Jeep Crankshaft Position Sensor
This one of two sensors that can leave a YJ stranded. The other sensor being the Camshaft Position Sensor. I’ve known of a few Jeep, mostly XJ Cherokees, that were sold or scrapped due to not starting. Most of the time it is the Crankshaft Sensor.
It located on the transmission bell housing stuffed between the block and firewall. Getting to it on a Wrangler isn’t too bad. But Cherokees are a different story, there is much less room to work on those!
Often times a Crankshaft Position Sensor will go out without warning. One day it works, next day it doesn’t. I’ve also seen the sensor stop working as the Jeep is driving down the road, again no warning.
Now, here is where it gets sketchy. Most of the time when the sensor quits, it is done!! But, I’ve known of a couple of times where the Jeep owner would give the engine about 20 minutes to cool off and it would start right back up. Then the Jeep would run for a couple of days and do it again. After about the 3rd time he replaced the Crank Sensor, ran perfect afterwards.
Click here to see the YouTube video of Jeep Wrangler – Crank Shaft Position Sensor – locate and test.