CARS.COM — Most car owners probably don’t know that their vehicle has a crankshaft position sensor until the engine dies, won’t start or starts running poorly.

To accommodate the LS9 cam in an earlier Gen III engine like ours requires a front-mounted LS2 timing cover with its front-mounted sensor and the correct cam gear.

Camshaft position sensors also are used, so the management system knows what stroke the crankshaft is in at anytime. Many systems are smart enough to try guessing should this sensor fail and allow ...

Your vehicle's crankshaft sensor can be, well, cranky. But it's also a key part you can't do without. So what makes one fail? And how do you know if it's bad?