[jeepfreak_5]

I am the one that started the thread entitled, “Need help getting home for Christmas”[/[/B]B] dated 21 Dec 2008. I greatly appreciate all the responses that I received. I am told that the managers of these sites do not like individuals starting new threads that are already being discussed, however, I wanted to ensure that this information was disseminated to each jeep owner as fast as possible. I will not make a habit of making new threads and I hope I am not wasting your time and telling you something you already know.
You can read the previous thread to catch you up on all the attempts to diagnose my jeeps issue. The moral of the story is that the check engine light kept coming on and the code was the #3 cylinder was misfiring. The last entry stated that I changed the distributor cap and at the time I believed that fixed the problem. Unfortunately it did not.
On Christmas day I swapped the #3 and #4 injectors to see if I could trouble shoot a bad injector. While the fuel rail was out I did my best to clean each injector.
The next day I pulled the crankshaft-positioning sensor to familiarize myself with this device. After pulling it I noticed that it was covered in road crime. I took a shop towel and sprayed it with WD-40 and wiped it off.
After replacing it I have noticed that all my power is back to normal, my gas mileage has increased from normally getting 180 to 220 miles per tank, to now getting 300 miles per tank.
My hat is off to the person that pointed me in the direction to the crankshaft-position sensor. My jeep did not have all the symptoms his did but I never even knew it existed. With today’s economy I wanted to make certain that I shared this information so that maybe you could benefit from such a simple fix and increase your gas mileage.
I am knocking on wood in hopes that this was all that was wrong with my jeep but as for now I am surprised in the difference this simple task has made. I will start pulling mine at every oil change to receive the optimal gas mileage that my jeep is capable of obtaining.
This is either proof that a clean vehicle runs better or maybe it is still something different and my jeep ran better today because of the warmer temperatures, but you can’t argue with the gas mileage. GOOD LUCK & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

[BlueFlame]

Yep, that road crime hurts us all. Cops around here are cracking down on it...

j/k
Thanks for the heads up!

[Stafford]

That crank sensor is a weird little bugger, my ride wasn't starting and I was getting 'no bus' errors on the dash cluster typically associated with a failed cluster or bad connection. Replaced the crank sensor and good as new.

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by jeepfreak_5

The next day I pulled the crankshaft-positioning sensor to familiarize myself with this device. After pulling it I noticed that it was covered in road crime.

If that's not a felony, it ought to be!!!

[jknutter]

Whew, I thought this was going to be another cold air intake thread.

[dbbd1]

For those of us that do not know, where is the crank position sensor?

[Stafford]

Originally Posted by dbbd1

For those of us that do not know, where is the crank position sensor?

http://4x4xplor.com/cps.htm

[dbbd1]

^ Thanks.

[Mitchin]

thank you can we see a dirty one and how haqrd was it to get out and is this idiot proof to take out and clean????? =D

[Tom Hartz]

Mine is being a real pain to get out. I think it is because the Rubicon Express long arm belly pan lifts up the transmission and transfer case. The CPS is hitting a lip on the body and I cannot get it to come out. I think a little work with a BFH will do the trick.

Tom

[dbbd1]

I love BFH's.

[Jerry Bransford]

One more sensor in addition to the crankshaft position sensor that can get covered in road grime and road tar are, if you have them, the ABS sensors at each wheel. Years ago when I still had ABS in my TJ (and I do miss it), the ABS started giving me trouble and lighting up the ABS light. It turned out that one of the ABS sensors was covered in road tar/grime.

[vtjeepguy97]

could a dirty crankshaft sensor cause the jeep to missfire and have electrical problems going to through the coils and distributor?

[mudb8]

some look like this one off of my 03 auto tranny, located just above the starter.
wasn't even bad, the contact on the flexplate was coated with mud.

[brooksjeep]

thanks man, pretty interesting.