Crankshaft Sensor

[If PigsCouldfly]

Is there any way to test the crankshaft sensor. It is actually the one in my wife's Cirrus. I don;t normally work on my vehicles to much, but because of the slow down in work, I am forced to do my best. Thanks.

 

[Earl43P]

Possibly.
You'd need to figure out which wires coming from it, but creative use of an analog multimeter should show the pulse. I'd try on the ohms scale, k ohms and millivolts, ac and dc. You ought to be able to see the needle swing on one of those settings, once per crank revolution.

You should first read some resistance through it, since it is a coil. I have no idea how many ohms to look for. If you can't get that, replace it.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

the toner ring that most crank sensors read from has dozens of teeth...each tooth will create a pulse. so you wont be getting one pulse per crank revolution, you'll get like...20.

i dont know if an analog VOM will respond quick enough to show a good pulse. maybe if you cranked the engine over slowly by hand while watching the meter...

but most of the time, a simple continuity test of the coil is sufficient to tell if the sensor is working.