Chrysler Repair: 89 New yorker keeps shutting off; distributor sensors, crank sensor, yorker landau

Question
Hi Richard, i have a 89 New Yorker Landau with a 3L V6. Recently while driving down the road it just shuts off, sometimes after it sits i can restart, I was reading some past questions and you mentioned reading the error codes, i did the check and got a 12-11-55, does the 11 indicate the distributer sensor?  If so what is the exact name of the sensor so I can order the correct one,  Someone else told me it would be a crank sensor but auto Zone says I don't have one and napa says it does.  any advice would be wonderfull thanks..Trav

Answer
Hi Trav,
There is one timing sensor and it is located in the distributor. It is called an 'photo-optical pick-up' because it uses 2 LED's with slotted disks which give the rpm and spark/injector timing information. The 11 code does refer to that unit as the problem, although it is not technically a crank sensor. It refers to one of the two diode circuits being bad, as would a code which 54 refers to the other. But the unit will come with both sensors as they are replaced together. If there are no instructions with the unit let me know and I can mail you a xerox copy from the shop manual. It is straight forward but I would recommend a written description before doing it. You should be able to do it without removing the distributor and thus avoid the need for re-timing it if you don't have a timing light.
Roland