Pontiac Repair: crank shaft sensor, crank shaft, noid light

Question
QUESTION: where is the crank shaft sensor located on a pontiac grand am 1996 2.4 liter?

ANSWER: Hi Marsha.

It located in the side of the engine block near the oil filter wich is in the front side of the engine. It's towards the bottom of the block near the oil pan it will have 2 wire on it yellow and purple. BE VERY CAREFUL when you pull it out they become brittle from the heat and have a tendenct to break off at the top where the connector is. once you remove the bolt that holds it in spary some penetrating oil all around it and twist it around sisde to side to work in the oil before you attempt to pull it out. good luck :}


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Todd,
We changed the crank shaft sensor. The computer is now not showing any codes but the car will still not start.  It turns over, but wont fire.  Any suggestions?

ANSWER: did your check to see if the car has spark or injector pulse? you need a spark tester to check for spark and a "noid" light to check for injector pulse. depending on what it's missing would point to either an ignition module or a engine control module. untill you know what you missing you can't go much further. It if has spark and injector pulse the other 2 things you need are fuel pressure and compression. the fuel pumps do go bad on these cars and also on this engine if it has a lot of miles and the maintence was not kept up on  it they have issues where the timing jumps for the cam shafts and then they are missing enough compression that they will not run. good luck :}


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We found the problem there. Now it starts, but when you give it gas, it acts like it is going to die. Any suggestions on that?  Hubby thinks it may be injectors? What is your advice?

Answer
I would check the fuel pressure If it doesn't have enough it would act like that. that engine need to have about 40 PSI to run give or take a few pounds.  will it continue to run at idle untill you give it some gas and die out or does it start and stall out right away?