Engines are highly complex and have thousands of parts within them designed to work in unison. This includes large parts, such as an engine block and tiny mounts that keep everything bolted together. One of these parts that you can find in an engine is the crank sensor. This is a small part, but it plays a significant part in the engine’s inner workings. And, when this part fails, it can cause a lot of problems.
Remember that the engine has several moving parts that usually depend on one another’s movements so that the entire engine can operate effectively. The crank sensor is a tiny electronic gadget that monitors these movements and makes sure that everything is in place. This article discusses what you should know about a crank sensor.
Understanding The Crank Sensor
A crank sensor is usually called the crankshaft position sensor. The crank sensor is usually placed around the engine block, which can be upfront in your engine close to the timing cover.
It’s worth noting that the crankshaft is placed at the bottom of your car’s engine. It has a long shaft that goes through a crank system. Its only role is to absorb the reciprocating movement of your engine’s pistons moving up and down. These movements are caused by the combustion process. The crankshaft can then translate these upward and downward movements of the pistons into rotational movements. This can be put into the flywheel which is attached to the transmission. Now, the combustion power of your engine can rotate the wheels.
When it comes to the crank sensor, it can monitor the rotational speed and position of the crankshaft. The analysis is collected by the electronic management systems of your engine. The data shows the speed of the crankshaft spins to enable the electronic management system to control the fuel injection and the ignition system. You should note that both of these can help to improve the performance and fuel efficiency of your engine.
The Things That Can Cause The Crank Sensor To Fail
Simply put, you need the crank sensor to be in perfect condition so that it can control the ignition and fuel injection systems. There are a couple of reasons why your crank sensor can no longer function.
You should remember that the crank sensor can be placed on the flywheel, camshaft, or crank pulley. Because of this, the assembly of the sensor usually receives a lot of heat from your engine as well as its surrounding components.
The sensor comes with a small circuit board inside and some wiring and copper coils. These are all in a plastic casing. Therefore, when there is a lot of heat, the build-up temperature may cause some damage to the internal circuitry. Sometimes, it can be too hot inside to start melting the plastic casing that keeps the crank sensor. As a result, the crank sensor gets damaged in the long run. In such cases, you need to buy another crank sensor to replace the damaged one.