Japanese Suzuki Crankshaft Sensor

Description

How Do Crankshaft Position Sensors Work?

You’ll find a crankshaft position sensor on every internal combustion engine but the location isn’t always the same. On some cars, it’s at the front next to the main crankshaft pulley while on others the crankshaft position sensor is on the transmission bell housing or pointed into the cylinder block.

A crankshaft position sensor is made up of a hard plastic housing and a sensor head where the magic happens. Modern cars use a three-wire Hall sensor that creates a magnetic field while older cars sometimes use a two-wire pick-up coil. They serve the same function, just using different tech.

Regardless of where the crank sensor is positioned, its purpose is to measure rotational speed. The sensor head is near a reluctor ring that has a reference point in it such as a missing tooth that correlates with top-dead center on cylinder #1. When the ring is rotating, the sensor detects the reference point and produces a pulsed voltage signal. That signal is sent to the onboard computer that can perform its functions based on its data and that from crankshaft position sensor and other information.