Crankshaft Position (CKP) Sensor 24X

24X Crankshaft Position (CKP) Sensor:

DESCRIPTION
The 24X crankshaft position sensor, secured in, an aluminum mounting bracket and bolted to the front left side of the engine timing chain cover, is partially behind the crankshaft.

OPERATION
The 24X crankshaft position sensor contains one Hall-effect switch and magnet. The magnet and Hall-effect switch are separated by an air gap. A Hall-effect switch reacts like a solid state switch, grounding a low current signal voltage when a magnetic field is present. When the magnetic field is shielded from the switch by a piece of steel placed in the air gap between the magnet and the switch, the signal voltage is not grounded. If the piece of steel (called an interrupter) is repeatedly moved in and out of the air gap, the signal voltage will appear to go ON-OFF-ON-OFF-ON-OFF. Compared to a conventional mechanical distributor, this ON-OFF signal is similar to the signal that a set of breaker points in the distributor would generate as the distributor shaft turned and the points opened and closed. In the case of the electronic ignition system, the piece of steel is the concentric interrupter ring mounted to the rear of the crankshaft balancer. The interrupter ring has blades and windows that, with crankshaft rotation, either block the magnetic field or allow it to close the Hall-effect switch. The Hall-effect switch produces a signal called the CKP 24X because the interrupter ring has 24 evenly spaced blades and windows. When a CKP 24X interrupter ring window is between the magnet and Hall-effect switch, the magnetic field will cause the CKP 24X Hall-effect switch to ground the CKP 24X signal voltage supplied from the PCM. The CKP 24X portion of the crankshaft position sensor produces 24 ON-OFF pulses per crankshaft revolution. The 24X signal allows the PCM to determine a more precise crankshaft position at lower RPM.