Crank Angle Sensor

On 2.0L engines, crank angle sensor is located on rear side of cylinder head, coupled to intake camshaft. On 1.8L engines, crank angle sensor is located inside distributor. Crank angle sensor provides ECU with engine speed and crankshaft angle position. Crank angle sensor consists of a disc and sensor unit.

The metal disc has 4 slits located 90 degrees apart, and 2 slits (1 slit on 1.8L) located inward of the 4 slits, 180 degrees apart. On 2.0L engines, the 2 inner slits are used by the Top Dead-Center (TDC) sensor to detect TDC of No. 1 and No. 4 cylinders. On 1.8L engines, the inner slit is used by the TDC sensor to detect TDC of No. 1 cylinder. On all engines, the outer 4 slits are used by the crank angle sensor to detect crank angle.

On all 2.0L engines, the disc is positioned on the crank angle sensor shaft and is turned with sensor shaft by intake camshaft. On 1.8L, the disc is fixed to distributor shaft and rotates as distributor turns. On all engines, crank angle sensor unit has 2 Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and 2 photo diodes to detect crank angle sensor slits and TDC sensor slits. The disc rotates between the LEDs and photo diodes. Each time a slit comes between LED and photo diode pair, light emitted by LED passes through the slit to photo diode.