 turn of Cam, so cam is at 0deg then 180deg then 0deg then 180deg, ect..... as far as crank is concerned

Cam gear could be 180deg off in relation to AUX gear

 

[Steve1950]

Wow Thanks I will check AUX gear I was not aware that AUX gear had to be in any particular position I will also double check and make sure I am on the compression stroke for #1. I will look for a mark on the AUX gear and set it at 12:00.

 

[RonD]

Cam gear uses triangle mark(4:00)
AUX gear uses a diamond mark(12:00)

Since BOTH gears are exactly the same they are often made with BOTH marks, a diamond and a triangle
And if you wear down a diamond shape......................it can look like a triangle, lol, yes IMO not at all well thought out

So look close

 

[Steve1950]

A little update. Put the aux shaft at 12degrees. Double checked crank & cam position, right on. No start. Just hard crank with slight missfires. Sounds like timing is way off. So I disconnected CPS and motor cranks fine, normal. No start of course due to no CPS. I am assuming CPS is shot and was sending firing signals way off causing the missfire symptoms. CPS was recently changed and not installed properly, rubbing on metal vane. I need to order a new CPS and install. I am fairly certain that will get this old Ranger running. Lets see I can get one from my local parts store for $120 or order one online for $25. That is a no-brainer. Of course if I couldn't wait a day or two I would fork over the $120. I will post when fixed. Blessings

 

[RonD]

12deg???

12:00(o'clock)

 

[Steve1950]

I set the AUX shaft straight up, 12:00 o'clock. Crank & Cam on TDC position. Carefully installed new CPS, I even followed directions. Truck runs fine now. CPS was bad. Lesson to be learned do the job right the first time. Working in the dark doesn't help either.
Thanks for following Mr. RonD I appreciated your advice.

 

[RonD]

Good Work

Thanks for the update

Its a group effort here I just type faster, lol, but thanks for the thanks

 

[scotts90ranger]

Just as a note the position of the aux shaft doesn't matter, on a '89-94 non California (apparently in mid '94 for Cali they added a cam sensor) truck the aux shaft only turns the oil pump.

I should check the intro page more often, but yes bad parts come out anymore, you just never know... stuff that used to last 1000 engine hours now lasts 5(singular) to 800 hours on average...