remedave
New Member
You have it the wrong way round ! The crank sensor is the all important one - it has no backup,so must work or the engine wont go.It is not just for TDC either,it is used for overall engine speed AND misfire detection.The ecu watches the gaps between crank sensor pulses to see if each individual firing event takes place.If the pulse gaps narrow it can tell a cylinder has fired,if the gaps widen it knows the crank has slowed down - then will log a misfire.If the misfire is persistant it will store a DTC.
That it runs without the cam sensor is normal,it just cant tell that cyl,s are on compression or exhaust strokes,so runs bank fired not sequential and disables the knock sensors - hence the OP's engine pinking.All his engines symptoms add up,scoping it would soon show whats going on....
Your on the same track as me everything you have said is spot on, i haven't scoped the engine because i don't have that equipment at my disposal anymore however i have changed the cam sensor for a known good one and its just the same, i will change the crank sensor today and hope fully that will sort it, the the engine is a 2001 Thor, i doubt the cam sprocket has been changed i believe it a untouched original engine but never say never.
I can confirm that someone has already been at the crank sensor in the past as the wires have been soldered back on, so it is possible than the sensor could be giving incorrect pulses however when i removed it for bench test it seamed fine but then i am not operating as fast as the engine.
I can also confirm if you unplug the cam sensor the engine will still start run the same, however if you unplug the crank sensor with the engine running it will cut out and not re-start.
Thanks for the help, i don't wish to disclose any Info about me on a public forum i hope you understand !