Crank sensor issue

[jimnielsen]

Unfortunately my trip to Phillip Island Raceway did not go well!! - The car seemed to go fine for 1/2 of practice then it suddenly started to run as though the timing was 20-30 degrees retarded - no power and no acceleration - it was all I could do to nurse the car back to the pits. This happened each of the four times that I took the car out on the track - the car would start ok, do a warmup lap - then as soon as I tried to really get it going it would behave in the same fashion... It seemed to be running on all four cylinders - just not very well..

I checked the error log on the Autronic ECU and it reported timing sensor errors. I then spent a long time messing around with the CAM timing sensor between each run, as I suspected that the problem lay there - but nothing would fix the issue.

When I got the car home this morning and on the hoist I decided to check the 'other' sensor on the crank shaft and found that when I had reassembled the car a couple of weeks ago, i had made it possible for the crank sensor wire to come into contact with the belt and the pulley of the power steering pump - and so there was some serious damage to the outer casing of the crank sensor cable with the braid fully exposed...

Now.. I am inclined to believe that this contact has caused the problems that I was having.. surely it cant just be co-incidence????

what do you think..

[Steve Webb]

It would only take one strand of the braiding to be in contact with the core to cause you probs so i'd say its no coincidence that the sensor lead has been worn away and you are having sensor related problems.
Can you get a new one relatively easily or maybe there is a reliable sparky over there who can repair and test the lead.

Shame it buggered up your weekend. Anything else tasty out on the track?

[AlfaJack]

Had that problem on mine too. Caused a massive hesitation at points which I suspect is when it fell on to the running belt.

[jimnielsen]

I put the crank sensor on from my 'spare engine' - it seems to work fine in the garage, I hope to test it under load before I take the car to the track again..

I would like to purchase a new crank sensor - is this a good price?


http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Alfa-Fiat-Lancia-crank-sensor-Magneti-Marelli-SEN8I-/290455721164?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item43a08294cc


thanks, jim..

[wrinx]

I'd drop "ae-car" a message via ebay to see if he can get one, always pretty good on prices, if it's the same you have your answer :)

wrinx

[SteveNZ]

That looks like a good price on the new sensor. I've always had to pay around the $100 mark.

[Steve Webb]

I've just had a quick check of MM parts and have come across the 2 documents attached to this post. Both are in French but you should be able to decipher them. The first is a list of all MM injection parts, and the second is the retail price list (For France) for April 2011.

If you do a cross reference of the 2 docs you see the list price of the Sen8I crank sensor is ?95.81 .

So I'd say thay ebay price is very good indeed.