I'm having a issue that is difficult for me to figure out .... Driving along smoothly at 75mph and engine will cut out a few times. .... Have cruise control set and it never loses speed ... just a few random di di di as engine cuts out .... maintains perfect steady speed.

I can drive 20 miles with no issue, then will get one di .... drive 5 miles and get 2 di di .... always back and forth between 1-3 di .... sometimes when the engine cuts out is more violent then others .... just a bigger jerk. <----- this makes me think timing and crank sensor.

I can drive 40-60 mph all day long and no issue at all .... just at higher speeds it has a issue.
So I'm taking the car off the road and ordering a new crank sensor .... just asking what brand would you search for?
Rockauto gives me WVE, NTK, Standard ... Highest price to the lowest in that order.

Something else that sticks in the back of my mind is the spacer ..... This crank sensors uses a felt stick on spacer that is the actual setting when installing the sensor.
Push the sensor tight against the flexplate and tighten it down. When the engine rotates it rubs the felt washer off and leaves the perfect gap.

I have had the new crank sensor in and out and had to replace the felt washer .... the new washer seemed too thin and hard, the glue on the back of it was like gorilla glue.
The goal is to spin the engine over and knock it off .... this washer was stuck so strong that there may still be some of it in place and the crank signal has to pass through it.
So at higher speeds it is more difficult for the signal to get to the pcm.

Only way to find out is to pull it and look .... if I pull it I'm replacing it with a name brand sensor with the spacer they provide .... not the cheap aftermarket spacer available on RA.

 

OK I'm going with NTK ..... I think I probably have the WVE in it now .... I'm only guessing crank sensor .... not even crank sensor but maybe a poor quality replacement spacer for installation. Either way I need to get it ordered.

 

As far as sensors. I would use factory parts.

 

I thank you for your reply, seems like factory sensors are not the choice for this vehicle ..... 31 years old they do not stock parts for them.
Sometimes maybe have some leftovers .... not likely.

If they did stock it, is still 1.5 hours one way to get to a dealer .... The advantages of living out of town and I do what I can on line and have parts delivered .... I consider it a blessing not to live in a city .... So most everything I order is online .... just not interested in dealing with car dealerships.

So I have been fighting a few issues ... CEL tells me the EGR is not working correctly, also the C02 sensor .... the sensor is new, so I replaced the EGR with a working one .... I checked it on a vacuum gauge.

Then I have been having a few issues with idle when it is cold .... once warmed up it is fine. .... having spare parts is nice, I replaced the throttle body, IAC, TPS, EGR and I took it for a drive.
At a cold startup and a nice drive, it ran maybe better then it ever has in the past .... We have owned this car for over 8 years and driven it all over from WA > NM > TX > WA .... and back and forth .... we know this car. .... it runs awesome .... at about 20 miles on the road at 75mph, it started to act up again.

Well I made some changes and was happy with the outcome, main issue is still there .... I still think it is involved in timing .... I finally got the NTK crank sensor delivered today .... before installing it I had to check my other changes first.

So tomorrow I will install it and try again .... hoping it is the issue and corrected. ..... Next will be the coil, it has a new NGK coil that one coil runs 6 cylinders ..... possible the coil is heating up and starts cutting out after about 20 miles driving? .... I have the original coil for a spare to check it ..... just a matter of parts swapping to locate the real problem. ....

Tip for the youngsters ..... If you feel you want a new engine crane but not sure the wife will go for it ..... Install her crank sensor wrong.
When her engine blows up, she will be demanding you get that crane and swap out her engine .... then she will love you up when you get the engine replaced ..... just a tech tip for the young ones.

 

Finally got around to changing the crank sensor .... or removing the old one anyways .... I wanted a new replacement in hand first.

Just as I feared, there is a heavy layer of glue and residue on the end of the sensor ..... WTF! ..... I installed it using pressure applied to it while tightening.


You can see where I scraped my thumb nail across the top to get to the bottom to check thickness. Here is the new one with same spacer, it wants to peel off in layers.


The only purpose for the sticker is to set a air gap when installing. Once installed pressed against the fly wheel, the engine rotates and it peels off and you have air gap for proper signal.
The sticker just lies in the bottom of the bell housing causing no issues. ..... I believe the perfect gap is .016
As a experiment, I cleaned the old sensor off and rolled up some tape and have a perfect .016 thickness ..... thinking I might go this way.
The blue tape will pull right off and leave no heavy residue for the signal to penetrate. .... The heavy glue residue explains a weaker then normal signal .... runs fine at low speeds, signal gets lost at higher speeds. ....... Does not explain why it works fine the first 18 miles and then starts acting up ..... I wonder if the sensor is bad and overheats .... or if the signal is weak and that causes the sensor to overheat?
Either way, I'm going to remove the sticker from the new sensor and use the tape method to install it. ..... Will test drive it tomorrow to see what happens.

 

Well it has been a bit frustrating, nothing has worked so far. I changed the crank sensor and again, get 40-50 miles on a trip and then it starts to act up .... I still feel like it is timing related.

I thought about it and realized I never have changed the fuel filter in the 9 years we have owned it so I bought a new one for it from napa.


While the old filter was clear, I was wondering if maybe the old line was failing and either sucking air or collapsing inside to plug the fuel line.
Same old story, went for a drive and made it about 45 miles and it started acting up .... I turned around and headed home, it ran bad for about 2-3 miles and then cleared up for 20 miles ... acted bad for a couple miles and cleared up again.
So I changed the coil when I got home and headed out on the freeway .... same story.

I'm literally running out of ideas here and quit working on it for a few days to think about it .... Although I still feel it is timing, starting to wonder about fuel delivery and if the new fuel pump is failing. .... I have a fuel pressure gauge from Amazon on the way.

Past couple days while thinking about it and working on my project truck .... I have been wondering about the map sensor and what is it's job ... I have no clue and assume it is not important.
So I wake up this morning and google what does a map sensor do? ..... To my surprise it does also affect timing. I have a spare used one that is off of a engine with lower miles.
So I'm going to put that on this afternoon and drive it tomorrow for a test ..... this issue is driving me nuts!