after some reading i think your correct in thinking its the crank sensor. found this info, crank sensor failing can do what you are seeing.

cranks sensor failures on these cars are notorious for NOT setting a code. basically what happens is the signal wave drops out for a second. the pcm reads this as 0 rpm and kills injector pulse width and spark. this can cause the car to die, stumble, not start. The best way to verify this is watch the rpm pid on the scan tool while your cranking it/when it dies. If it reads 0 with the engine cranking/running and then dies. that means the crank signal is lost. You can also verify this with a lab scope scoping the signal wire. If the signal drops out the wave pattern will flat line. Also on fwd car they use a stub harness from the that goes to the icm, crank, and cam sensors from the main engine harness that has a tendency to get broken wires after a while.

To change it as said you need to pull the ballancer off then this plastic cover. it will feel like its going to break when you pry it off but it won't. while the ballancer is off pay attention to the toothed wheels inside. Look for any damage or if it can wobble or move at all. this is the reluctor wheel for the crank sensor which can also cause the above complaints happen as well.

 

Okay started driving it around town and up hills and such. Finally got the check engne light to come on. Read the code and it said 0306 misfire. So i am hoping the crank sensor issue is gone and now the skip is just something that came up in between all of this drama. I switched coil packs , cleared codes and am waiting for the check light to come back on to see if the cylinder misfire switches places. If not i am just hoping a plug wire or plug will straighten her out. Also does anyone know if this car should have a splash guard/shield up under where the harmonic balancer area is. I can see straight to the ground for a good bit of area and just trying to figure out where the water is comng from, the mechanic told me it was water on the crank sensor and not coolant.

 

It keeps coming up with... new codes...so i think the sensor is just making the computer act stupid...i noticed today that there is no plastic shield around the sensor.....i can stick my head down near the back of harm. Balancer and see the connector going right into the sensor......shouldn't this have a plastic shield around it......i got a feeling the first place that put it in might have either broke it or left it off.thanks for your help.i really appreciate it

 

post up some pictures. use photobucket, open free account, download pictures, copy img code to your post and pictures will show. keep the pictures size at 680 or less on the big side.

 

Got up under there and looked real good and the sensor shield is there, kinda hard to see from the top. If it was you would you just replace that sensor, i truly belive that is where my skip is coming from.......car never had a skip until the crank sensor went out the first time. I know it is a sealed unit but it getting wet just makes me feel it is faulty acting now.......thanks for your help and i pray this gets fixedlj

 

Well , 3 mechanics not including myself and 1 month later the car is running correctly again. After the crankshaft sensor was dried out 2 weeks ago, it has started and would run everytime but it still had a skip at 55mph or when you tried giving it gas going up a hill. New codes said cylinder 6 misfire. So i changed plugs and wires ( about the hardest thing i have ever done) and cyl 6 wire crumbled in my hand it was so brittle. Cleared code drove it around but still had a skip , when check engine light came back on, i read codes again and it said 1441 emissions. So i started tracing vacuum lines and found above and to the left of the MAS a rubber elbow boot broken in half at the elbow and someone had just stuck the smaller end of the house into the rotted out hole.....it was sucking air at that point pretty good......very shady looking. I went to parts stores trying to find this elbow and noone could find one or make a hose work because one end is 3/8" and the other end is 1/4". So i went to the hardware store and built my own out of fuel line and a couple spline adapters, works fine. Maybe i can find the correct boot elbow from GM..... Thanks to everyone who suffered with me through this.

 

lol, try doing it with 2 more cylinders in the way. have never taken so much time changin plugs or plug wires in anything. boat or car. first time i did plugs it took all day. lol. number 8 had never been changed.

 

Yeah it is crazy.....thanks for sticking with me through this soap opera. In conclusion, the crank sensor being wet (still not sure how that happened) cause it to not start up, just turn over. And the small vacuum leak was causing the skip going up hills and at 55mph......changing the crispy plugs did not hurt anything either....they were toast........

 

hay, its what the site is all about, helping each other to work through a problem. lol, you do all the work.

 

Hey again, car has run great for four days but it started skipping again going up a hill when i had to put the pedal down a bit. Good thing is the service light flashed as it was skipping......then a few iles down the road it skipped again and the light flashed again. So i will go read the codes and see if that helps me to get close to it. I still wonder if that dang crank sensor is causing all this weird stuff. I just think maybe i should go ahead and change it out to eliminate that as a possibilty.