Crank Sensor Mod for those with big hands

aim4squirrels · #1 10-27-2007, 10:00 PM

Well today I finally figured out a way to get at the crank position sensor to mod it. I have pretty big hands for a 6'1" guy, I've been able to palm a regulation size basketball since I was 14, (unfortunately, the height never caught up with the hands.) I've been struggling with this for a while, and I know a few others have too, so I thought I'd share with you how I finally got to it.

Anyway,I could just get my hand around the back of thepassenger side header, but I didn't have enough room to move it, (I wore gloves the first timeI tried and they got caught on the header bolts andI had my hand stuck for 10 min trying to undo the velcro strap on my mechanix gloves to free my hand.)[:@]

Today while looking at it, I noticed for the first time there was a heat shield directly behind the headerthat I could remove. I crawled under the truck and removed the heat shield bolts witha 1/4" drive socket wrench using a 7/16" deep well socket (need a deep well to get over the pointed bolts in the firewall). I couldn't get the heat shield out from under the exhuast so I just pushed it under the y pipe heat shield and ran it up over the top of the trannypan until it was far enough down and out of the way.

I disconnected the car battery as I didn't want to give myself an accidental jolt,then I wentback tothe engine bayon the passenger sidestanding on a 6" platform (2 of those greyBlitz Rhino wheel ramps pushed upperpendicular the passenger wheel)so I couldbend over thefender and back to thework areawithout standing on mytoes the whole time. I removed the round air filter so I could getover the valve cover, and threw a rag on the throttle body to keep debris out of the intake. Reached my right hand back there and could finally touch both crank sensor mounting bolts. The '01 has a 1/4" hex head hole in the top of both bolts, otherwise you'd need to use a 1/2"open end wrench. I broke thetwo bolts loose using the hex wrench the normal way (holding long end, short end in the hex hole).I then shoved my left hand just over the valve cover (under and aroundall the spark plug wires, ground wires, accessory vaccuum lines,heater hoses, etc.)just on the other side of the tranny dip stick and used that hand to flip the wrench over (long end in the hex hole) and guided it back into each hex hole. I used both hands to back the bolts out andpulled the crank sensor out of the rubber grommet and removed the rubber grommetfrom the bell housing.

Took about 10 mins toslot the bolt holes to 3/8" so the sensor would slide toward the oil filter using a handheld pigtail file. Cleaned it off with electric parts cleaner (it's a magnet and it grabbed a few filings), and placed it back in the bell housing. Replaced the easiest to reach bolt first and hand tightened it until it justheld the crank sensor in it's new place (slid toward the driver's side to advance the timing).ThenI threaded theharderbolt in place and tightened both down with the 1/4" hex wrench.Replaced the air hat and checked to make sure that I hadn't pulled any spark plug wires loose,climbed under the engine and replaced the heat shield, reconnected the batteryand cleaned up my tools.

Then I got in the truck and crossed my fingers. I have heard that the crank sensor is pretty fragile and Ihoped I hadn't damaged it.It ran slightly rough for about 20 secondsand I thought "Oh, crap" but it calmed down again and ran smoother than it had before the mod.

The whole ordeal lasted 2 1/2 hours,most of it trying to guide thehex wrench into the bolt holes blind. After Ifigured outa way to get the left hand in there, it went much faster.

I can't say that I noticed much of a performance gain, but I'm still getting used to the truck with the new gears, so there could be some, but not anything thatI really obviously noticed. One thing that I did noticewas that the truck seems to run smoother and for whatever reason (maybe psychological)it feels like I'm holding more power back when I'm on the brake at a stop,almost like the truck just wants to jump, but I don't have that feeling at cruising speed. I have heard thatmodding the crank sensorcan cause a truck to ping, but with the superchips I'mrunning premium gas anyway and it only calls for 91 octane, so there's probably a little head room left in there.

I know this is ratherlong-winded, but hopefully it'll help somebody out in the future, who has a similar problem to me.

Cheers! Tomorrow I'm going to flush the power steering system.

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OlsenG_360 · #2 10-28-2007, 12:00 AM

if you slotted the holes in thebracket toward the oil filter, the sensor will be moved farther away from the oil filter when reinstalled. the purpose is to move the sensor closer to the oil filter. i think you retarded you timing.

unless i just read your post wrong

aim4squirrels · #3 10-28-2007, 11:18 AM

Oops, I did write that wrong, I actually slotted them to move the sensor closer to the filter,not the holes toward the filter side. I'll correct that in the original for future reference. Thanks for the catch!

dhvaughan · #4 10-28-2007, 12:29 PM

nice write up.
did you reset the pcm ?

aim4squirrels · #5 10-28-2007, 12:56 PM

The PCM reset itself over the 2 1/2 hours I had the battery disconnected to keep from shocking myself while leaning over the engine bay and running my hands around blind back there.I just hate reseting the dang stereo over and over.[&:]

OlsenG_360 · #6 10-28-2007, 06:35 PM

i'm glad it was just a typo & you didn't have to go back out & change it. this mod is kinda physically exhausting just from maintaining goofy positions to reach the sensor, my chest hurt for a few days where i had been leaning on the alternator.

jusjay727 · #7 10-28-2007, 06:45 PM

what kind of differance has this made ? i know aim dint notice much but i have stock gears and i was maybe thinking about doing this now that ive read that a bunch are doing this .....and where can i find the step by step on it....thanx j

aim4squirrels · #8 10-28-2007, 09:09 PM

Not trying to brag or anything, but I think Iwrote about as good a step by step as I've ever seen searching here, which was whyI did it. The original reason for doing this was to "fix" a death flash, which is a flash from the dealership to retard the timing in order to cover up a poor design on theintake manifold which causes the plenum gasket to leak. As soon as the plenum leak got bad enough the original flash was tooadvanced and the engine would misfire.

Here's thepost that got me thinking about this:
http://www.dodgeforum.com/m_559686/tm.htm

It is a free bit of performance,just takes a little time. Ifyou notice any problems you can always slide it backto stock relatively easily if you only slot it one way.

derjr · #9 12-30-2008, 08:12 PM

OK, first of all a BIG THANKS to all who have done this before and sharing it with all of us.

I have done this before and it worked great but now I had a mechanic replace the clutch assembly, he found the CPS damaged and replaced it. I did not mention to him that I preferred to advance the timing so I let it alone to be done later (by me). I noticed that the engine was running a little ragged and it quit all together. Towed it home and found the CPS bolts just finger tight and barely that. So I removed the CPS and found a groove on the face.

Long story short I do not remember the face having any groove so my thinking is that this CPS is an incorrect part.

Should the face of the CPS be smooth? What could allow the CPS to touch the flywheel?

silver95dodge · #10 10-27-2009, 03:41 PM

Been looking at the mod for awhile now and curious if this is a "legit mod" when i say legit i mean can you really feel it in the seat of the pants or does this just give a you faster smoother throttle response?